Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by 500 points after rallying yesterday on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech. This comes after March’s 25 basis point rate rise. Diving in, the Fed has raised the interest rate by 50 basis-point, which is its biggest rate hike since 2000. Powell also ruled out a larger 75 basis point rate rise down the road. However, another 50 basis point increase was under consideration for its next two meetings in June and July. Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is up today after Elon Musk detailed $7.2 billion in financing to buy the company, according to a SEC filing.
Shares of Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) are down by over 14% today after it missed quarterly earnings at $0.20 per share instead of the consensus estimate of $0.64. The company also gave a conservative outlook as lockdown-inspired growth slows amid the absence of new consumer stimulus money. Fastly (NYSE: FSLY) is also down by over 12% today after reporting wider-than-expected losses. The company has also announced a leadership transition and succession plan to search for its next CEO.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple are down by 2.79% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also down by 2.62%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading lower on Thursday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 1.76% while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is also down by 1.68%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 3.20% on Thursday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are also down by 7.72%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is also down by 5.88% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are trading lower today.
Dow Jones Today: U.S. Treasury Yields Breaches 3% After Fed Decision
Following the stock market opening on Thursday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading lower at 1.90%, 1.53%, and 2.90%. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is down by 2.98% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also down by 1.98%.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield breaches the 3% mark again despite the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicating that the central bank will not get even more aggressive in raising rates. The government also reported on Thursday that first-time jobless claims rose more than expected to 200,000. Continuing claims, fell to 1.38 million, the lowest level since January 17, 1920. On Friday, the government will also publish the April employment report. Labor productivity fell by 7.5% in the first quarter, the biggest decline since 1947 while labor costs soared as the U.S. struggles with surging coronavirus cases.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today May 5, 2022
Shell Quarterly Profit Surges To 14-Year High As Commodity Costs Rise
Shell (NYSE: SHEL) is coming into focus at today’s opening bell after reporting its first-fiscal quarter. Getting straight to it, the oil giant posted its highest profit since 2008. To be precise, the company is looking at earnings of $9.1 billion for the quarter. This would represent a year-over-year jump of over 184%. As you can imagine, this is thanks to an uptick in commodity prices amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Shell, however, continues to serve a crucial role as global energy demand rises.
Not forgetting, the company is also actively working to return capital value to its shareholders as well. For starters, Shell is raising its dividend by 4% to $0.25 per share for the quarter. The company’s board of directors is also authorizing an $8.5 billion share buyback plan for its first half. According to Shell, the remaining $4.5 billion share buyback program on its books is set for completion before the announcement of its second-quarter earnings. All in all, it seems like Shell is going from strength to strength. Because of this, SHEL stock is now gaining by over 4% at today’s market open.
[Read More] 4 Top Oil Stocks To Watch In The Stock Market Today
Twilio Shines Following Revenue Beat And Strong End To Fiscal Year
Also in the news today is Twilio (NASDAQ: TWLO). For the most part, the cloud communications service provider is currently receiving plenty of attention from its latest quarterly financial update. In it, the company broke even on the earnings per share front. When you compare this to consensus analyst forecasts of a $0.21 loss, this is rather commendable. Moreover, Twilio’s total revenue for the quarter is also in at $875.4 million, a notable 48% year-over-year increase. This would also see Twilio beating consensus revenue projections of $863.81 million. Not to mention, the company’s revenue dollar-based net expansion rate (RDNER) skyrocketed by 126% year-over-year. With fourth-quarter figures like this, Twilio would be looking at a rather solid fiscal year.
Speaking of fiscal year performances, the company’s annual revenue is up by 61% year-over-year, totaling $2.84 billion. On top of that, Twilio’s RDNER for the year surged by 131% over the same period. All of which the company has over 268,000 active users to thank for. Explaining Twilio’s current success is CEO Jeff Lawson. He highlights, “The combination of our leading cloud communications platform with Twilio Segment’s #1 customer data platform gives Twilio an unparalleled view into the customer journey, and I’ve never been more excited about the future of the company than I am today.”
Overall, as work environments continue to shift towards a mix of physical and digital offices, Twilio’s communication offerings could gain traction. In fact, according to a recent study by Twilio, organizations that invested in digital customer engagement saw their revenues grow by 70% last year on average.
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