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The Dow Jones Industrial Average extended its winning streak to six days on Wednesday. It’s the index’s longest winning streak so far this year.
The market started slow due to sluggishness in several tech stocks. As the day ended, major tech stocks such as Amazon, Nvidia, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, were in the red, dropping by 0.4%, 0.16%, and 1%, respectively.
The slow start followed Federal Reserve policymaker Neel Kashkari’s statement that interest rates are likely to stay at historic highs for a while. Later in the afternoon, Lisa Cook, another Fed official, refrained from commenting on the outlook for interest rates. However, she did mention that she is keeping an eye on the increasing delinquency rates on auto loans and credit card debt.
Bullish sentiment remains, as Deutsche Bank reported an increase in stock buybacks. Deutsche Bank says stock buybacks have reached $262 billion this earnings season, Yahoo Finance reports, a sign of Corporate America’s confidence in the economy. Companies have repurchased more than $383 billion in shares over the past 13 weeks, according to Deutsche Bank research reported by Yahoo. This marks a 30% increase from the same period last year and is the highest level since June 2018.
The Dow rose 172 points, or 0.4%, to 39,056 as the market closed. The S&P 500 was flat, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.18%.
AMC Entertainment and Robinhood will release their quarterly reports after markets close.
Shopify plunges over 18% after it warns of a sales slowdown
E-commerce platform Shopify is expecting sales to slow down in the coming quarter, despite a double-digit increase during its first quarter.
Shares of Shopify plunged over 18% as the day ended as it reported first-quarter earnings, in which it warned that the sale of its logistics business, Flexport, would impact second quarter revenue.
For the first quarter, Shopify said it swung to a net income loss of $273 million, or $0.21 cents a share, compared with a profit $68 million, or $0.50 cents a share, it made during the same period last year.
Uber and Lyft are riding in opposite directions
Uber stock fell more than 5% by closing time as the company released lower-than-expected first-quarter results. By contrast, rival Lyft’s shares rose more than 7% as it reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Uber announced an unexpected net loss in its latest earnings report, along with lower bookings projected in the next quarter. The company’s net loss increased from $157 million to $654 million, resulting in a loss of 32 cents per share compared to 8 cents per share in the same quarter last year. On the other hand, Lyft exceeded expectations with adjusted earnings per share exceeding analysts’ consensus estimate, coming in at $0.15 versus $0.09 per share.
Reddit jumps after releasing its first earnings report
Reddit, the cheeky social media platform that serves as a bridge for thousands of forums, is having a better-than-expected inaugural earnings debut as a public company. The company crushed first-quarter earnings expectations. The company’s share price is significantly higher than its March IPO listing of $34 a share. The Reddit stock jumped 4% by the end of the day.
The DOJ is investigating Tesla’s autopilot system
Elon Musk’s comments about Tesla’s self-driving technology has landed him in hot water with the feds — again. Reuters, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reports that the Department of Justice is examining whether Musk and Tesla’s comments about the company’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology constitute securities fraud or wire fraud.
Investigators are looking into whether Tesla committed wire fraud by misleading consumers about the technology and whether Tesla committed securities fraud by deceiving investors, Reuters reports.
The stock of the EV maker was down 1.7% by closing time.
Intel and Qualcomm stocks drop after U.S. restriction
The Biden administration has increased its restrictions on sales of U.S. technology to Huawei Technologies as China’s leading technology firm draws more scrutiny. The move, first reported by The Financial Times on Tuesday, will curb some U.S. companies from selling chips to Huawei that are used in smartphones and laptops. The Department of Commerce confirmed to multiple media outlets that “certain licenses to export to Huawei” had been revoked.
Reuters, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reports that both Intel and Qualcomm have had their export licenses revoked. By the end of the day, Intel lost over 2%. On the other hand, Qualcomm shares recovered a bit, ending the day with a 0.2% jump.
-Francisco Velasquez and William Gavin contributed to the article