Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by over 150 points. Today’s gains continue to build from yesterday’s rally. Furthermore, energy prices stabilized after soaring to multi-year highs. This also comes after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had signalled that the central bank would likely raise interest rates less than some investors had anticipated. Powell’s testimony has helped calm investors after Russia’s invasion on Ukraine have sent the markets into uncertainty. Powell is also set to deliver the second day of his semi-annual address before the Senate Banking Committee today.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) stock is up by over 5% on today’s opening bell after the company announced that it will be raising its quarterly dividend by 26%, This comes despite a lower-than-expected fourth quarter report. However, adjusted earnings matched analyst expectations. Shares of Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) were down by over 14% today after forecasting slowing product revenue growth. The company reported a revenue of $383.8 million, beating analyst estimates of $372.6 million.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up by 0.89% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also up by 0.26%. Meanwhile, 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are also trading higher on Thursday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is up by 1.20% while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is up by 0.48%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 0.95% on Thursday. Likewise, rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are down by 3.06%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is also down by 5.78% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) opened lower today.
Dow Jones Today: 10-year Treasury Yield And Oil Prices Stabilizes Today
Following the stock market opening on Thursday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading higher by 0.44%, 0.53%, and 0.10% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up by 0.27% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also up by 0.42% today.
The 10-year Treasury yield traded at around 1.88% on Thursday, a day after its biggest one-session jump since March 2020, the month the pandemic started in the U.S as investors sold bonds and flocked to stocks and other riskier assets. West Texas Intermediate Crude reached $116 per barrel before backing off those levels. This stabilization could also be due to member states of the International Energy Agency saying that they plan to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves, half of that total from the U.S., in an effort to curb price increases.
The Labor Department Releases Its Latest Jobless Claims Report
Today, another 215,000 Americans filed new jobless claims last week, improving more than expected in the latest weekly data to reach a two-month low. However, continuing claims for the week that ended in February 19 was 1.476 million compared to the 1.420 million expected. This back-to-back week of declines in new jobless claims comes as the labor market improves as the Omicron virus retreats. Demand for workers has far outpaced supply, and job openings have held near record levels.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today March 3, 2022
Pure Storage (PSTG) Stock Jumps After Posting Solid Quarterly Figures; Announces $250 Million Share Buyback Plan
Pure Storage (NYSE: PSTG) is among the top movers in the stock market today. To point out, PSTG stock is currently gaining by over 10% at today’s opening bell. By and large, this movement in the company’s shares follows it’s latest quarterly earnings call. After yesterday’s closing bell, the company posted notable results in its fourth-quarter update. Getting straight to it, Pure Storage posted earnings of $0.36 per share for the quarter. Notably, this is well above consensus estimates of $0.26 per share. At the same time, the company also raked in record revenue of $708.6 million, also topping forecasts. Year-over-year, this adds up to a whopping 41% increase.
According to the company, its diverse portfolio of data storage offerings remains in demand across its main clientele. Adding to that, Pure Storage’s subscription services also appear to be gaining popularity. Throughout the quarter, the company made $216 million in subscription revenue, a sizable 42% year-over-year jump. Not forgetting, Pure Storage also has the launch of its Pure Fusion, and Portworx Data Services offerings under its belt. To highlight, both of these new services will be available in the current quarter.
Furthermore, Pure Storage seems to be optimistic regarding its current momentum as well. Evidently, the company is now guiding for full fiscal year revenue to come in at the $2.6 billion mark. Should this be the case, it would be above Wall Street’s expectations of $2.48 billion. All in all, Pure Storage seems to be hard at work expanding its offerings and investing in its business.
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Signify Health (SGFY) In Focus Following Sizable Quarterly Earnings Beat And Completion Of Caravan Health Acquisition
Another head turner in the stock market now would be Signify Health (NYSE: SGFY). In brief, Signify primarily operates via its proprietary health care platform. The likes of which leverages deep data analytics, tech, and nationwide health care provider networks. Through Signify’s platform, it offers clients a holistic suite of clinical, social, and behavioral health services. Similar to Pure Storage, the company’s shares are in the spotlight today thanks to its latest earnings release. Namely, Signify posted an earnings per share of $0.13 on revenue of $181.4 million. To put things into perspective, this is against Wall Street estimates of $0.01 and $173.2 million respectively.
Additionally, Signify is currently expecting a total revenue of between $948 million to $971 million for the current fiscal year. This tops consensus expectations of $929.2 million by a fair bit. For one thing, Signify does not seem to be sitting idly by on the operational front as well. Earlier this week, the company completed its acquisition of Caravan Health (CH), a leader in enabling accountable care organizations. By Signify’s estimates, this makes it one of the largest national networks of providers that are engaging in value-based payment models.
In turn, it can now “enable a broader range of value-based and shared savings models from advanced primary care to specialty care bundles to total cost of care programs.” As a result, Signify believes that it is in a strong position to better serve its core end markets. With all this in mind, SGFY stock could be worth taking note of.
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