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US stock futures hovered around the flatline on Thursday as Wall Street awaited another pulse check on inflation after Tuesday’s tepid figures sent rate-cut bets and markets soaring.
Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) mostly traded flat. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) also hovered around the flatline.
Stocks extended their rally Wednesday, pushing the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to consecutive record highs. Bitcoin got a boost from mounting rate-cut bets, too, reaching a new record high Wednesday evening before scaling back on those gains.
Euphoria over a possible September rate cut has swept Wall Street over the past two sessions after July’s Consumer Price Index report showed inflation rose as expected, but not dramatically. Traders have now fully priced in a rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting, even as some Fed policymakers continue to urge patience.
On Thursday, investors will be eager to see if July’s Producer Price Index (PPI) report falls in line with the CPI data that has boosted sentiment this week. A weekly update on jobless claims will also give a glimpse at the labor market.
Friday’s release on July’s retail sales numbers will this week’s final economic data point.
In corporate news, cryptocurrency exchange operator Bullish (BLSH) rose over 10% on Thursday before the bell, hovering around $77, more than double its IPO price of $37.
LIVE 6 updates
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Stocks may be at all-time highs, but speculative froth isn’t
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
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Amazon grocery push stocks still in focus
When Amazon (AMZN) goes big on something, usually the stock prices of its competitors get beaten up.
The latest example came on Wednesday
Amazon announced plans to expand its 1,000-city fresh and perishable same-day grocery delivery to 2,300 cities by year-end. This is a huge deal for the grocery industry. Albertson’s (ACI) and Kroger (KR) — aka traditional grocers — saw their share prices fall.
I think this is a big deal for the industry and for Amazon. The impact of Amazon’s move won’t be felt overnight, but just like the company’s impact on department stores in recent years, the aftershocks will be felt over time.
Evercore ISI analyst Michael Montani with some good thoughts this morning:
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I don’t hate this Cisco quarter
Cisco (CSCO) is always a tricky play around its earnings report.
The company isn’t a fast grower, and what the Street focuses on tends to shift from quarter to quarter. Sometimes it’s profit margins, sometimes it’s product orders, sometimes it’s the outlook.
Going through the latest, I don’t hate the quarter and outlook. Gross margins were up across the board, and the AI narrative and numbers were solid as well. There was some weakness in the security business, as expected, but the demand drivers out there suggest new full-year guidance could be conservative.
“We think investors should look past Public Sector weakness, which likely hurt Security growth, given the opportunity around Hyperscaler/Enterprise AI, Neoclouds, and Sovereign could quickly offset the weakness. We continue to like Cisco for these drivers of growth, and when paired with a mix shift toward software/subscription over time, healthy free cash flow growth, and shareholder returns, we believe a premium to historical valuations is warranted,” KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel said.
I am live on Opening Bid today around 9:40 a.m. ET with Cisco’s new CFO Mark Patterson. So we’ll get to pull apart the numbers and guidance further!
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Bullish stock rises to $75 after IPO debut
Yahoo Finance’s breaking news reporter Jake Conley looks into the Bullish (BLSH) stock market debut.
Cryptocurrency exchange operator Bullish (BLSH) rose 8% on Thursday before the bell, reaching $75, doubling its IPO price of $37 and valuing the company at more than $10 billion.
Still, this marked around a 16% drop from where the stock opened for trade.
Bullish stock opened for trade at $90 near 1:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and the stock traded hands as high as $118 per share shortly after, a more than 215% gain. The stock was halted for trade due to volatility at least twice within the first few minutes of trading.
The company, which operates a crypto exchange and owns the prominent trade publication CoinDesk, priced its IPO at $37 per share on Tuesday, above the $32 to $33 range the company had expected in its second shot at making a public market debut.
Bullish began its IPO processes looking for a price between $28 to $31 per share. At 30 million shares offered, the IPO price saw Bullish raise $1.1 billion and value the fintech company at $5.41 billion.
Bullish first attempted to go public via a SPAC merger in 2021 that would have valued the company at $9 billion, but the deal fell through after regulatory scrutiny and Bullish withdrew its registration.
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Nvidia partner Foxconn profit jumps after AI spending rises
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., (2317.TW, HNHPF, HNHAF) said on Thursday it expects higher third-quarter revenue due to robust demand for its artificial intelligence servers, which has helped the world’s largest contract electronics maker beat forecasts and see a 27% increase in second-quarter profit.
Reuters reports:
