EB Daily Market Report - Brief Update - Wednesday, January 31, 2024
It's Fed Day and we're about to get the latest from Fed Chief Powell. That'll be at 2pm ET.
Earnings, well besides the upcoming Fed announcement, are taking center stage as more and more companies report their results. Between yesterday afternoon and this morning, many high-profile companies are moving in various directions, as Wall Street collectively evaluates these reports. Stocks surging after releasing earnings include Manhattan Associates (MANH, +10.10%), one of our Portfolio stocks, which easily surpassed its EPS estimate ($1.03 vs. $.80). Meanwhile, Extreme Networks (EXTR, -17.33%), one of the stocks I felt looked horrible at our recent Q4 Earnings event, is getting hammered after falling short on its EPS estimate ($.24 vs. $.27).
The more popular names that reported include Microsoft (MSFT, -1.38%), Alphabet (GOOGL, -6.27%), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, -2.16%), Starbucks (SBUX, +0.13%), Mastercard (MA, +1.35%), and Boeing (BA, +5.74%).
BA is the primary gainer keeping the Dow Jones barely in positive territory right now. Meanwhile, the other major indices are all lower and by varying amounts. The NASDAQ is today's worst performer as many technology (XLK, -1.23%) names are down in sympathy, or because of, software ($DJUSSW, -1.44%) and semiconductors ($DJUSSC, -1.31%). Internet stocks ($DJUSNS, -4.19%) are driving communication services stocks (XLC, -1.45%) lower, primarily due to GOOGL's poor earnings reaction.
Now it's Fed time. What will they say? What will they imply? And how will the market react? Well, it's nearing 2pm, so we're about to find out.
Happy trading!
Tom