- Wall Street indices open higher
- Mixed Big Tech earnings so far
- US100 surges over 2%
- FOMC meets to decide on rates tonight!
Wall Street indices launched today's cash session higher - S&P 500 opened 1.2% higher, Nasdaq jumped 2.1%, while small-cap Russell added 0.5%. Dow Jones opened flat. Big Tech earnings released yesterday after close of the market session have been mixed - Microsoft disappointed, while AMD surprised to the upside. However, the scale of the post-earnings price move is much bigger on AMD shares and it is supporting tech sector performance today.
A key event of the day is FOMC rate decision scheduled for 7:00 pm BST, with a press conference from Fed Chair Powell following half an hour later at 7:30 pm BST. No change to the levels of rates is expected, but investors will look for hints at whether Fed plans to cut rates at its next meeting in September. Money markets fully price in September's rate cut, therefore any hints that suggest it is not so certain, could trigger hawkish reaction in the markets.
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Source: xStation5
Nasdaq-100 futures (US100) attempted to break below a key 18,900-19,070 pts support zone yesterday, but failed to do so, and a strong rebound can be spotted on this market today. The aforementioned zone is marked with 100-session moving average (red line), previous price reactions, 50% retracement of the upward impulse launched in late-April 2024 as well as the lower limit of the Overbalance structure. Having said that, a break below it would hint that trend on the index may have turned bearish. However, today's rebound suggests that bulls have not given up, and that recent pullback may have been just a correction. Today's FOMC rate decision and the message US central bankers send may be crucial for the US100 outlook. Should Fed stress that recent data has been strong and does not require quick rate cut, the index may find itself under pressure.
Company News
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US) launched today's trading with a large bullish price gap, in response to better-than-expected earnings released yesterday after the close of the session. AMD beat revenue and earnings expectations and provided an upbeat outlook for Q3 2024.
Microsoft (MSFT.US) trades lower after reporting disappointing fiscal-Q4 2024 earnings yesterday after close of Wall Street session. While the company beat on most revenue and profit measures, cloud revenue came in slightly below market expectations.
Mastercard (MA.US) reported an 11% YoY increase in Q2 2024 net revenue to $6.96 billion (exp. $6.86 billion), while purchases volume increased 10% YoY to $1.97 trillion (exp. $2.01 trillion). Company said that double-digit net revenue growth was supported by health consumer spending as well as robust cross-border volume growth. Company reported adjusted operating profit at $4.04 billion, slightly higher than $4.02 billion expected. Adjusted operating margin coming in at 59.4% (exp. 58.7%). Mastercard reported adjusted EPS at $3.59, above analysts' expectations of $3.52.
Kraft Heinz (KHC.US) reported Q2 2024 net sales at $6.48 billion (exp. $6.55 billion), with organic revenue dropping 2.4% (exp. -1.8%). Organic volume growth came in at negative 3.4% (exp. -3.6%), with North America organic volume seeing the biggest drop of -4.2% (exp. -4.6%). Adjusted EPS was reported at $0.78, above analysts' expectations of $0.73. Company maintained its full-year forecasts and still expected organic net sales growth of -2% - 0%, and adjusted EPS of $3.01-3.07.
Starbucks (SBUX.US) reported a 0.6% YoY drop in Q2 2024 net revenue to $9.11 billion (exp. $9.2 billion), while operating income decline 4.2% YoY to $1.52 billion (exp. $1.53 billion). Operating margin of 16.7% was slightly higher than analysts' expectations (16.6%). Average ticket increased 2% YoY in Q2, in-line with market expectations, while comparable transactions were 5% lower (exp. -4.3%). Adjusted EPS of $0.93 was slightly higher than expected ($0.92).
Starbucks (SBUX.US) launched today's trading higher in spite of reporting lower-than-expected sales and operating profit. Stock launched today's trading with an over-4% price gap, breaking above the downward trendline. Source: xStation5
