Today’s highlights
- A mixed day on Wall Street
- Big tech post earnings
- UK100 slumps
Wall Street ends mixed
The SPX500 and DJ30 were flat yesterday, while the NASDAQ100 fell 0.5%. In the SPX500 the energy sector had a standout day, adding 1.3%, while financial and industrial stocks also gained. Topping the index was UPS, which gained 10.4% after delivering a major earnings beat that surpassed analyst expectations by more than 60%. The firm is now up 15.3% in 2021, after adding more than 40% last year thanks to a surge in delivery volumes due to the pandemic. In the NASDAQ100, electronic design firm Cadence Design Systems, data platform Splunk, and Tesla were the biggest losers, at -8%, -4.9%, and -4.5% respectively. US markets today may be affected by the FOMC statement scheduled for 18:30 GMT and the press conference with Chair Jerome Powell 30 minutes later.
Alphabet jumps, Microsoft drops after earnings reports
Trillion dollar giants Alphabet (Google’s parent) and Microsoft saw their share prices head in opposite directions when delivering quarterly earnings after the closing bell yesterday. Alphabet was trading around 4% higher in after-hours trading, while Microsoft fell by a similar amount. It was an expectation-beating quarter for Alphabet, which beat analysts’ earnings and revenue predictions. YouTube advertising revenue of $6 billion was around 50% higher than the same quarter a year ago, while Google Cloud revenue grew 46% year-over-year to pass $4 billion. Microsoft also beat analyst expectations in its earning report, with its Azure cloud business growing at a similar rate to Google Cloud year-over-year, however, analysts were expecting an even bigger beat, which is why the stock fell after hours.
UK100 down despite bank stock bump
The UK100 closed marginally lower yesterday, with a positive day for bank stocks outweighed by 3% plus losses from firms including Rolls Royce and hospitality company Whitbread. Among bank stocks, HSBC led the way with a 4.2% daily gain. The jump came after HSBC beat first quarter earnings expectations, with profits up 79% from Q1 2020. HSBC also released $400 million in capital it had set aside for expected loan defaults. Lloyd’s Banking Group, NatWest Group and Standard Chartered were all also among the top 10 UK100 performers yesterday.
Other highlights
Bitcoin maintains positive momentum: The world’s largest crypto continued to climb since yesterday, adding more than 2% and trading well above $54,000 at time of writing. Several other top 10 cryptos also registered gains, including 4% bumps for both Ethereum and Binance Coin.
Oil seesaw continues: The black gold experienced some volatility to start the trading day, slipping as low as $60 and then climbing to around $63 at time of writing.
Asian markets mostly higher: While the China50 index was seen slightly lower this morning, both the JPN225 and HKG50 were nearly flat at time of writing.
More big tech earnings today: Both Apple and Facebook will be reporting their earnings today. Apple has had a mixed year so far share price wise, while Facebook’s share price has kept on rising, as it is up 11.1% in 2021 so far, despite the fact that it is currently facing an antitrust probe.
Biden’s comment lifts Novavax: President Joe Biden yesterday addressed the topic of vaccination in the US, specifically naming Novavax. As a result, the NVAX stock popped more than 16% yesterday, joined by other vaccine makers, such as Vaxart, which jumped more than 37%. Both stocks are part of the Vaccine-Med CopyPortfolio. For the most recent and significant price movements in markets, check out the Market Movers page.
Europe opens mixed: While the GER30 opened 4 points lower, the UK100 and FRA40 opened 19 and 9 points higher, respectively.
