Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by over 300 points as investors anticipate yet another slew of high-profile corporate earnings this week. Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is up by 3% today after posting mixed quarterly results. Diving in, the company reported a first quarter sales of $23.4 billion, slightly missing consensus estimates. It also lowered its 2022 sales forecast of $94.8 billion to $95.8 billion. This represents about $1 billion lower than the guidance provided in January.
Today, WeWork (NYSE: WE) is up today after Piper Sandler initiated coverage with an Overweight rating. The firm points to confidence in WeWork’s path to profitability and how well the flexible office model fits in a post-pandemic world. In other news, Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) is also up today after it announced an agreement to supply liquid green hydrogen to Walmart (NYSE: WMT). Also, joining the Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) fray, Apollo Global Management was reported to be willing to provide financing for a Twitter buyout.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are down by 0.15% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up by 0.35%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading higher on Tuesday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is up by 0.53% while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is also up by 1.04%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up by 0.95% on Tuesday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are down by 0.50%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is also up by 1.87% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are trading lower today.
Dow Jones Today: Treasury Yields Breaches 2.9% On Rising Inflation Concern
Following the stock market opening on Tuesday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading lower at 0.79%, 0.89%, and 0.71% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up by 0.75% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also up by 0.77%.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield peaked at 2.92%, a level that has not been seen since 2018. This comes as bond traders continue to worry over concerns of rising inflation and tighter monetary policy. Concerns around red hot inflation has seen investors sell ouf of bonds in the last few months, pushing up yields. This builds on data released last week showing consumer and producer prices increasing in March. This could push the Federal Reserve to increase the size of its interest rate hikes as it tries to control inflation.
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ACC Stock Soars With New Of Blackstone Acquiring American Campus Communities
Making headlines today is American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) or ACC, for short. By and large, this is likely thanks to the student-housing firm being acquired by Blackstone (NYSE: BX). As of earlier today, the alternative investment giant is purchasing ACC for about $12.8 billion including debt. This values ACC at $65.47 per share. With Blackstone being a global leader in real estate investing, such a move is not all that surprising. To-date, the company has over $279 billion in investor capital under management.
Commenting on the current deal is ACC’s CEO Bill Bayless. He says, “This transaction delivers compelling, immediate, and certain value to our shareholders while positioning ACC to further expand our competitive advantage as we continue in our quest to lead the student housing industry to new heights. Blackstone’s expertise, resources and consistent access to capital will allow us to rapidly leverage our platform and core competencies to entrepreneurially grow our core business and to pursue additional innovative opportunities. Moving forward together, the combined synergies of our organizations will enable us to better serve our current and future residents and university partners.”
At the same time, Blackstone also highlights ACC’s “best-in-class,” portfolio and platform as a key reason for the acquisition. Additionally, ACC’s existing partnerships with some of the top universities in the country would also be worth considering. Overall, it seems that Blackstone is planning to leverage the rise in rent as students return to life on campus. Because of all this, ACC stock is now up by over 12% at today’s opening bell.
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Zendesk Stock Gains Following News Of Possible Sale
Meanwhile, customer relations software firm Zendesk (NYSE: ZEN) is also gaining attention in the stock market today. Similar to ACC, this seems to be due to recent reports on the M&A front. Namely, sources from Bloomberg note that the company is potentially looking for buyers. In other words, Zendesk is exploring a sale and investors seem to be keen on ZEN stock now. As it stands, the company’s shares are gaining by over 6% at today’s market open.
Going into the details, Bloomberg notes that Zendesk’s current move is the result of growing pressure from activist investor Jana Partners. The likes of which are pushing for Zendesk to either add more Jana members to its board or get acquired. For now, Zendesk is reportedly working with Qatalyst Partners and is considering possible buyers. Among which, reports speculate that software firms and private equity groups could be likely suitors.
For one thing, this would not be a first for tensions between Jana and the Zendesk board. Previously back in February, Zendesk did reject a takeover offer from a consortium of firms. Should the company have accepted the deal, it would value Zendesk at around $127 to $132 per share at the time. Not to mention, the company also did fail to acquire SurveyMonkey parent company Momentive (NASDAQ: MNTV) around the same time. As you can imagine all this would serve to put ZEN stock in the limelight today.
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