Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by over 300 points today after another round of bank earnings. Just in, solar stocks are now trading lower after Senator Joe Manchin rejected the Democrat’s latest bid to pass a legislative package that includes long-negotiated climate policies and provisions aimed at closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and corporations. Enphase (NASDAQ: ENPH) and First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) for instance, are down by over 4% and 3% respectively.
Shares of Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) continued to decline today after the European Medicines Agency says that severe allergic reactions will be added as a potential side effect of its Covid-19 vaccine. Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) today missed earnings and revenue estimates today. Asset management firm BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) is also down today after missing earnings. It posted an adjusted earnings per share of $7.36 for the quarter, missing a consensus estimate of $7.90. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced on Friday that it will be creating more than 4,000 jobs in the U.K. in 2022.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up by 1.25% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also up by 1.69%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading higher on Friday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is up by 1.92% while JPMorgan Chase is also up by 0.23%
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up by 1.16% on Friday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are down by 0.58%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is trading lower by 1.22% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are trading lower today.
Dow Jones Today: U.S. Treasury Yield Steadies Below 3%; U.S. Retail Sales Top Forecasts
Following the stock market opening on Friday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading higher at 1.00%, 1.13%, and 1.03%. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up by 1.10% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also up by 1.69%.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is currently trading at 2.92%. Today, U.S. retail sales climbed higher than expected. This could indicate resilient consumer spending despite decades-high inflation. However, this could also potentially raise the prospects of an even larger interest-rate hike this month. Investors are betting that a larger-sized rate hike is in the works following the report. In the report, 9 out of 13 retail categories showed increases last month, which includes furniture stores and e-commerce.
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Pinterest Stock Gains After Reports Of Elliott Management Taking 9% Stake In Company
Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) would be one of the top gainers in the stock market today. Evidently, PINS stock is now gaining by over 14% at today’s opening bell. On the whole, the current movement in the company’s stock could be thanks to a report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). In the report, the WSJ notes that activist investor Elliott Management is now a sizable stakeholder in the company. To be precise, the firm now holds a 9% stake in Pinterest. This would be following weeks of talks between Pinterest and Elliott Management. Overall, it appears that Eliott is buying on the current dip in PINS stock. With the company’s shares reporting losses of over 70% in the past year, this appears to be the case.
Safe to say, All in all, with such news, it would not be too surprising to see investors flocking toward PINS stock. Nevertheless, even with Pinterest alongside its consumer tech peers still experiencing year-to-date turbulence, some analysts see further decline. Accordingly, Barclays (NYSE: BCS) analyst Ross Sandler did mention that a potential “perfect storm” could be lying ahead for digital ad firms. This would include the likes of Pinterest, Meta (NASDAQ: META), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) to name a few. Overall, the news of Elliott Management’s stake seems to be generating buzz around PINS stock now. Whether investors should follow their lead or not is another point to consider today.
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Citigroup In Focus Following Solid Quarterly Earnings Update
In other news, shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) would be coming into focus in the stock market now. For the most part, this would likely be thanks to its latest quarterly financial report. By and large, Citigroup’s results for its second fiscal quarter are commendable across the board. According to the press release, Citigroup’s earnings per share for the quarter is $2.19. Also, the firm’s total quarterly revenue is $19.64 billion. Notably, these figures are versus consensus WAll Street figures of $1.68 and $18.22 billion respectively. Following these sizable beats over consensus forecasts, investors would be eyeing C stock now.
In general, Citigroup cites persisting growth in its net interest income and non-interest revenues as key growth drivers for the quarter. Providing an overview of Citigroup’s current operations is CEO Jane Fraser. She highlights, “While the world has changed since our Investor Day in March, our strategy has not and we are executing it with discipline and urgency. Treasury and Trade Solutions fired on all cylinders as clients took advantage of our global network, leading to the best quarter this business has had in a decade.” Fraser also notes that while Citigroup’s core Investment Banking and Wealth Management divisions were impacted by macroeconomic conditions, the company continues to invest in them, nonetheless.
Looking ahead, Fraser explains, “our team delivered solid results and we are in a strong position to weather uncertain times, given our liquidity, credit quality and reserve levels.” As a result of these upbeat results, C stock is gaining by over 5% today.
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