Yahoo Finance Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks earnings — What you need to know in markets on Thursday
The market continues to look for direction.
On Wednesday, stocks followed Tuesday’s deep sell-off with a largely directionless day as the major averages spent time on both sides of the flat-line during the day before a mixed, convictionless close.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was the only major average to lose ground on Wednesday, dropping 0.05%, or 3 pints, while the Dow gained 59 points, or 0.25%, and the S&P 500 added 5 points, or 0.2%.
The ten-year yield continued to climb higher on Wednesday, settling at just above 3.02%, its highest close in four years. The yield curve, which made headlines last week after the spread between the 2-year and 10-year yield hit a ten-year low, steepened on Wednesday.
Earnings out of Facebook (FB) after the market close were the day’s main market event, and shares of the social network were up over 4% in after hours trading as earnings and revenue both topped expectations. In the company’s earnings release, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018.”
He added that, “We are taking a broader view of our responsibility and investing to make sure our services are used for good. But we also need to keep building new tools to help people connect, strengthen our communities, and bring the world closer together.”
On Thursday, Amazon (AMZN) results due out after the market close will be the main event as a busy week for earnings rolls along, while over 40 other members of the S&P 500 are also set to report results during the week’s second-to-last trading day.
Investors will be looking for updates on the company’s integration with Whole Foods, which it bought in the summer of 2017 for $14 billion, the biggest acquisition in Amazon’s history. Analysts are also likely to ask Amazon about the company’s agreements with the United States Postal Service after President Donald Trump in recent weeks has taken aim at the company, saying the USPS’ agreements with Amazon are “not a level playing field,” among other complaints.
Analysts will also be prodding the company for any updates on its search for a new North American headquarters, which has been narrowed down to 20 finalists with oddsmakers putting the highest likelihood on Washington, D.C. or surrounding suburbs landing the new corporate campus.
Before the market open, PepsiCo (PEP), Time Warner (TWX), American Airlines (AAL), UPS (UPS), General Motors (GM), and Dominos Pizza (DPZ) will be the highlights. And after the close, joining Amazon will be tech giants Microsoft (MSFT), Expedia (EXPE), Western Digital (WDC), as well as Starbucks (SBUX).
And on the economic calendar on Thursday, the weekly report on initial jobless claims, the March trade balance, and March data on durable goods orders will be highlights.
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @MylesUdland
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