The three major U.S. equity indexes closed higher on Tuesday, following a more-or-less steady path higher after the bell. The Dow Jones industrials ended the day up 1.07%, the S&P 500 closed 1.63% higher and the Nasdaq rose 2.25%. Ten of 11 sectors closed higher, led by real estate (3.94%) and materials (2.53%). Energy (−0.05%) was the only laggard, but not by much.
Wednesday brings the monthly report on new home sales. The consensus estimate calls for 575,000 sales in September, down from August’s total of 685,000. The government report on crude oil inventories will be released later in the morning. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported an inventory build of more than 4.5 million barrels for the week. Of that total, 3.4 million came from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The API also reported that gasoline inventories fell by about 2.3 million barrels and distillate inventories rose by 635,000 barrels.
The three major indexes traded lower in Wednesday’s premarket session.
After U.S. markets closed Tuesday, Google parent Alphabet missed on both the top and bottom lines, and the search engine giant said it is realigning resources to focus on high-growth priorities. Shares traded about 6% lower in Wednesday’s premarket.
Microsoft beat adjusted earnings per share (EPS) and revenue estimates. Like Alphabet, Microsoft is sharpening its focus and “managing our cost structure.” The company’s Azure cloud business is forecast to post lower revenue growth in the current quarter, and that pushed the stock down about 6% early Wednesday.
Enphase beat on both the top and bottom lines and raised fourth-quarter revenue guidance. Shares traded up about 5.8% Wednesday morning.
Visa also beat top-line and bottom-line estimates. The financial services giant also authorized a new $12 billion buyback program and raised its dividend by 20%. Shares traded up by nearly 2%.
Before markets opened Wednesday morning, Boeing missed on both the top and bottom lines. The aircraft maker posted a loss of $3.3 billion in the quarter. Free cash flow is on track to turn positive by the end of the year. Shares traded down more than 1%.
Bristol-Myers Squibb posted better-than-expected EPS and revenue and reaffirmed fiscal year guidance. Shares traded down about 0.5%.
Kraft Heinz beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines and reaffirmed full-year organic sales growth in the high single digits. Shares traded up 1.8% in Wednesday’s premarket.
After markets close Wednesday, Antero Resources, EQT, Ford and Meta Platforms will report quarterly results. Look for Altria, Cameco, Caterpillar and McDonald’s to report first thing Thursday morning.
Here is a preview of what analysts are expecting to hear from these five companies on Thursday afternoon.
Amazon
Since putting up a 52-week high in mid-November last year, shares of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) have dropped by more than 34%. Over the past 12 months, shares are down nearly 28%. Tuesday evening’s report from Microsoft on lower growth for its cloud business cost Amazon a premarket loss of nearly 4% on Wednesday. Amazon’s AWS cloud has been among the fastest-growing businesses for the e-commerce mega-cap, and a slowdown here may be only partially offset by the company’s still-young ad business.
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