Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by over 170 points after having its best session in three weeks on Tuesday. This comes as the Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate Banking Committee today. Powell’s testimony also comes a week after the central bank had raised interest rates by 0.75%, the biggest since 1994 to combat red-hot inflation. Revlon (NYSE: REV) is up by over 30% today after the cosmetics maker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.
Shares of Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) are down today after JMP Securities downgraded it to “Market Perform” from “Market Outperform”. Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) was upgraded by RBC Capital Markets to “Outperform” from “Sector Perform”. RBC cites that the residential property REIT will benefit from its focus on affluent renters. Also, shares of Winnebago (NYSE: WGO) are up today after it beat top and bottom-line estimates for its latest quarter. Also, Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) has launched new tools for its merchants along with a Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) tie-up to spur e-commerce.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are down by 0.10% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up by 0.10%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading lower on Wednesday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 0.10% while JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is also down by 0.48%
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up by 1.87% on Wednesday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are also up by 1.72%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is up by 1.79% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are trading higher as well today.
Dow Jones Today: U.S. Treasury Yields and Oil Prices Drop On Persistent Recession Worries
Following the stock market opening on Wednesday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading lower at 0.33%, 0.57%, and 0.04% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up by 0.25% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is down by 0.31%.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield edged lower to 3.15% today as concerns over a possible recession continue to weigh in on investor sentiment in recent weeks. Traders also rotated into bonds, pushing the 10-year Treasury price higher. Oil prices are also down today to around $105 per barrel. This comes before President Joe Biden’s expected announcement calling for a temporary suspension of the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. Gas prices remain at an elevated price of near $5 per gallon nationally.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today June 22, 2022
La-Z-Boy Stock Gains After Posting Record Sales In Latest Quarterly Earnings Update
On the earnings news front today we have La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB) or LZB, for short. This home furniture retailer is making headlines in the stock market thanks to its latest quarterly financial update. Diving in, the company posted commendable figures across the board for its first fiscal quarter. According to the press release, LZB’s earnings per share for the quarter are $1.07. Furthermore, the company’s total quarterly revenue is $684.57 million. For reference, this is versus consensus Wall Street figures of an earnings per share of $0.92 on revenue of $664.91 million.
Notably, LZB cites growing momentum in its retail sales as a key growth driver for the quarter. Speaking on this is CEO Melinda Whittington. She says, “Our company-owned Retail segment posted record sales for the year, in addition to record operating profit which more than doubled, while sales for direct-to-consumer Joybird increased 62% to a record $176M.” Whittington adds, “Our Wholesale segment delivered record sales, with strong sequential improvement on production execution and margins. We had a great finish to the year, including sequential quarterly improvement in operating margin.” Overall, with LZB posting a record quarter, investors would be focusing on LZB stock.
Looking forward, Whittington notes that LZB is focusing on reducing its backlog and shortening lead times. This alongside LZB’s “strong balance sheet,” she claims, will serve to help LZB proceed through the current uncertain operating environment. As such, it would make sense that LZB stock is in the limelight today.
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Sonoco Products Bumps Second-Quarter Estimates Following Strong Sales Results In April And May
Also in the news today is Sonoco Product (NYSE: SON). For the most part, this could be due to the company’s latest operational update. Before going into the details, Sonoco is a leading player in the global sustainable packaging industry. Through its operations, the company specializes in developing consumer, industrial, health care, and protective packaging. Namely, Sonoco, in its latest press release states that it is raising its second fiscal quarter profit guidance. Accordingly, the company’s earnings per share estimate is in a range of between $1.60 to $1.70. This would be above its previous guidance range of $1.20 and $1.30.
In detail, Sonoco notes that its “strong April and May results,” are a key motivator for the current guidance revision. On top of that, Sonoco also reports an encouraging sales forecast for June. According to the company, “Sonoco expects operating results to be significantly better than previously projected due to sustained customer demand, particularly in its Consumer Packaging and All Other segments, as well as continued strong performance in price recovery.” Also, there is the company’s newly acquired Metal Packaging business to consider as well. All in all, it seems like Sonoco is firing on all cylinders now. Because of this, investors may be watching SON stock ahead of the company’s second-quarter earnings call due July 21.
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