Stock Indexes Wrap: Strong Jobs Report Weighs on Commodities, Consumers, Homebuilders
4 hr 52 min ago
The Dow
3M (MMM) rose 2.7% after being upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” by Bank of America.
Apple (AAPL) added 1.2% ahead of its Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday when it’s expected to unveil several new AI features.
Consumer stocks weighed on the index, including Walmart (WMT), down 1.9%, and McDonald’s (MCD), down 1.8%.
The S&P 500
Air Products and Chemicals (APD) rose 3.6% after the company signed an agreement with TotalEnergies (TTE) to supply the French oil and gas firm with green hydrogen.
The financial sector outperformed on Friday. Capital One (COF) rose 2.6%, while Discover Financial (DFS) gained 1.8% and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) advanced 1.6%.
Eli Lilly (LLY) gained 1.5% after FDA researchers voiced no concerns about the company’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab. A special panel will meet next week to advise on the drug’s approval.
Gold miner Newmont (NEM) tumbled 5% as Treasury yields jumped and gold prices slumped following Friday’s jobs report. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), another major miner, shed 3.8% as copper prices sank.
Homebuilders declined as Friday’s jobs report threatened to keep interest rates on mortgages elevated longer than anticipated. PulteGroup (PHM) fell 2.5% and D.R. Horton (DHI) shed 2.4%.
Nvidia (NVDA) dipped 0.1% ahead of its 10-for-1 stock split, which will take effect before markets open on Monday.
The Nasdaq 100
Cybersecurity stocks rose across the board on Friday. CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD) gained 2.5%, while Palo Alto Networks (PANW) advanced 2% and ZScaler (ZS) rose 1.2%.
Biogen (BIIB) fell 2.8% following the FDA’s assessment of Eli Lilly’s donanemab, which would compete directly with Biogen’s Leqembi if approved.
Chip stocks slipped as rising Treasury yields weighed on growth stocks. ASML Holding (ASML) fell 2.3% and Qualcomm (QCOM) shed 1.4%.
What Could Friday’s Stock Split Do for Nvidia?
5 hr 57 min ago
Nvidia (NVDA) stock was little changed Friday ahead of a 10-for-1 split set to take effect after the close.
Nvidia shares traded at $1,208 with about an hour left in the session. If the stock were to close at that price, shares would open at a price of about $120.80 and investors would have ten times as many shares on Monday morning.
After a stock split, some investors may view the stock’s price as more affordable and decide to buy, driving up demand and in turn leading to a rise in the stock’s price. For instance, when Amazon (AMZN) executed a 20-for-1 stock split in 2022, shares rose in the days following the split.
A stock split can also signal to the market that the company’s stock price has been increasing enough to justify the move and investors may believe this growth will continue in the future.
“Historically, stock splits are bullish for companies that enact them, gaining 25% one year later vs. 12% for the broad index,” according to Bank of America research.
The split could also raise Nvidia’s chances of joining an index like the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), as price-weighted indexes like the Dow tend to avoid adding high-priced stocks because movements in their price could have an outsized impact on the index.
Vail Resorts Stock Tumbles as Low Snowfall Impacts Q3 Results
6 hr 49 min ago
Shares of Vail Resorts (MTN) headed downhill Friday, a day after the operator of ski resorts posted worse-than-expected results and cut its guidance as a lack of snowfall reduced demand.
The company reported third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings per share (EPS) of $9.54, with revenue increasing 3.6% year-over-year to $1.28 billion. Both were short of analysts’ estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kirsten Lynch said Vail faced “unfavorable conditions across our North American resorts for a large portion of the 2023/2024 North American ski season.” She noted year-over-year snowfall totals were about 28% lower for the full winter season across the company’s western North American resorts.
Vail now sees full-year net income attributable to the company in a range of $224 million to $256 million, down from the previous outlook of $270 million to $325 million.
Vail Resorts shares traded down 11.3% Friday afternoon, near their lowest point since the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
GameStop Slides Further During Roaring Kitty Livestream
7 hr 53 min ago
Trading in shares of GameStop (GME) was halted multiple times Friday afternoon as meme-stock influencer Keith Gill hosted his first livestream in more than three years, fueling wild swings in the video game retailer’s stock price.
