Stock Market Futures Edge Higher Ahead Of Weekly Jobless Data
Stock market futures are trading higher on Thursday morning. With weekly unemployment claims data set to roll in today, investors would have another point of data to consider regarding the current economic recovery. For reference, economists are currently expecting a new Covid-era low of 260,000 on this front. Even as earnings have come in generally positive, supply chain woes and surging inflation continue to weigh in on markets. This could explain why the major indexes continue to hover just below their record levels. In times like this, some would even consider investing in bonds.
Weighing in on all this is Uma Pattarkine, a senior analyst at CenterSquare Investment Management. She says, “We still see [central] banks being very, very accommodative. So it seems like we might be kind of in this ‘lower rate for a longer time’ environment.” Pattarkine also adds, “At this point, investors really need to be looking at yields, where they can get it elsewhere in the market if they’re not planning on getting it through fixed income in the near future until we see that movement in the global rate market.”
Nevertheless, while investors navigate the current market, there is no shortage of stock market news to catch up on today. As of 8:11 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 0.09%, 0.24%, and 0.47% respectively.
Nvidia Jumps In Pre-Market Trading After Earnings Beat
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) seems to be making waves after reporting its latest quarterly earnings after yesterday’s closing bell. In detail, the semiconductor chip giant posted an earnings per share of $1.17, marking a 60% year-over-year increase. Additionally, Nvidia also saw its total revenue for the quarter rise by 50% over the same time, totaling $7.1 billion, a record high. The company exceeded consensus estimates of $1.11 and $6.82 billion respectively.
Nvidia notes that a key growth driver for the quarter would be demand for its data center offerings. Revenue for this division surged by 55% year-over-year. This would mainly be thanks to the rising need for Nvidia’s artificial intelligence (AI) processors among cloud providers and big enterprises. According to CFO Colette Kress, these “hyperscale customers” are a rising segment of Nvidia’s business.
Not to mention, Nvidia’s graphics cards remain popular among gamers as well, even with the ongoing global chip shortages. For a sense of scale, the company’s gaming division posted sales of about $3.2 billion for the quarter. This would indicate a sizable 42% year-over-year increase. By and large, Nvidia continues to see broad-based strength across its portfolio. Even with year-to-date gains of over 120%, I could see investors eyeing NVDA stock in the stock market today.
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Farfetch Earnings On Tap After The Closing Bell
In other earnings-related news, Farfetch (NYSE: FTCH) is set to report its latest quarterly figures later today. For the uninitiated, the company primarily offers consumers luxury fashion items on its e-commerce platform. Through its platform, Farfetch sells products from over 700 brands and boutiques worldwide. With the year-end holiday season kicking into full swing soon, demand for the company’s wares could be on the rise. At the same time, FTCH stock is currently up by over 500% since its pandemic era low.
In fact, the company’s shares have gained by over 13% in the past month alone. This could be thanks to the recent news regarding its current partnership with Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods company. Namely, the duo are reportedly in advanced talks to deepen their current partnership. This would see Farfetch potentially employing its suite of end-to-end commerce solutions, Farfetch Platform Solutions, to empower Richemont’s brands. Furthermore, they are also considering having Richemont’s brands sell their wares on Farfetch’s marketplace.
Overall, this could serve to support Farfetch’s current growth momentum. As it stands, Wall Street projects that Farfetch will post a total revenue of $591.34 million for the quarter, suggesting a possible 35% year-over-year increase. Regardless, FTCH stock could be getting some attention this week.
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Baidu Kicking Into High Gear With Driverless Robotaxi Service
Meanwhile, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) is setting more goals for its increasingly relevant driverless taxi services. Before going into the details, let us go over a little bit of background info on Baidu. In essence, the Chinese multinational tech firm specializes in providing Internet-related services and products. Alongside these offerings, the company also works extensively in the field of AI-related tech. Among Baidu’s latest ventures would be its focus on the autonomous vehicle (AV) industry. This would be in the form of its AV-driven robotaxi service, Apollo Go. Through a mobile app, users can hail an autonomous car ride in select cities in China.
The major piece of news from Baidu today would be its plans to expand this service to 100 cities by 2030. For reference, Apollo Go is currently available in five cities. According to CEO Robin Li, the company is looking to grow this figure to 65 cities by 2025 first. To point out, Baidu is providing the software behind its current AV division while its partner, China-owned automaker BAIC Group, builds the vehicles. Moreover, the company also surpassed revenue expectations in its latest fiscal quarter report yesterday, bringing in a total revenue of about $4.95 billion. All in all, it seems like Baidu is firing on all cylinders on the operational front.
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Earnings To Watch In The Stock Market Today
All this news aside, there are also plenty of notable companies reporting their latest quarterly financials today. Sticking to the focus on retail sales, we have numerous retailers hosting earnings calls in the pre-and post-market hours. For those looking to get in on the early morning action, this is especially evident. Before the opening bell, Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), Macy’s (NYSE: M), Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), Petco (NASDAQ: WOOF), and BJ’s Wholesale (NYSE: BJ) are on tap. On top of that, we also have solar energy company Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ) in focus.
Alternatively, those looking towards the post-market have a wider spread of firms to choose from. This includes Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW), Workday (NASDAQ: WDAY), Ross (NASDAQ: ROST), and William-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) to name a few.
