- Stock futures are lower on Thursday after a bad day for markets.
- Apple and Amazon report gains after close of trading.
- Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett simply took Fitch’s US credit rating downgrade.
Here is the key news investors need to start the trading day:
The rise in the Dow Jones has experienced a burst of speed. Stock futures fell on Thursday, a day after the three major US indices fell amid Fitch’s decision to downgrade the US credit rating. The tech-driven Nasdaq fell more than 2% on its worst day since February. A surge in earnings, including from some of the world’s largest companies by market cap, will help guide how stocks fare later in the week. Follow live market updates here.
In another busy day of earnings reports, investors will be watching two tech giants most closely. Apple and Amazon will release their results after the bell. Shares of both companies have risen sharply this year along with the broader tech space: Apple is up 48%, while Amazon is up 52%. In Apple’s case, investors may be able to glean more from the company’s prospects than recent quarterly earnings. In notable pre-IPO results, Moderna’s shares rose after the company said revenue from Covid vaccines was better than expected this year – despite a sharp fall in sales of the vaccine in the second quarter.
Both Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett aren’t too concerned about Fitch’s ratings downgrade. JPMorgan Chase CEO told CNBC’s Leslie Picker that the decision “didn’t really matter” because the market is shaping the cost of borrowing. Meanwhile, Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick that his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway is buying government bonds. “There are some things people shouldn’t be worried about,” Buffett said of the downgrade. “This is one.”
Hopes for artificial intelligence and the necessary chips have boosted the technology sector this year. But the troubles in the market for semiconductors used in the devices we know have hit two big names in recent days. Qualcomm shares tumbled in premarket trading on Thursday after the company issued disappointing guidance due to its exposure to a flagging smartphone industry. Meanwhile, AMD shares closed 7% lower on Wednesday after the chipmaker said second-quarter revenue fell 18% on the back of a slowdown in the PC market.
Anheuser-Busch InBev beat earnings expectations in the second quarter despite continued backlash against its flagship Bud Light lager in the US. Price increases led to a jump in sales of more than 7% worldwide. In the US, however, revenue fell about 10%. Conservative social media users boycotted Bud Light after the brand partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, and backlash swept across the ideological spectrum after the company failed to defend its association with her.
– CNBC’s Brian Evans, Annika Kim Constantino, Hugh Son, Fred Imbert, Kif Living and Jenni Reid contributed to this report.
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