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Markets Tear Off the Lid in Hump-Day Trading

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Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Markets were looking for some closure on the election, and boy did they get it! A decisive win for Donald Trump and the Republican Party in both the White House and Congress will likely usher in very aggressive pro-business policies.

As a result, new all-time closing highs across the board: the Dow rose +1508 points, or +3.57%, the S&P 500 was up +146 points, +2.53%, the Nasdaq +544, +2.95% and the small-cap Russell 2000 an astonishing +131 points, or +5.83%! Bond yields remained heated at 4.439% on the 10-year and 4.278% on the 2-year.

Normally when you see small-cap stocks shoot up like this, you don’t see bond yields rising, too. But the bond yields are pricing in a more expensive reality than what we saw not two months ago (3.64% on the 10-year on September 16th), and small-caps appear to have some built-in advantages based on Trump campaign promises.

For instance, because small-cap stocks are almost always domestic in origin and market, tariffs on goods coming from elsewhere won’t be affected. Also, a deregulatory environment for industries like regional banks and biotech — both well-represented in the Russell 2000 — will also provide a tailwind for small-caps.
 

Q3 Earnings Reports at a Glance: QCOM, SHOP, ELF, GILD


Qualcomm (QCOM - Free Report) reported solid fiscal Q4 beats on both top and bottom lines this afternoon. Earnings of $2.69 per share easily surpassed the $2.56 in the Zacks consensus. Revenues of $10.24 billion outperformed the $9.90 billion analysts were looking for, +18% year over year.

Guidance for next quarter is also good: a range of $2.85-3.05 per share nicely usurped the $2.79 estimates, with $10.5-11.3 billion expected on the top line, ahead of the $10.50 billion expected. The company has $1 billion left on its previous stock repurchase program, and will be adding another $15 billion for the next tranche. Shares are up +7% in early trading.

Check out the updated Zacks Earnings Calendar here.

e.l.f. Beauty (ELF - Free Report) reported eye-popping outperformances this afternoon, as well. A headline of 77 cents per share outshined the 45 cents expected, or revenues of $301 million that was far superior to the $291.2 million anticipated, +40% year over year. Full-year guidance remained in-line with earlier Zacks estimates, but shares are up +9% in late trading. 

Gilead Sciences (GILD - Free Report) also posted superior results in its Q3 report after the bell. Earnings of $2.02 per share went beyond the expected $1.58, with $7.5 billion in revenues outpacing the $7.5 billion. The company also raised product sales guidance and saw double-digit growth in its HIV line across the board. Shares are up +3.3% in the after-market.

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