Movers: Braze, Core & Main, Corteva, Eastman Chem, Evolution Petroleum, Rent the Runway, Starbucks

Barry Adams
13 Sep, 2022
New York City

Stocks plunged on Wall Street after the latest data showed how entrenched high prices have become in the broader economy. 

Consumer prices in August rose at a slower pace of 8.3% in August following a rise of 8.5% in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. 

Consumer prices in August rose 0.1% from July when prices were flat from the previous month.  

Consumer prices rose at a slower pace annually in August but still remained elevated and significantly above the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve.

Benchmark indexes have been rallying for a week on the hopes of cooling inflation and discouraging the Fed from lifting rates by another large amount. 

However, the latest elevated inflation report only strengthened the case for lifting key lending rates again by 75 basis points at the next Fed's meeting later this month. 

The S&P 500 index dropped 3.1% to 3,984.09 and the Nasdaq Composite index plunged 4.1% to 11,722.61. 

Crude oil declined 39 cents to $87.35 a barrel and natural gas rose 5 cents to $8.30. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes rose to 3.74%, 10-year notes advanced to 3.43%, and 30-year bonds to 3.54%. 

Braze Inc fell 18.8% to $35.38 after the cloud computing company reported revenue in the second quarter ending in July increased to $86.1 million from $55.8 million a year ago. 

Net loss in the quarter increased to $33.4 million from $12.4 million or 35 cents on 90 million shares from 60 cents or 20.3 million shares a year ago. 

Core & Main gained 3.5% to $25.36 after the company reported revenues in the fiscal second quarter ending in July soared 43.4% to $1.86 billion from a year ago. 

Net income in the quarter soared to $182 million from $10 a year ago. 

The net income increase is primarily attributable to higher operating income, the $50 million loss on debt modification and extinguishment and equity award modification expense, both of which occurred in fiscal 2021, and lower interest expense, partially offset by an increase in income taxes, according to the earnings release from the company. 

The company lifted its fiscal 2022 adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $840 to $890 million, representing annual growth between 39% and 47%.

Corteva Inc increased 1% to $62.72 after the agriculture science company said its board authorized a new share repurchase plan of $2 billion. 

The newly authorized program is in addition to the existing $1.5 billion program announced in August 2021, which had $650 million remaining as of the end of the second quarter. 

Eastman Chemical Company dropped 9.2% to $86.12 after the company lowered its adjusted earnings outlook for the third quarter to $2.0 from the previous estimate of $2.46. 

In the second quarter the chemical company reported revenue edged up to $2.78 billion from $2.65 billion and swung to a net profit of $2.03 a diluted share from a loss of $1.07 a share a year ago.