Stocks End Mixed, S&P And Nasdaq 100 Both Make New All-Time Highs  Image: Bigstock Stocks closed mixed again yesterday with the Dow ending moderately lower, while the S&P and Nasdaq finished moderately higher. Although, unlike Tuesday, which saw stocks finish near their best levels of the day, they ended up finishing near their worst levels of the day yesterday. The day started off fine enough with ASML Holding, Amphenol, and Progressive all posting positive EPS surprises of 9.37%, 6.49%, and 24.4% respectively. Although, it's possible that the market may have gone a little too far too fast this week. Quite frankly, I was glad to see the market pull back by day's end. Yesterday's gap higher open was the second gap open this week. Too many gaps are not the best on a chart. Seeing the S&P fill that gap by the close actually strengthens the chart and the market. Although, yesterday's gap on the Nasdaq chart is still open. But it won't take much to fill it. After the close, Tesla reported earnings and posted a -5.33% negative EPS surprise, and a -2.97% negative sales surprise. That translated to a negative -40% quarterly EPS growth vs. the same quarter last year. As for sales, they were up 3.50% for quarter. But lower earnings and lower guidance on full-year vehicle production weighed on prices by roughly -6% in after-hours trade.
ServiceNow, however, posted a positive EPS surprise of 12.3%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.68%. They were up 1.33% in the regular session before earnings, but were off approximately -1% in after-hours. IBM also posted after the close and they reported a 2.38% positive EPS surprise, and a 0.59% positive sales surprise. They jumped more than 8% in after-hours trade. Today we'll hear from another 178 companies, including marquee names like Union Pacific, NextEra Energy, and The Blackstone Group reporting before the open, and Visa, Intel, and T-Mobile reporting after the close. In other news yesterday, MBA Mortgage Applications rose 3.7% w/w with Purchases up 7.5%, and Refi's down -7.0%. The PMI Composite Flash report showed the Composite Index at 52.3, with the Manufacturing Index at 50.3 vs. the consensus for 47.7, and the Services Index at 52.9 vs. the consensus for 51.0. And the Survey of Business Uncertainty showed businesses expecting Sales Growth to moderate slightly over the next 12-months to 3.90% vs. last month's estimate of 4.01%, and Employment Growth at 4.10% vs. last month's expectations for 4.24%. Today we'll get our first glance at Q4 GDP. Expectations are for 2.0%. We'll also get Durable Goods Orders, International Trade in Goods, Weekly Jobless Claims, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, Retail and Wholesale Inventories, New Home Sales, and the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index. But as I've been mentioning all week, the report everybody is really waiting for is Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. While it's expected to show inflation on the decline, just the like the CPI and PPI reports did from earlier this month, it's the last important data point before next week's FOMC announcement on January 31. It was another new all-time high again for the S&P, and the Nasdaq 100. Not by much, but new highs nonetheless. With 2 more days left in the week, the S&P and Nasdaq are both higher for the week, and the Dow is not far from doing the same. If they can all do it again, it will make it 3 up weeks in a row, and the 12th up week out of the last 13 weeks. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
Post a Comment
Post a Comment