The markets sent mixed messages to close on Thursday, which was a big earnings day in the tech sector. The Nasdaq closed 0.43% higher, while the S&P 500 was down 0.37% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.85%. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index saw 2.2% dip.
Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook jumped in extended trading as results crushed Wall Street estimates. Apple also announced a 4-1 stock split and rallied up above $400 per share. The Apple stock split is set for August 31, 2020.
“Apple’s earnings report was breathtaking,” said Andrew Smith, the chief investment strategist at Delos Capital Advisors. “Double-digit revenue growth during a quarter which saw most of the U.S. economy shutdown is remarkable. This earnings report shows that Apple is firing on all cylinders. Apple’s stock crossed the symbolic $400 a share threshold in after-hours trading, boosted by a four-for-one stock split, which was icing on the cake for investors.”
Alphabet saw their shares tip about 1% higher, Amazon ran up above $3250 per share at its peak, and Facebook topped $250 at the time of publishing. Friday is expected to send the Nasdaq into a rally into the weekend.
United Parcel Service Inc., or UPS, jumped to a record on results that blew past estimates. U.S. residential shipments jumped 65% as e-commerce continues its growth thanks to COVID-19. They rallied to close the day up 14.38%.
“It’s shocking no matter how you look at it,” stated Randy Frederick, the vice president of trading and derivatives for the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “Are things going to get better from here? I don’t think we know just yet. The virus is getting worse in a lot of areas, and some places have started to shut back down again. If you look at earnings in terms of beat rates, the results have actually been pretty good, granted the expectations bar has been set very low.”
Johnson & Johnson’s experimental coronavirus vaccine protected a group of monkeys with a single injection, they are expected to start trials in humans this month. It only sent the stock 0.20% higher.
The U.S real estate industry shrunk, nearly half, in the first half of the year as the COVID-19 pandemic rattled sentiments about investments. The total value of deals shrunk significantly as the number of transactions also more than halved as people scampered for safety, given the uncertainty fuelled by the pandemic. This marked the weakest performance in the U.S real estate sector over the past five years.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries went down four basis points to 0.54%. The euro increased 0.4% to $1.1841. West Texas Intermediate crude softened 2.8% to $40.13 a barrel. Gold fell 0.8% to $1,954.24 an ounce.
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