Stock markets tried to brush off Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s repeated commentary on Wednesday. The S&P 500 (SPY), Nasdaq (QQQ), and Russell 2000 (IWM) opened higher, only to lose momentum.
ASML posted a sharp drop in bookings in the first quarter. Shares only fell by around 7%, despite net bookings falling by 60.6%. Net sales fell by 21.5% Y/Y to EUR 5.29 billion. CFO Roger Dassen said the firm posted strong six-month order intake figures. CEO Peter Wennick said that the outlook for 2024 does not change.
Among the Magnificent Seven technology stocks, Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft (MSFT) slipped. Watch out for weakness in Netflix (NFLX). A severe bear market for traditional streaming media firms – Warner Bros Disc. (WBD) and Paramount (PARA) might pull NFLX stock lower.
Travellers Companies (TRV), an insurance firm, may have value after sellers responded to the weak Q1 results. The firm reported higher catastrophe losses.
United Airlines Flies Higher
UAL shares rose in the 15% range yesterday. It posted a smaller loss than markets expected. Conversely, J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT) after posting disappointing results
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Brian Belski BMO Capital Markets speculated that higher rates do not mean a stock pullback. Readers should be wary of this optimistic view. Stock markets expected at least six interest rate cuts last Dec. 2023. They may not get more than one or two cuts in 2024.
