Stock Market Futures Inches Higher With Investors Hoping To Extend A 2-Day Rally
It’s been a strong recovery for the stock market this week. It appears that solid corporate earnings are inoculating investors against the virus resurgence, at least for now. Recall that the Dow suffered the biggest drop of the year on Monday. But some investors knew to keep their cool and bought the dips. And if you are one of them, kudos to you. Wednesday’s gains built on Tuesday’s strong session, and the major averages have now erased the losses from Monday’s sell-off.
Investors increasingly are looking at the fundamentals rather than surging coronavirus numbers. The U.S. stock market futures tilted higher today, with investors looking to extend the rally that wiped out losses during the worst trading day of 2021. Also, a lot of the attention today will be on the weekly jobless claims, which last week set a fresh pandemic-era low. Since the onset of COVID-19, this particular set of data has served as an indicator of the labor market’s health. It is also important to know if rising infections will start to trigger new restrictions. Understandably, that could potentially lead to another round of job losses.
With strong corporate earnings backing overshadowing the fear of infection numbers, investors are beginning to wonder if the market could extend its rally in the stock market today. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 futures were all in the positive territory, moving 0.24% and 0.21% and 0.16% respectively at 6:58 a.m. ET.
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Slack Is Now Officially Part of Salesforce
Cloud computing giant Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has completed its acquisition of Slack Technologies (NYSE: WORK). Those who are enjoying their work-from-home (WFH) arrangements would likely know about Slack. After all, this is the company that is betting big on a digital WFH future. The deal will bolster efforts to connect their joint customers to smooth out common business deals. In addition to that, this deal also aims to reduce the complexity of using hundreds of different cloud-based apps in the workplace.
Given the rise of Slack’s workplace messaging services throughout the pandemic, this is a major win for Salesforce. CEO Marc Benioff appears more than confident about the company’s long-term growth potential. He said, “Together we’ll define the future of enterprise software, creating the digital HQ that enables every organization to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere.”
“What customers want is interoperability. They don’t want to have to make hard choices…We’ll integrate with everyone – Microsoft and Salesforce, of course, but also ServiceNow and Workday, and more or less anyone you can think of.“- Steward Butterfield, Chief Executive Officer of Slack.
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Cryptocurrencies Are Moving Higher Today
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rebounded after a brief sell-off, with Bitcoin climbing back above $32,000. The rebound came after Elon Musk said Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is likely to accept bitcoin for vehicle purchases again. Should the due diligence be able to confirm that bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewable energy usage, Tesla will most likely resume accepting bitcoin. Square (NYSE: SQ) CEO Jack Dorsey is another long-time advocate of bitcoin. He hopes that bitcoin, or the technology underlying it, will help create world peace. That may sound like a lofty goal, but only time will tell.
Not only are cryptocurrencies taking off on Wednesday, fintech stocks such as Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT) and Bit Digital (NASDAQ: BTBT) were also feeling the lift in the stock market yesterday. Of course, it is also important to note that we should never blindly follow what famous investors say. The recent weaknesses came on the back of news that the New Jersey attorney general issued a cease-and-desist letter to BlockFi, ordering it to stop offering interest-bearing accounts. The crypto market is also on a downward trajectory amid a growing crackdown on the industry from regulators around the world.
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Snap Q2 Earnings In Focus
Snap (NYSE: SNAP) is slated to report its second-quarter earnings after the market closes today. The company has set the bar high for its second-quarter earnings after delivering an impressive first quarter. Snap is growing fast, and it appears not to be slowing down at the moment. It’s understandable considering the company has been benefiting from a spike in the usage of Snapchat.
The growing adoption of Snapchat among millennials is expected to have driven the daily active users (DAUs). As a matter of fact, it is a larger platform than Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) among this demographic. Wall Street expects the 22% year-on-year growth in DAUs reported in the first quarter to hold steady in the second.
Snap’s first-quarter revenue came in 66% higher than a year ago. And more impressively, it’s guiding for 81% to 85% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter. Investors will focus on whether Snap has been able to build on that performance when the company reports earnings today. Admittedly, the company may post a small loss this quarter. The promising sign is that revenue is expected to rise at its fastest pace in at least 14 quarters. Considering that, it is no surprise that many investors will be watching SNAP stock closely.
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More Corporate Earnings Underway
With a slew of strong corporate earnings from Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) topping earnings thus far, it does give investors the comfort to pile back into equities. To date, 15% of the S&P 500 has reported earnings, with 88% beating earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv. Of the companies that have reported, 84% have topped revenue expectations.
The most notable earnings releases today include AT&T (NYSE: T), Southwest Air (NYSE: LUV), Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT), Intel (NYSE: INTC), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), just to name a few. If anything, the turnaround from the selloff early in the week shows that companies have been resilient through all this. Certainly, there will be questions on how this rally could continue. But for the time being, momentum seems to be at investors’ back.
