- Wall Street opens lower
- US100 pulls back after tech earnings
- Paramount jumps on takeover offer
Wall Street indices launched today's trading lower, responding to a somewhat disappointing earnings from Alphabet, AMD and Microsoft released yesterday in the evening. Nasdaq and Russell 2000 were top laggards at Wall Street session open, dropping around 1% each. S&P 500 traded around 0.5% lower while Dow Jones gained 0.1%.
ADP report for January released earlier today showed a weaker-than-expected employment growth of 107k (exp. 145k). However, the main macro event of the day is still ahead of us - FOMC rate decision at 7:00 pm GMT, followed by Powell's presser at 7:30 pm GMT.
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Source: xStation5
Nasdaq-100 futures (US100) took a hit yesterday in the evening, following release of Alphabet and Microsoft earnings after Wall Street session close. While the index managed to break above the upper limit of a local market geometry on Monday, advance was halted at the 17,735 pts resistance. Index turned lower later on and plunged below 17,450 pts support zone overnight. US100 reached the lowest level since January 19, 2024 but an attempt to recover part of the losses can be spotted this afternoon. The first attempt to break back above the aforementioned 17,450 pts price zone turned out to be a failure but the index remains nearby.
Company News
Boeing (BA.US) reported Q4 2023 earnings before the opening of the Wall Street session today. Company reported Q4 revenue at $22.02 billion (exp. $21.06 billion), with sales beats reported in all 3 main business units. Adjusted free cash flow of $2.95 billion was also higher than $2.09 billion expected. Operating cash flow during the quarter reached $3.38 billion, also above $2.49 billion expected. Core loss per share came in at $0.47 while analysts expected a loss of $0.76 per share. While results were better-than-expected, Boeing decided to suspend the 2024 forecast, saying that now is not the time to share financial objectives.
Mastercard (MA.US) reported Q4 2023 earnings ahead of the Wall Street session today. Company reported net revenue at $6.55 billion, slightly above market expectations $6.5 billion) as well as adjusted EPS of $3.18 (exp. $3.08). Operating expenses of $3.18 billion turned out to be higher than $2.91 billion expected, and translated to a weaker-than-expected operating margin of 51.5% (exp. 55.9%). Cross-border volumes increased 18% YoY (exp. 18.3%) while purchase volume increased 11% YoY (exp. 10.6%). Total purchase volume reached $1.92 trillion. Company expects Q1 net revenue growth in the low-end of low-double-digits, as well as minimal uptick in operating expenses.
Paramount Global (PARA.US) is trading over 10% higher at the beginning of Wall Street session today. Bloomberg reported that media mogul Byron Allen made a $14.3 billion offer to buy all outstanding shares of the company. Allen offers to pay $28.58 for each voting share and $21.53 for each non-voting share.
Analysts' actions
- SoFi Technologies (SOFI.US) downgraded to 'underweight' at Morgan Stanley. Price target set at $6.50
- Plug Power (PLUG.US) upgraded to 'buy' at Roth MKM. Price target set at $9.00
Paramount Global (PARA.US) launched today's trading with a big bullish price gap, responding to Bloomberg report on Byron Allen bid. Stock opened above 50- and 200-session moving average, and reached the highest level in over a month. A key near-term resistance can be found in the $16.00 area. Source: xStation5
