We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. By pressing "Accept All" or closing out of this banner, you consent to the use of all cookies and similar technologies and the sharing of information they collect with third parties. You can reject marketing cookies by pressing "Deny Optional," but we still use essential, performance, and functional cookies. In addition, whether you "Accept All," Deny Optional," click the X or otherwise continue to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, revised from time to time.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
We hit the ground running in this morning’s pre-market. Q2 earnings season for the next four weeks will bring us key performance numbers from all manner of publicly traded equities, while key economic data helps us interest-rate prognosticators keep tabs on the odds of a pending interest rate cut. The Dow, coming off an all-time closing high yesterday, is up another +150 points at the hour, the S&P 500 is +16 and the Nasdaq is +62 points at this hour.
If we’re hoping for a July rate cut, we can uncross our fingers now. This morning’s Retail Sales for June were much stronger than forecast, and only a downward surprise was going to put a rate cut this month (July 31st, two weeks from tomorrow) back on the table. A headline number of 0.0% last month beats the anticipated -0.4%, and the previous month’s revision to +0.3% is 20 basis points (bps) higher than the initial print in May.
Ex-auto sales, we jump 30 bps from expectations. This +0.4% headline ramps above the +0.1% revision from the prior month, which swung to a positive from the -0.1% reported a month ago. Ex-autos and gas, this number leaps to +0.8%, a half-point ahead of the upwardly revised +0.3% for May. The Control number, which gets filed up the economic report tallies like PCE (out a week from this Friday) came in at +0.9%, the highest we’ve seen since +1.2% in April of 2023.
Import Prices were also higher than expected. Another 0.0% headline beat the -0.2% analysts were looking for, and the prior month’s originally reported -0.4% has been halved to -0.2% on revision. Ex-fuel imports, we swing to +0.2% from -0.2% anticipated. Year over year, +1.6% on imports is the highest print since December 2022, with the May revision moving up 30 bps to +1.4%. Exports came in at -0.5% month over month, up from a downwardly revised -0.7% in May, with year-over-year up 20 bps to +0.7%.
Q2 earnings reports among major corporations put up solid beats. Bank of America ((BAC - Free Report) beat earnings estimates by +5% to 83 cents per share, though still below the year-ago 88 cents reported. This is the seventh earnings beat in a row for the Charlotte, NC-based big bank. Revenues of $25.38 billion beat estimates by +0.76%. Shares are up +1.4% on the news this pre-market, adding to the +24.4% gained year to date.
Morgan Stanley ((MS - Free Report) handily outpaced estimates. Earnings of $1.82 per share in Q2 easily surpassed the $1.65 in the Zacks consensus (and $1.24 per share reported in the year-ago quarter), while revenues of $15.02 billion took out projections for $14.18 billion. Yet shares are down -3% on lower Wealth Management numbers and a decline in interest income. Morgan Stanley had been up +12% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500.
UnitedHealthcare ((UNH - Free Report) also beat expectations in Q2. Earnings per share of $6.80 beat the expected $6.65 by +2.24%, while revenues of $98.86 billion narrowly outperformed estimates by +0.15%. Pre-market trading is up +2.6% at this hour, more than cutting in half the health insurance giant’s negative returns year to date. UNH had brought a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) rating into today’s earnings report.
After today’s open, we’ll get Business Inventories for May and a new Homebuilders Confidence Index for July. Both are expected to improve slightly month over month. It’s also the 10th Amazon ((AMZN - Free Report) Prime Day, which is estimated to fetch +7% from the year-ago returns of $12.5 billion. Since the original Prime Day, Amazon has added a holiday shopping sale in October as of two years ago and a Big Spring Sale earlier this year.
See More Zacks Research for These Tickers
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Image: Bigstock
Retail Sales Came in Better Than Expected
We hit the ground running in this morning’s pre-market. Q2 earnings season for the next four weeks will bring us key performance numbers from all manner of publicly traded equities, while key economic data helps us interest-rate prognosticators keep tabs on the odds of a pending interest rate cut. The Dow, coming off an all-time closing high yesterday, is up another +150 points at the hour, the S&P 500 is +16 and the Nasdaq is +62 points at this hour.
If we’re hoping for a July rate cut, we can uncross our fingers now. This morning’s Retail Sales for June were much stronger than forecast, and only a downward surprise was going to put a rate cut this month (July 31st, two weeks from tomorrow) back on the table. A headline number of 0.0% last month beats the anticipated -0.4%, and the previous month’s revision to +0.3% is 20 basis points (bps) higher than the initial print in May.
Ex-auto sales, we jump 30 bps from expectations. This +0.4% headline ramps above the +0.1% revision from the prior month, which swung to a positive from the -0.1% reported a month ago. Ex-autos and gas, this number leaps to +0.8%, a half-point ahead of the upwardly revised +0.3% for May. The Control number, which gets filed up the economic report tallies like PCE (out a week from this Friday) came in at +0.9%, the highest we’ve seen since +1.2% in April of 2023.
Import Prices were also higher than expected. Another 0.0% headline beat the -0.2% analysts were looking for, and the prior month’s originally reported -0.4% has been halved to -0.2% on revision. Ex-fuel imports, we swing to +0.2% from -0.2% anticipated. Year over year, +1.6% on imports is the highest print since December 2022, with the May revision moving up 30 bps to +1.4%. Exports came in at -0.5% month over month, up from a downwardly revised -0.7% in May, with year-over-year up 20 bps to +0.7%.
Q2 earnings reports among major corporations put up solid beats. Bank of America ((BAC - Free Report) beat earnings estimates by +5% to 83 cents per share, though still below the year-ago 88 cents reported. This is the seventh earnings beat in a row for the Charlotte, NC-based big bank. Revenues of $25.38 billion beat estimates by +0.76%. Shares are up +1.4% on the news this pre-market, adding to the +24.4% gained year to date.
Morgan Stanley ((MS - Free Report) handily outpaced estimates. Earnings of $1.82 per share in Q2 easily surpassed the $1.65 in the Zacks consensus (and $1.24 per share reported in the year-ago quarter), while revenues of $15.02 billion took out projections for $14.18 billion. Yet shares are down -3% on lower Wealth Management numbers and a decline in interest income. Morgan Stanley had been up +12% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500.
UnitedHealthcare ((UNH - Free Report) also beat expectations in Q2. Earnings per share of $6.80 beat the expected $6.65 by +2.24%, while revenues of $98.86 billion narrowly outperformed estimates by +0.15%. Pre-market trading is up +2.6% at this hour, more than cutting in half the health insurance giant’s negative returns year to date. UNH had brought a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) rating into today’s earnings report.
After today’s open, we’ll get Business Inventories for May and a new Homebuilders Confidence Index for July. Both are expected to improve slightly month over month. It’s also the 10th Amazon ((AMZN - Free Report) Prime Day, which is estimated to fetch +7% from the year-ago returns of $12.5 billion. Since the original Prime Day, Amazon has added a holiday shopping sale in October as of two years ago and a Big Spring Sale earlier this year.