Yiwen Lu8/14/24

US stocks gain, erase entire drop since jobs report

The S&P 500 was up 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 eked out a small gain of 0.1% in the final minutes of trading, after the closely-watched CPI report showed inflation came in below expectations.

The benchmark US stock index has now made back all the losses it suffered in the wake of the surprisingly soft July jobs report.

The annual rate of CPI inflation last month was down to 2.9%, lowest since March 2021. Excluding food and energy, rose 3.2% compared to one year ago.

Financials were the best-performing S&P sector ETF, led by soaring shares of Progressive Corp., which hit an all-time high after the company posted strong results for the month of July, as well as big gains for Allstate and Charles Schwab. Communications Services was the worst performing sector, while consumer discretionary was the only other sector to go negative on Wednesday.

An index that tracks the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks, which had gained 7.5% in the last four trading days, gave back 0.5% on the session.

Kellanova was the top S&P gainer, up 7.8% at Wednesday’s closing. The stock surged after Mars, the owner of M&Ms and Dove, agreed to buy the owner of Cheez-Its and Pringles for nearly $36 billion, the year’s biggest deal to date.

Conversely, Albemarle Corp. lost the most among all S&P stocks, down 5.7%. The company is the world’s biggest producer of lithium, a critical metal used in batteries. But as global EV demand dropped over the past year, lithium prices have tumbled.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

US job growth falls far short of estimates in June; unemployment rate unexpectedly dips to 4.2%

Job growth was 57,000. Analysts foresaw job growth of 113,000; prediction markets were more optimistic, looking for job growth above 125,000 but below 150,000.

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Meta surges on report it’s starting a cloud business to sell excess AI compute

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).
Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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