Alphabet's earnings beat is powering the stock market today
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is treading water at midday, as the latest corporate earnings reports share the spotlight with a well-received reading on second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP). The blue-chip index has spent time on both sides of breakeven, but had erased early morning losses at last check, as it looks to avoid a third straight loss. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are comfortably in the black, though, fresh off record highs thanks to an earnings beat from Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL).
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Keep an eye on these bank stocks if the Fed cuts rates next week, says KBW.
- Starbucks stock is buzzing after an earnings beat and bull notes.
- Plus, call traders eye post-earnings gains for Zynga; MGM breaks out on cost-cutting success; and Xilinx extends slide.
Zynga Inc (NASDAQ:ZNGA) is seeing accelerated options trading today. More than 25,000 calls have traded -- seven times what's typically seen at this point in the day, and 38 times the number of puts traded. Most of this action is occurring around the August 6 call, where new positions are likely being purchased. At last check, Zynga stock was up 1.3% to trade at $6.46, ahead of the mobile game developer's second-quarter earnings report, due out after the close next Wednesday, July 31.
One of the better stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today is MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM). The shares are up 5.9% to trade at $31.10, and earlier nabbed a fresh annual high of $31.68, after the casino name announced it was on track to hit its 2020 cost-cutting goal. This overshadows a second-quarter earnings miss, and has prompted several price-target hikes, including one to $37 at Instinet.
One day removed from a subpar quarterly report, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ:XLNX) is down 3.3% to trade at $123.36 today. While the chip name is heading toward a 7% loss in the last two days, it's still on pace for a weekly win , and has seen this pullback contained near its ascending 20-day moving average.
