Stocks were mixed Friday, with tech trailing after soaring yesterday following Nvidia’s fourth-consecutive earnings report to blow past Wall Street’s expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.4% higher Friday, while the S&P 500 added 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.2%.
Nvidia (NVDA) briefly jumped above a $2 trillion market capitalization in early trading, making it only the fourth U.S. company to reach the milestone. The company added $270 billion to its market cap yesterday in the largest ever single-day jump in market value.
Shares of fintech Block (SQ) jumped after posting a surprise fourth-quarter profit, while Intuitive Machines (LUNR) soared after its lander, Odysseus, became the first U.S.-made craft to touch down on the surface of the moon in one piece since 1972.
Nvidia’s earnings yesterday sparked a broad rally that took the S&P 500 and the Dow to record highs and put the Nasdaq Composite just 0.1% off its record close.
Block Stock Surges on Surprise Quarterly Profit and Guidance Beat
12 minutes ago
Shares in Block (SQ) surged Friday morning after the payments fintech posted a surprise quarterly profit and better-than-expected current-quarter and full-year outlook on expectations of growth in its Cash App business and benefits reaped from cost-cutting initiatives.
The Oakland, California-based company posted fourth-quarter net income of 2 cents per share, which compares to a loss of 93 cents a share in last year’s corresponding quarter. Analysts had expected the company to disclose a loss of 1 cent a share.
Looking ahead, the company said it projects adjusted earnings to range between $570 million and $590 million in the current quarter, with the lower end of that forecast coming in comfortably above analysts’ modeling at $511.76 million. For the full year, the company expects to generate an adjusted profit of $2.63 billion, above Wall Street’s expectation of $2.40 billion.
In early January, Block’s 50-day moving average crossed up above its 200-day moving average to form a golden cross buy signal. More recently, the price has consolidated between the two closely watched indicators in the lead-up to the company’s earnings report.
In the days ahead, it’s worth keeping an eye on the $80 level—an area that may provide resistance from a trendline connecting several prominent swing highs over the past 18 months. A volume-backed breakout above this key resistance region could mark the start of a new trend higher.
Intuitive Machines Stock Soars After Spaceship Makes Historic Moon Landing
1 hr 4 min ago
Intuitive Machines (LUNR) shares skyrocketed in early trading Friday after the commercial space startup’s lander made a historic moon landing.
The Houston-based company’s spacecraft—named Odysseus after the mythological Greek hero—landed Thursday night, with the firm posting on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) that the spaceship was “upright and starting to send data.”
The landing marks the first time a U.S.-made spaceship has touched the moon’s surface in one piece since 1972 when NASA completed the final Apollo astronaut visit. It is also the first time a private firm has successfully landed an intact spacecraft on the moon.
Intuitive Machines shares were trading 22.6% higher at $10.28 Friday morning, and have more than tripled in value so far this year.
Nvidia Market Cap Tops $2T
1 hr 53 min ago
Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose over 4% at the open, propelling its market capitalization above $2 trillion.
Nvidia’s path to $2 trillion has been 25 years long, but the first trillion was the hardest. The company went public in January 1999 and it took it more than 24 years to climb to $1 trillion, which it reached last May. The climb from $1 trillion to $2 trillion took just 270 days.
Nvidia’s stock price has more than tripled in the last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence and, subsequently, the advanced semiconductors in which Nvidia specializes.
Nvidia is just the fourth U.S. company to touch $2 trillion. Apple (AAPL), which closed above $2 trillion on Aug. 20, 2020, was the first to get there. It was followed by Microsoft (MSFT), which crossed the threshold on June 22, 2021. Google Parent Alphabet (GOOGL) briefly got there on Nov. 8, 2021, but it has never closed above $2 trillion.
The only other company in the world to have achieved such a high valuation is Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia.
Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket
2 hr 48 min ago
Gains:
- Intuitive Machines Inc. (LUNR): Shares of the space exploration company soared 40% after its lander, Odysseus, successfully touched down on the surface of the moon, becoming the first U.S.-made lander to do so in more than 50 years.
- Carvana Co. (CVNA): Shares of the used-car seller jumped 25% after it reported its fourth-quarter loss narrowed from a year ago. It also said it would achieve $100 million in EBITDA this year.
- Block Inc. (SQ): The fintech’s shares gained 15% after it reported a surprise profit in the fourth quarter and offered an upbeat full-year outlook, citing growth in its Cash App business and the benefits of cost-cutting measures.
Losses:
- Warner Bros Discovery Inc. (WBD): Shares tumbled 10% after the entertainment company reported a larger-than-expected loss and disappointing revenue in the fourth quarter.
- MercadoLibre Inc. (MELI): Shares slumped more than 8% after the Latin American e-commerce giant reported lower-than-expected profit following two one-off tax charges, overshadowing a 42% increase in revenue.
- Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG): Shares of the online travel services company fell 7% after its current-quarter gross bookings and profit guidance fell short of expectations, overshadowing its fourth-quarter earnings beat.
Index Futures Inch Up From Record Highs
3 hr 25 min ago
Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1% in premarket trading on Friday.
S&P 500 futures also tacked on 0.1%.
Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed about an hour before markets opened.
