Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by over 400 points. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba says that there was no progress in achieving a ceasefire in talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov today. This would be the first high-level meeting between the two countries since the Moscow-ordered invasion of its neighbor two weeks ago. The situation does not seem to be getting better as news reports of Mariupol hospital being bombed by Russian forces surfaced today. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the Russian attack as evidence of genocide.
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) is down by over 15% today despite reporting better-than-expected earnings today. The company says that more shoppers are using its e-commerce platform but this would also be its slowest revenue growth since early 2020. Other Chinese stocks like Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA), Futu Holdings (NASDAQ: FUTU), and Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) are also down today. That along with the broader market are down today as there seems to be no end in sight for the Russia-Ukraine war.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are down by 2.83% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also down by 1.96%. Meanwhile, 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are also trading lower on Thursday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 0.60% while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is also down by 1.42%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 2.48% on Thursday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are also down by 4.77%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is down by 4.55% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) opened lower today.
Dow Jones Today: February’s Consumer Price Index Higher Than Expected
Following the stock market opening on Thursday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading lower by 0.77%, 0.60%, and 1.20% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is down by 1.23% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also down by 0.74%.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.98% on Thursday after February’s consumer price index rose 7.9% in the past 12 months, a fresh 40-year high and slightly higher than estimates. Excluding food and energy, both of which moved sharply higher during the month, core inflation still rose by 6.4%, the highest since August 1982. The rise in inflation meant worker paychecks fell further behind despite what otherwise would be considered strong increases.
Bitcoin drops below $40,000 yet again on Thursday. This comes after some initial excitement around President Joe Biden’s executive order on digital assets faded. The order would pave the way for thoughtful national crypto regulation that will allow builders to build onshore and ensure that the U.S. remains a leader in crypto. It would protect the U.S. financial position globally and ensure that crypto investors and users are protected legally.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today March 10, 2022
Amazon Stock Jumps Following News Of 20-For-1 Stock Split And $10 Billion Share Buyback Program
Among the top names making waves in the stock market today is Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). By and large, this seems to be the result of two key updates from the e-commerce goliath. For starters, Amazon is going through with a 20-for-1 stock split after receiving approval from its board of directors. Because of this, investors would likely be tuning in to AMZN stock now. To put things into perspective, this marks the company’s fourth stock split. It is also its first one since 1999. With AMZN stock trading at around the $2,900 mark, a split would value each share at about $145 a piece. In doing so, it is safe to say Amazon’s shares could become a viable play for more inventors moving forward.
Overall, the split does not fundamentally impact what Amazon brings to the table. Nevertheless, the second piece of news could provide more insight into the company’s confidence in its long-term growth. Namely, Amazon’s board is also authorizing a $10 billion share repurchase plan. All of this could indicate that Amazon is not planning to slow down anytime soon on the operational front.
To point out, Amazon is not the first major tech company to make such a move in recent years. Just last month, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) revealed plans for a similar 20-for-1 stock split. Back in mid-2020, the likes of Apple and Tesla also made 4-for-1 and 5-for-1 splits respectively. With Amazon being the latest to join this group, there would certainly be plenty of attention on the company today. As it stands, AMZN stock is currently gaining by over 4% today.
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CrowdStrike Stock Soars As Latest Quarterly Financials Top Expectations; Provides Upbeat 2022 Outlook
Elsewhere, CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) is taking center stage on the earnings front today. Evidently, the company’s shares are currently trading higher by over 8% today. Diving in, CrowdStrike is looking at earnings of $0.30 per share on revenue of $431 million for the quarter. For reference, this is versus Wall Street forecasts of $0.20 and $411 million respectively. Regarding year-over-year changes, these figures translate to gains of 130% and 63%.
Furthermore, there are also a few notable operational highlights in its latest quarterly report. Notably, CrowdStrike’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth continues to go from strength to strength. Throughout the quarter, the company saw net new ARR increase by a record $217 million. This is the second consecutive quarter in which CrowdStrike achieved such a feat. Not forgetting, the firm posted record operating and free cash flow during the quarter as well. Also, the company’s overall solid quarter also tops a good year for CrowdStrike. It is ending the fiscal year with an ARR of $1.7 billion, marking a 65% jump year-over-year.
Speaking on the company’s latest performance is CEO George Kurtz. He highlights, “CrowdStrike once again delivered an exceptional fourth quarter and capped off a record year, achieving new milestones across both the top and bottom line. Net new ARR of $217 million in the quarter was a new all-time high, driven by expansion of our leadership in the core endpoint market as well as a record quarter for cloud, identity protection and Humio. As our record results, growing scale and module adoption rates demonstrate, customers are increasingly leveraging the breadth and depth of the Falcon platform as they look to transform their security stack.” With all this in mind, I can understand the appeal of CRWD stock now.
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