US OPEN: Wall Street opens higher, S&P 500 approaches record levels

US indices launched today's session higher thanks to better-than-expected earnings from Home Depot, Walmart and Kohl’s and upbeat data from the housing market. US housing starts had jumped by 22% last month, which is the highest monthly rise since 2016, to 1.496 million. Meanwhile analysts' expected an increase to 1.24 million, as was a similar increase in building permits to 1.495 million. Meanwhile investors try to digest an impasse in new US fiscal stimulus bill and rising US-Sino tensions. Yesterday Trump administration announced  it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei Technologies aiming to prevent the company's access to commercially available chips. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are planning to propose a narrow coronavirus relief bill, including $300 in weekly federal unemployment benefits, an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program and $10 billion for the U.S. Postal Service. On the political front, the Democratic National Convention started yesterday and the Republican one will begin next week.

Kohl’s (KSS.US) reported quarterly loss of 25 cents per share, smaller than the 83 cents a share loss that Wall Street analysts had anticipated. Revenue beat expectations, however company did not provide any data regarding comparable-sales figures due to store closures. The retailer said it expects the pandemic to continue to impact its business.

Kohl’s (KSS.US) – stock launched today’s session with a bearish price gap and is currently trading below the 100 MA (green line). Should downbeat moods prevail, support at $18.50 per share may come into play. Local resistance is located at $23.08 per share. Source: xStation5

 

Home Depot (HD.US) – reported quarterly earnings of $4.02 per share, above analysts' expectations of $3.71 a share. Revenue beat expectations as well.  Comparable-store sales rose 23.4%, well above market estimates of 10.9%. The home improvement retailer  benefited from the increase in home improvement projects by people forced to remain at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Walmart (WMT.US) posted quarterly earnings of $1.56 per share, while analysts' expected $1.25 per share. Company's revenue beat forecasts as well. U.S. comparable-store sales rose 9.3%, easily beating the 5.4% consensus FactSet estimate. U.S. e-commerce sales rose 97%.

Amazon.com (AMZN.US) announced it will create 3,500 jobs in six major cities, including 2,000 in New York who will work in the historic 5th Avenue building that once housed retailer Lord & Taylor. Amazon purchased the building from WeWork for a price reported to be more than $1 billion.

Uber (UBER.US) announced it does not plan to close its California Uber Eats operations due to the unfavorable court sentence that forced the company to suspend service in the state. A judge recently granted a preliminary injunction requiring the company to reclassify drivers as employees, instead of contractors.

 

Oracle (ORCL.US) started negotiations to purchase the U.S. operations of Chinese video-sharing company TikTok, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to CNBC.

Boeing (BA.US) is planning to offer employees a voluntary layoff package with pay and benefits for the second time this year, according to a note written by CEO Dave Calhoun to Boeing workers. Company is trying to reduce costs as it battles with the virus-induced drop in travel demand.