Stock Market Futures Ticked Higher Ahead Of Big Tech Earnings
U.S. stock futures were rising in early morning trading on Monday ahead of a big week of earnings from major tech companies. Wall Street is coming off a winning week on the back of strong corporate earnings. The strong earnings from banks, consumer companies and manufacturers appear to have given investors’ more confidence about the trajectory of the stock market.
“Rising tide of earnings is lifting all the boats and adding fuel to the bull market fire,” said Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network. “The 3Q earnings season is off to a strong start despite concerns about supply bottlenecks and labor shortages.”
Meanwhile, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) said it isn’t pursuing an acquisition of Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), ending days of speculation over a potential $45 billion deal. As of 6:46 a.m. ET, Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq futures are rising by 0.04%, 0.13% and 0.26% respectively.
Xpeng (XPEV) Plans Flying Cars That Can Also Operate On Roads
Chinese electric vehicle start-up Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) has announced a series of innovations that will help it stay ahead in the EV race. One of the highlights from its Tech Day include flying cars from HT Aero, an affiliate of Xpeng. But this is not just any flying car. It will also be able to drive on the road. The new flying car will also feature an advanced environmental perception system. This is to conduct safety assessments before take-off, similar to an airplane you could say.
According to Zhao Deli, founder and president of HT Aero, the company is planning for an official roll-out of the new flying vehicle in 2024. There’s no doubt that flying cars have garnered a lot of interest from big automakers and start-ups. But investors should note that there are a number of challenges for this kind of vehicle to be used widely. These include regulation and safety issues, among others.
Apart from flying vehicles, Xpeng also upgraded its semi-autonomous driving features in a challenge to Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). Notably, Xpeng released Xpilot 3.5, the latest version of its advanced driver-assistance system. The system allows Xpeng’s cars to change lanes, speed up or slow down, overtake cars, and enter and exit highways. Besides, the system will be available for use when driving in cities, instead of just for driving on highways previously.
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Facebook (FB) Earnings On Tap After The Stock Market Closes Today
Snap (NYSE: SNAP) is feeling the sting after Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) privacy changes disrupted its advertising business. Now, many investors are wondering what it could mean for the world’s largest online social network, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB). Earnings report from Snap sent Facebook stock down 5.1% on Friday. With an overall challenging period for advertising stocks, many investors will be watching Facebook’s earnings report closely.
As always, investors will be looking for strong quarterly user engagement metrics. This metric was $2.76 billion in the second quarter, up 12% year-over-year. As for revenue, momentum could persist in the third quarter. According to FactSet, Wall Street’s consensus estimate for Facebook’s third quarter calls for sales of $29.57 billion and earnings of $3.19 a share. Analysts forecast that monthly active users hit 2.92 billion during the quarter. They also predict that Facebook had 1.93 billion daily active users.
“We expect Q3 results/outlook probably a bit better than Snap’s, with the company already acknowledging targeting headwinds, and more proactively developing tools to help with measurement and attribution,” Baird analyst Colin Sebastian wrote on Monday.
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Will Trump’s DWAC Stock Continue To Surge Today?
Among the latest names in the current meme stock trade would be the Digital World Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ: DWAC). For those uninitiated, DWAC is a California-based special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC). And it is merging with former president Donald Trump’s brand-new social media company. The SPAC is hitting it big on Wall Street, with the stock surging more than 800% since Wednesday. With so much attention garnered over the Trump-linked SPAC, investors are now wondering if the momentum could spill over to this week.
Admittedly, the long-term potential of the platform remains to be seen. But retail investors on Reddit appear to be all for it already. If anything, retail traders and investors alike appear to be banking on Trump’s popularity when buying DWAC stock. The real test will be whether Trump’s social media network will eventually be able to attract advertisers and scale from there. But that doesn’t seem to be the main interest of many traders. After all, many are more curious to see how far the stock could continue to push upwards.
The Trump effect wasn’t limited to DWAC stock. Phunware (NASDAQ: PHUN), a small-cap software developer based in Austin, Texas, extended its two-day gain to as much as 2,189% on Friday as it rode the ongoing hype surrounding former President Trump’s foray into the SPAC world. While most attention has been on Trump, attention seems to have shifted to the man he teamed up with. Now, investors appear to be speculating on Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: BENE), a SPAC owned by Patrick Orlando, the CEO of DWAC.
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Big Tech Earnings In Focus This Week
As we kick start the week, investors’ focus will be on earnings results, with some of the most heavily weighted companies in the S&P 500 set to deliver. For those keen to catch companies reporting before the opening bell, there is no shortage of names to note. The list includes Otis Worldwide Corp (NYSE: OTIS), Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR), just to name a few.
Alternatively, if you are looking to track earnings after the closing bell, there are several on tap as well. These include the likes of Facebook, Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI), Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE: PKG) and AGNC Investment (NASDAQ: AGNC) among others. Whether it is keeping up with earnings or following SPAC news, investors seem to have plenty of exciting news to consider and digest as we kick start a key earnings week.
