Stocks Advance with Earnings In Focus

Barry Adams
03 Aug, 2022
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street gained for the second day in a row and investors looked beyond the recent tensions between the U.S. and China. 

Stocks reacted to corporate earnings amid the worries of economic slowdown and steady drumbeat of Fed officials reiterating the central bank's commitment in lowering inflation to its target rate of 2%. 

The S&P 500 index added 0.7% to 4,121.72 and the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 1.5% to 12,528.20. 

Futures of crude oil increased 19 cents to $94.61 and natural gas rose a fraction to $7.70 a thermal unit. 

Starbucks Corporation increased 1.5% to $85.0 and the coffee chain operator said fiscal third-quarter revenues increased 9% to $8.15 billion. 

Net income fell to $912.9 million or 79 cents a share from $1.5 billion or 97 cents a share on higher wages and rising costs of raw materials. 

U.S. same store sales increased 9% driven by larger order size and 1% increase in traffic. The coffee chain also said customers are not trading down or reducing their spending. 

Match Group Inc plunged 20.9% to $60.67 after the online dating site operator reported weaker-than-expected revenues of $795 million in its latest quarter. 

The dating app operator also guided weaker revenues between $790 million and $800 million and adjusted earnings in the current quarter. 

The number of paid users increased 10% to 16.4 million with the average subscriber paying 3% more to $15.86. 

Airbnb Inc declined 5.5% to $109.88 after the vacation home rental booking platform said second quarter revenues jumped 58% to $2.1 billion. 

Airbnb swung to a profit of $379 million from a loss of $68 million in the year-ago quarter. 

The weaker-than-expected revenues disappointed investors despite Airbnb booking 103 million nights and experiences in the quarter. 

 

Eurozone Retail Sales Fall, PPI Soar 

European markets advanced and investors looked beyond the rising tensions between the U.S. and China after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded her visit to Taiwan. 

Eurozone retail sales unexpectedly declined in June as higher prices and surging inflation weighed on consumer spending. 

Eurozone retail sales volume declined 3.7% from a year ago and fell 1.2% from the previous month in June, according to the report released by the eurostat Wednesday. 

A separate report from the statistics office showed producer prices remained elevated in June. 

Producer prices surged 35.8% from a year ago and slowed from 36.2% in May. On a monthly basis, the prices rose 1.1% from May. 

The wholesale prices surged after energy prices surged 92.8%and excluding energy, producer price inflation eased to 15.6% from 16.0% a month ago.

The DAX index gained 0.4% to 13,507.98, the CAC-40 index increased 0.7% to 6,455.96, and the FTSE 100 index added 0.4% to 7,435.21.