Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by 200 points. Investors are shaking off the jitters that have plagued them since the start of 2022. Today, WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove says that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1. However, it is not yet clear if the subvariant can reinfect people who have caught the earlier version of the Omicron strain. Researchers say that it is also more adept at infecting people who are vaccinated and even boosted. Shares of Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) are down today on the new Omicron subvariant news despite posting better-than-expected earnings.
Today, Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON) is down by 1.53% after surging more than 20% in the last two sessions. This comes after the company announced a restructuring plan that will include layoffs and the removal of its CEO, John Foley. The company will also be cutting about 2,800 jobs as it looks to revitalize sales. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) also got an upgrade from Daiwa Capital Markets today to an ‘Outperform’ rating.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up 0.25% today while Microsoft(NASDAQ: MSFT) is also up by 1.61%. 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading higher on Wednesday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) are trading higher as well at 1.87% and 0.69% respectively.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up by 1.33% on Wednesday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) and Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) are up by 1.28% and 2.92% respectively today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) opened higher at 2.79% and 6.87% respectively.
Dow Jones Today: 10-Year Treasury Retreats and Fed Rate Hikes
Following the stock market opening on Wednesday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading 0.96%, 0.72%, and 1.29% higher. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is gaining by 1.25% on Wednesday, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also up by 1.11%.
Today, the 10-year Treasury yield retreats after topping 1.96% on Wednesday, the highest since November 2019. This comes ahead of key consumer inflation data that will be released on Thursday. Tech stocks in particular, which have been under pressure from rising bond yields in January, have shrugged off these new highs and are rallying today.
Also, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic says that he anticipates hiking interest rates three or four times this year. However, he stressed that the central bank is not locked into a specific plan. “In terms of hikes for the interest rates, right now I have three forecast for this year,” he said. “I’m leaning a little towards four, but we’re going to have to see how the economy responds as we take our first steps through the first part of this year.”
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Enphase (ENPH) Stock Surges On Record Quarterly Revenue And Bright Outlook
Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH) seems to be the hottest name on the earnings front today. Following its fourth-quarter earnings call, the company’s shares are soaring by a massive 16.68% as of today’s opening bell. Understandably, all this is a result of the company posting stellar figures. In detail, Enphase posted an earnings per share of $0.73 on revenue of $412.7 million for the quarter. For comparison, this is versus analyst projections of $0.58 and $397 million respectively. If that wasn’t enough, the company posted its highest quarterly revenue to date as well.
Overall, the company notes that it has and continues to see strong customer demand for its microinverters. The likes of which serve as crucial components in home and commercial solar energy grids. Additionally, Enphase notes that shipments of its IQ Battery storage systems soared by 53% year-over-year. It seems that Enphase continues to grow as solar energy becomes an increasingly prominent component of the global green wave.
Not to mention, Enphase also appears to be confident about its current momentum moving forward. According to CEO Badri Kothandaraman, “overall customer demand for Q1 is quite robust for both microinverters and batteries.” At the same time, he adds that component availability continues to improve as well. In Kothandaraman’s words, “We [Enphase] are quite optimistic that our supply will catch up to demand during the year.” Now, Enphase is expecting to achieve revenue of between $420 million and $440 million in the current quarter. For one thing, this would handily top current estimates of $409 million. All in all, investors could be watching ENPH stock closely with Enphase firing on all cylinders now.
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Chipotle On The Rise As Digital Orders Boost Fourth-Quarter Sales
Another company in the news today would be Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG). Accordingly, this would be due to the company posting its fourth fiscal quarter earnings figures. Diving in, the fast-casual restaurant chain operator posted sizable gains across key metrics. For starters, it raked in a total revenue of about $1.96 billion for the quarter, in line with analyst estimates. This would add up to a year-over-year increase of about 22%. Furthermore, Chipotle is also looking at earnings of $5.58 per share now. Notably, this tops consensus projections of $5.25 and marks a respectable 60% year-over-year leap. Because of all this, CMG stock is currently gaining by 7.28% today.
In particular, another notable reading to consider in Chipotle’s latest quarterly report would be same-store sales. According to the company, same-store sales are up 15.2% year-over-year, beating Wall Street expectations of 14.8%. For the most part, the company cites a boom in digital sales, which account for 42% of sales, for its current performance. To highlight, CEO Brian Niccol also believes that Chipotle’s strong pricing power is another contributor to all this.
While all this is great, Chipotle does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon as well. In 2022, the firm plans to open somewhere between 235 to 250 new restaurants. Moreover, the company aims to implement drive-thru options at more than 80% of its locations by 2023. After considering all of this, I could understand the hype around CMG stock today.
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