Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by 200 points, with the broader market opening in red as persistent inflation and weaker than expected China economic data. Accordingly, China’s industrial output fell by 2.9% in April year-over-year. Retail sales also tanked in April at 11.1% year-over-year. This comes as key cities across the country are still under lockdown as China continues its zero-COVID policy.
Today, McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) says that it will sell its business in Russia, after two months of halted operations in the country as Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. The company says that the continued ownership of its business in Russia is no longer tenable and is not consistent with its values. Elon Musk also says that Twitter’s (NYSE: TWTR) legal team has accused him of violating a non-disclosure agreement by revealing the sample size for the social media platform’s checks on automated users. The saga continues from Friday when Musk had said that his $44 billion cash deal to take the company private is on hold temporarily over fake account data.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple are down by 1.60% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also down by 1.75%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading lower on Monday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 1.19% while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is also down by 1.50%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 2.15% on Monday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are down by 3.93%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is also down by 0.56% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are trading higher today.
Dow Jones Today: U.S. Treasury Yields Holds Near 3%; Oil And Cryptocurrency Down
Following the stock market opening on Monday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading lower at 0.92%, 0.72%, and 1.23%. 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 1.00%.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield ticked around 2.9% today as the market still is not showing signs of a rebound. This is after weeks of relentless sell-off that has punished tech stocks in particular. This decline follows the Federal Reserve announcing yet another aggressive interest rate hike this month. However, some analysts believe that those declines may soon become an attractive entry point for the broader market.
West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark dipped today and currently trades at around $109 per barrel. Bitcoin on the other hand is around the $30,000 mark on Monday as investors continue to digest the TerraUSD fallout. The collapse of the closely watched stablecoin roiled digital assets in the past week.
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Spirit Airlines Soars Following News Of JetBlue Tender Offer
Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) is one of the major head turners in the stock market today. Overall, this is likely thanks to the latest news regarding JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) and the company. As of earlier today, JetBlue is engaging Spirit shareholders directly via a tender offer. Through this seemingly aggressive play, JetBlue is making an all-cash, fully financed tender to SAVE shareholders for $30 per share. Because of this, SAVE stock is now gaining by over 15% at today’s opening bell.
Now, for those uninitiated, this marks JetBlue’s second attempt at a takeover of Spirit. Its previous offer was for $33 per share. However, that was summarily rejected over potential regulatory-related issues. Regardless, the current move would put JetBlue in direct competition against Frontier Group (NASDAQ: ULCC) which is currently making an offer for Spirit at $21.66 per share. The likes of which has JetBlue filling for a “Vote No” proxy statement, asking shareholders to vote against the Frontier merger. On top of that, JetBlue also argues that its deal would create an entity with a more competitive edge against the “Big Four,” of U.S. air travel.
All in all, this would mark a rather bold tactic by JetBlue as it is directly offering a more valuable deal to Spirit’s shareholders. To add to this, JetBlue is also willing to “negotiate in good faith a consensual transaction at $33, subject to receiving necessary diligence.” While both Spirit and Frontier have yet to provide any response, there are plenty of eyes on SAVE stock now.
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Carvana Stock Gains After SEC Filing Reveals Company’s 2023 Outlook
At the same time, Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) is also making headlines at today’s stock market open. For the most part, this follows an outlook update from the online used-car retailer via an SEC filing. According to the filing, Carvana anticipates significant core earnings for 2023. To achieve this, the company notes that it is actively focused on three key areas. They are growing its retail units and revenue, increasing total gross profit per unit (GPU), and achieving operating leverage.
In detail, the company states, “We have made significant progress on the first two objectives, while making progress, albeit more slowly, on the third as we have invested in rapid growth and GPU gains.” Carvana also writes, “In light of the current environment, we are elevating SG&A leverage, profitability, and positive free cash flow as priorities.” Aside from all this, the company admits that “underinvestment in operational infrastructure,” did impact sales volume in 2019. This would be when demand for used cars was beginning to gain steam.
On the whole, this seems to be an attempt by Carvana to reassure investors following turbulent trading throughout this month. Not to mention, CVNA stock would also be among the list of heavily-shorted stocks today. With concerns of the company’s shares joining the meme stock frenzy, this outlook update could be a strategic move. Nevertheless, CVNA stock will likely be on investors’ radars in the stock market today.
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