Gill, who goes by Roaring Kitty online, started streaming at about 12:25 p.m. and quickly amassed an audience of more than 600,000 viewers as he discussed in vague terms his confidence in GameStop and its CEO Ryan Cohen.
GameStop shares tumbled Friday morning after the company unexpectedly reported its quarterly earnings days before their scheduled release. GameStop’s revenue and earnings fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Shares tumbled further during Gill’s livestream in erratic, start and stop trading.
Friday’s losses had erased more than $235 million from Gill’s position, which he first revealed on Sunday, as of 12:58 p.m. Still, Gill’s portfolio showed an unrealized gain of more than $146 million.
GameStop shares were down more than 38% as of 1:10 p.m. ET, but were still up 57% so far this year.
Docusign Revenue, Future Billings Raise Concerns, and Stock Drops
8 hr 56 min ago
Docusign (DOCU) shares fell Friday, a day after the provider of document-signing software only slightly beat revenue estimates and its billing guidance raised concerns about growth.
The company posted first-quarter fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.82, with revenue increasing 7.3% year-over-year to $709.6 million.
Billings were up 5.2% to $709.5 million. For the current quarter, Docusign sees billings in a range of $715.0 million to $725.0 million, and between $2.98 billion and $3.03 billion for the 2025 fiscal year.
CFO Blake Grayson said that the company anticipates the second quarter will have the lowest year-over-year bookings growth rate in fiscal 2025, “primarily given comparisons vs. last year’s strong on-time renewal performance and the timing impacts of various customer contracts.”
Docusign also announced the board approved a $1 billion increase in the company’s share repurchase program.
Shares of Docusign fell 5% and have lost 13% of their value this year.
GameStop Slips After Unexpectedly Releasing Results, Issuing More Shares
9 hr 38 min ago
GameStop (GME) unexpectedly announced its first-quarter fiscal 2024 report before the bell Friday, with results falling short of analysts’ expectations, contributing to the stock’s recent volatility.
The company reported quarterly net sales of $882 million, down from $1.24 billion in the year-ago period and below analysts’ expectations of $900 million, according to consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.
Net losses came in at $32.3 million or 11 cents per share, narrowing from last year’s $50.5 million or 17 cents per share, but slightly wider than analysts’ projections.
GameStop also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing it would sell up to 75 million additional shares on top of the 45 million shares it recently sold for more than $900 million.
The unexpected earnings came hours before meme-stock influencer Keith Gill’s first livestream in three years, scheduled for noon ET Friday. Gill, known as “Roaring Kitty” on YouTube and “DeepF—ingValue” on Reddit, was one of the key players in the 2020 and 2021 meme-stock craze. Gill recently began posting again after a roughly three-year hiatus, sending GameStop shares surging and contributing to the stock’s volatility.
GameStop shares, which closed 47.5% higher Thursday, were down more than 28%. They have more than doubled this year, however.
Stocks Making the Biggest Moves in Early Trading
10 hr 55 min ago
Gains:
Lyft (LYFT): Shares rose 6%, continuing Thursday’s gains after the ridesharing company gave an optimistic long-term outlook at its first investor day.
Robinhood Markets (HOOD): Shares extended their gains and were up 1.2% after the online trading platform announced its acquisition of Bitstamp, a European cryptocurrency exchange, on Thursday.
Losses:
Docusign (DOCU): Shares fell 8% even as the e-signature and document management company posted top- and bottom-line results that beat analysts’ forecasts.
GameStop (GME): Shares, which have been halted twice this morning, dropped 6% after the video-game retailer unexpectedly issued results and announced plans to sell more stock for the second time in less than a month. The release came just hours before a YouTube livestream that meme-stock influencer Keith Gill has scheduled for noon ET Friday.
Nvidia (NVDA): Shares in the AI star fell 1.3% ahead of the chip designer’s 10-for-1 stock split after market close, with split-adjusted trading to begin on Monday.
Stock Futures Fall
12 hr 13 min ago
Dow futures were down 0.3% in premarket trading Friday.
S&P futures were down 0.4%.
Nasdaq futures were down 0.3%.
