Stocks closed mixed yesterday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in the green, while the Dow, small-cap Russell 2000 and mid-cap S&P 400 were in the red.

Before the open, Eli Lilly reported earnings and posted a positive EPS surprise of 5.77%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.44%. That translated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 113% vs. this time last year, and a sales growth of 44.7%. They were up 3.74% on the news.

Philip Morris also reported before the bell and posted a positive EPS surprise of 2.65%, and a positive sales surprise of 3.67%. That equated to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 14.0%, and a sales growth of 7.29%. They soared by 11% after their report.

And Yum Brands posted before the open and reported a positive EPS surprise of 1.90%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.80%. That showed a quarterly EPS growth rate of 27.8%, and a sales growth of 15.7%. They jumped by 9.72% following their earnings.

After the close, Amazon posted a positive EPS surprise of 22.4%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.27%. That came out to a quarterly EPS growth rate of 84.2%, and a sales growth of 10.5%. But their guidance for the current quarter came in under estimates at a midpoint of $153.3 billion vs. $158.6B. Although, for context, that would still amount to a q/-4q growth rate of 6.97%. They were up 1.13% in the regular session before earnings, but were trading lower by roughly -5% in after-hours trade.

We also heard from Pinterest after the bell. They posted a negative EPS surprise of -11.1%, and a positive sales surprise of 1.37%. But EPS growth was up 5.66%, with sales growth up 17.2%. They also beat estimates on monthly active users at 553 million vs. the consensus for 549M, which translated to 11% user growth and an all-time high. And they upped their current quarter sales guidance by 1.03% above the consensus to a midpoint of $844.5M vs. the consensus for $835.9M. They were up 0.87% in the regular session, but soared by more than 20% in after-hours.

Today we'll hear from another 32 companies on deck to report. And then next week another 758.

In other news, yesterday's Weekly Jobless Claims were up 11,000 at 219,000 vs. estimates for 215K.

And the Challenger Job-Cut Report showed announced layoffs in January increasing to 49,795 vs. December's 38,792.

But the jobs report everybody is really waiting for is this morning's Employment Situation report. The consensus is calling for 158,000 new jobs being created last month (140K in the private sector and 18K in the public). That would be a slowdown from last month's 256,000 (223K private and 33K public), but still a decent enough showing. (The monthly average for 2024 was 186K per month with 149K in the private sector and 37K in the public.) The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.1%.

We'll also get the Wholesale Inventories report and Consumer Sentiment.

With one more trading day to go, all of the major indexes are up for the week. If they finish that way, it would be the fourth up week in a row for the Dow. And while it would only be one week in a row for the others, it would make 3 up weeks out of 4 for the S&P 500, Nasdaq, small-cap Russell 2000 and mid-cap S&P 400.

Best,