Delta earnings, Powell testifies — What to know in markets Thursday

·Reporter

Updated Wed, 10 Jul 2019, 7:22 pm

In this article:

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell takes the hot seat for a second day, and Delta Air Lines will deliver quarterly financial results on a busy Thursday.

Powell’s second day of congressional testimony follows a more than three-hour long testimony in front of the House on Wednesday. In his prepared remarks, Powell noted that there are “uncertainties” surrounding the trade war and global economy. His comments all but guaranteed a rate cut at the Fed’s policy-setting meeting at the end of the month, and it lit up the markets. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) soared, hitting an intraday high of 3,002.98. The Dow (^DJI) and Nasdaq (^IXIC) also hit intraday highs on Wednesday. Investors will be paying close attention to day two for more insight and clarity into Powell and the central bank’s plans for monetary policy.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) earnings ahead of the opening bell will be another focal point among market watchers. Delta has been outperforming its rivals, but a key question is whether or not it was able to keep up that momentum in the second quarter. Delta shares have soared 21% this year, while the NYSE ARCA Airline Index (^XAL), the index tracking airline stocks, rose 17%.

Another question will be how the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX jets affected Delta’s business. Analysts polled by Bloomberg are expecting the airline to report adjusted earnings of $2.28 cents per share on $12.49 billion in revenue.