Amazon and Apple reported quarterly results today
Wall Street is pointed higher Friday morning, as investors unpack Big Tech earnings and a highly-anticipated employment report. The U.S. economy added 187,000 nonfarm payrolls in July against an expected 200,000 increase, while the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 3.5% from 3.6%.
Investors are encouraged because the cooler-than-expected numbers reinforce the Fed's 'wait-and-see' approach to future interest rate hikes. In response, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) all have turned from negative to positive this morning after the report.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Options bulls buying the PayPal stock dip.
- Earnings and inflation data on tap next week.
- Plus, two Big Tech earnings in focus; plus Coinbase's results.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.5 million call contracts and 975,425 put contacts exchanged on Thursday. The single-session equity put/call ratio and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.62 and 0.65, respectively.
- Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock is 2.5% lower in electronic trading, after the Big Tech firm posted a third-straight quarterly decline in revenue on falling sales of its hardware products. The company's earnings and revenue still managed to best Wall Street's estimates. AAPL closed yesterday's session with a 47.1% year-to-date lead.
- Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock is on track to add to its impressive 53.5% year-to-date gain -- up 8.6% ahead of the open -- after the company reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that bested analysts' forecasts. The e-commerce giant also issued a sunny current-quarter revenue guidance.
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Shares of crypto exchange
Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) are 1.5% lower in premarketing trading, even after the firm beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations. In 2023,
Coinbase stock is up 156.4%.
- The week wrapped up with this morning's jobs data.
Bank of America Weighs in on Chinese Equities
Asian markets are mostly higher on Friday, apart from South Korea’s Kospi, which slipped 0.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led the gainers with a 0.6% pop, with help from property and basic materials stocks, while China’s Shanghai Composite and Japan’s Nikkei tacked on 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. China announced that it will lift tariffs on Australian barley imports after three years, beginning tomorrow. It’s also worth noting that Bank of America’s China equities strategist, Winnie Wu, told CNBC that now is a good time to “buy the dip” on Chinese equities.
Stocks are mixed over in Europe, as investors still unpack yesterday’s rate hike from the Bank of England (BoE). German industrial orders rose in June, with help from the aerospace sector, while German lender Commerzbank is having a rough day after earnings. London’s FTSE 100 and the German DAX are both down 0.5%, while the French CAC 40 sits flat midday.