Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 280 points. This comes as investors take in this week’s earnings results from major tech companies and also after dissecting another treasure trove of economic data. On the cyclical side of things, companies like Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) are trading lower after reporting their earnings. Chevron reported lower than expected earnings for its fourth quarter despite a revenue of $48.13 billion beating expectations.
Share of Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) is also down by 2.32% after reporting wider-than-expected quarterly losses. The company is about to face its toughest comparisons in the first and second quarters of 2022, following records in early 2021 following the meme stock craze that swept the markets last year. Home Depot (NYSE: HD)also named Ted Decker, a company veteran to become its next CEO. Mr. Decker has been with the company since 2000 and has risen through the ranks at Home Depot. He previously served as chief merchant and executive vice president of merchandising. He was COO and president in October 2020.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up 3.18% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is down by 1.56%. 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) ticked lower on Friday as well. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) are trading mixed today.
Shares of electric vehicle (EV) leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 2.50% on Friday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) and Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) are also down by 6.61% and 8.77% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are also trading lower at 7.91% and 6.65% respectively.
Dow Jones Today: Treasury Yields Rising As Key feed Inflation Gauge Rises 4.9%
Following the stock market opening on Friday, the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq are trading 0.60%, 0.84%, and 0.61% lower. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is down 0.63% on Friday, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also down by 0.49%.
The 10-year Treasury ticked up to 1.83% on Friday morning after closing just above 1.8% yesterday. This rise in treasury yields could be for the following reason. The core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) prices index, a closely watched gauge at the Federal Reserve rose by 4.9% a year ago in December.
This would be the fastest gain since 1983 and is above Wall Street estimates. Furthermore, once volatile items such as food and energy are factored in, the PCE index jumped by 5.8%. The data would support the central bank’s decision to keep its option open for its monetary policy path forward. This comes as soaring inflation and strong economic growth have forced the Fed to take on a more hawkish stance than initially expected.
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Apple Shares Jump On Record-Setting Quarterly Earnings Release
Apple is among the major tech names turning head in the stock market today. For the most part, this would likely be due to the company releasing its quarterly financials after yesterday’s market close. To begin with, Apple’s revenue for the quarter is at a whopping $123.9 billion, a year-over-year increase of 11%. Notably, this is the largest quarterly revenue for the iPhone maker on this front. To put things into perspective, this is well above analyst forecasts of $118.66 billion. In terms of earnings per share, Apple raked in $2.10 per share, exceeding estimates of $1.89. This would represent a sizable increase of 25% compared to the same quarter a year ago.
By and large, Apple CFO Luca Maestri cites a strong response from consumers as a primary growth driver for the quarter. Evidently, almost all of the company’s core product categories posted year-over-year gains and topped Wall Street’s expectations. Particularly, iPhone revenue for the quarter is now at $71.63 billion, crushing estimates of $68.34 billion. Safe to say, Apple appears to be among the biggest winners among consumer-focused names coming out of the 2021 holiday season.
Not to mention, CEO Tim Cook also provided positive updates regarding Apple’s current outlook for the first quarter of 2022. According to Cook, the company is eyeing “solid” year-over-year revenue growth and for supply chain pressure to wane. With record-high earnings and an optimistic guidance for its current quarter, Apple appears to be firing on all cylinders. As a result of all this, AAPL stock is currently gaining by 3.18%.
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Visa Stock Surges On Impressive Earnings Figures As Consumer Spending Gains
Another name in the broader tech industry making headlines in the stock market now would be Visa. This leading name in the fintech world posted solid figures across the board in its latest earnings call. In detail, Visa recorded an earnings per share of $1.81 on revenue of $7.06 billion for the quarter. To begin with, the company beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings by 11 cents. Regarding quarterly revenue, Visa crossed the $7 billion mark for the first time while also exceeding estimates of $6.79 billion.
According to the company, its current stellar performance is thanks to “massive shifts in adoption of debit and credit,” in emerging markets. CEO Alfred Kelly highlights continuing growth in e-commerce markets and the quick recovery in cross-border travel spending as two key growth drivers. Regarding Visa’s current outlook, Kelly also adds that the company is not all that worried about current pandemic conditions. In fact, Visa believes that it is “well-positioned,” via its current strategy “to deliver strong results well into the future.” With all this in mind, it would not surprise me to see V stock taking center stage in the stock market now. Overall, Visa appears confident about its ability to perform despite the current pandemic concerns. With V stock up by 6.04% today, investors appear to be convinced for now.
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