Stock Market Futures Inch Higher After Starting The Week In The Red
U.S. stock futures are in the green in early morning trading today. Even with the overall deceleration of the economy, investors are closely watching the retail industry now. In fact, some of the biggest names in the space are set to report earnings before today’s opening bell. More on this later. All in all, equity markets have and continue to face immense pressure this year. Across the board, all the three major indexes are still looking at sizable year-to-date losses. This comes at a time when uncertainty remains a key theme in markets. Among the key focal points of this concern would be the Federal Reserve’s plans to reel in inflation.
Weighing in on this is Comerica (NYSE: CMA) Wealth Management’s chief investment officer John Lynch. He writes, “Curiously, comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicating the likelihood of economic pain in order to achieve the central bank’s objectives of lowering inflation may have been the catalyst for the S&P 500’s rally beginning Thursday afternoon and lasting through Friday’s close.” Lynch adds, “Nevertheless, we caution investors that the severe technical damage suffered these past several months will take longer than a few good days to repair.” Regardless, as investors look to navigate the market this week, there is no shortage of stock market news to consider. As of 4:30 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading higher by 1.05%, 1.35%, and 1.79% respectively.
Take-Two Interactive Gains Following Earnings Beats On Top And Bottom Lines
Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) is also in the news today thanks to its latest quarterly earnings update. Notably, the company’s official press release indicates that Take-Two’s total earnings per share for the quarter is $0.95. Also in the report, the company’s total revenue for the quarter is $930 million. For comparison, this is versus the Wall Street consensus of an earnings of $0.62 per share and revenue of $884.62 million. Commenting on the company’s fourth fiscal quarter results is CEO Strauss Zelnick. He summarizes, “Our strong fourth-quarter results concluded another highly successful year for our Company, during which we delivered Net Bookings of $3.4 billion.”
In detail, Zelnick adds, “I am pleased that we took pivotal steps to position our organization for the long term by investing in talent, broadening our portfolio further, and agreeing upon our transformational pending combination with Zynga, which has the potential to exponentially increase our Net Bookings from mobile, while also enabling us to deliver substantial cost synergies and revenue opportunities.” Overall, it seems like Take-Two is kicking into high gear going into the current fiscal year.
Evidently, the company also highlights in its earnings report that it is anticipating record Net Bookings for fiscal 2023. Its current outlook range is $3.75 billion to $3.85 billion. Zelnick notes that Take-Two is planning to broaden its portfolio while capitalizing further “on new platforms, business models, emerging markets, and distribution channels,” to accomplish this. With all this in mind, it would not surprise me to see investors tuning in to TTWO stock today.
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Citigroup In Focus As Buffett Discloses 2.5% Stake In Firm
Shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) are gaining attention at today’s stock market opening. On the whole, this would be the result of an update from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A). Namely, the Oracle of Omaha’s investment firm disclosed a new stake in Citigroup yesterday. According to the 13F SEC filing, Berkshire now holds about 55.2 million shares in Citigroup. This adds up to a new stake of about 2.5%. Additionally, the filing also indicates that Berkshire’s purchase was made in the first quarter of 2022. Similar to the likes of Occidental (NYSE: OXY) and HP (NYSE: HPQ), Citigroup’s stock would likely be making waves following such an announcement.
At the same time, Buffett’s firm is also significantly growing its holdings on several fronts as well. Among the key names on this front would be Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). On one hand, Berkshire’s Chevron holdings are now up from 38.2 million to 159 million shares, an increase of over 300%. On the other hand, the company’s position in Activision is also up from 14.7 million shares to 64.3 million shares. Likewise, this also represents an increase of over 300%. As a result of this update, C stock, CVX stock, and ATVI stock could be worth looking out for in the stock market now.
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Eli Lilly Receives FDA Approval For Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Mounjaro
On the biotech front, Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) is making a splash now. For the most part, this follows news of the company receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Getting into the specifics, late on May 13, Eli Lilly’s drug candidate for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), tirzepatide (Mounjaro), received FDA approval. As you can imagine, this would be a notable win for the company on the operational front.
For some context, tirzepatide is the company’s once-weekly glucose-dependant insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist treatment. Simply put, the injection serves to treat these receptors in adult patients with T2D. Not to mention, Eli Lilly also adds that tirzepatide is the first and only FDA-approved GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment on the market. According to the company, the treatment works alongside good diet and exercise to improve overall glycemic control in adults with T2D.
In the larger scheme of things, Eli Lilly’s breakthrough on this front will serve a massive population. According to Lilly Diabetes president Mike Mason, the company is “not satisfied knowing that half of the more than 30 million Americans living with type 2 diabetes are not reaching their target blood glucose levels.” As such, LLY stock could be turning heads among its biotech stock peers this week.
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Notable Stock Market Earnings Today
As mentioned earlier, the retail industry is coming out in full force this week in terms of earnings. For starters, the likes of Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Sea Limited (NYSE: SE), and JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) are on deck in today’s pre-market hours. Furthermore, AerCap (NYSE: AER), Janus International (NYSE: JBI), and Allot (NASDAQ: ALLT) are also reporting financials at this time.
For those that are eyeing post-market earnings, Doximity (NYSE: DOCS), Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), and Dlocal (NASDAQ: DLO) are on tap. Between the ongoing push by the Fed to fight inflation, companies making plays, and more retail spending data, one thing is certain. Investors have plenty of news to keep them on their toes in the stock market now.
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