Wall Street was hammered yesterday as bond yields soared despite assurances from the Fed that the heat up in inflation is not a threat to their "lower for longer" policy pledge. Risk aversion continued overnight, but equity futures rebounded from lows as investors appeared to be cheered by some firm personal income and consumption data. In midday trading the major averages are mixed, with the Dow dipping and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rising.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the advance trade deficit widened fractionally to $83.7B in January. Personal income climbed 10.0% in January and spending increased 2.4%. The Chicago PMI fell 4.3 points to 59.5 in February, which was a larger drop than forecast. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index came in at 76.8 in the final February reading, down from January's 79.0 print but up a bit from the 76.2 preliminary figure for this month.
Data from the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering shows there are now 113M confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 28.4M in the U.S., and 2.5M deaths due to the disease, including about 509,000 in the U.S.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Foot Locker (FL) fell 7% after the sneaker retailer reported lower than expected revenue for the fourth quarter as well as a year-over-year comparable store sales decrease of 2.7%. Of note, the company said it saw sequential improvement as the fourth quarter progressed and noted that it will continue to assess "opportunistic" share buybacks.
Salesforce (CRM) shares also fell 4% despite the company reporting better than expected earnings and revenue for Q4. While Salesforce provided upbeat guidance for the first quarter, its fiscal 2022 adjusted earnings view was below analysts' consensus expectation.
On the other side, shares of Beyond Meat (BYND) were 3% higher near noon after the company reported quarterly results. The company also announced that it signed a three-year agreement to be the "McPlant" supplier for McDonald's (MCD) and said it is partnering with Yum! Brands (YUM) on plant-based protein menu items.
DoorDash (DASH) shares were 2% lower near noon after the company's first earnings release since coming public, with the food delivery provider reporting lower than expected Q4 earnings but upbeat revenue. Meanwhile, Airbnb (ABNB) shares jumped 15% after its first post-IPO earnings release, with its Q4 revenue beating consensus expectations.
In non-earnings news, The Wall Street Journal reported that Costco's (COST) CEO said the company will pay its U.S. workers at least $16 an hour starting next week. The company's minimum U.S. wage has been $15 an hour, the same as the starting wage at Amazon (AMZN) and Target (TGT).
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Ziopharm (ZIOP), which rose 12% after reporting quarterly results and naming Heidi Hagen interim CEO. Also higher after reporting quarterly results were Dynavax (DVAX) and DraftKings (DKNG), which gained a respective 14% and 7%.
Among the notable losers was Envestnet (ENV), which dropped 15% after the company reported quarterly results and provided revenue guidance for Q1 and FY21. Also lower after reporting quarterly results were Virgin Galactic (SPCE) and Carter's (CRI), which fell 10% and 12%, respectively.
INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was down 213.90, or 0.68%, to 31,188.11, the Nasdaq was up 182.45, or 1.39%, to 13,301.88, and the S&P 500 was up 13.81, or 0.36%, to 3,843.15.
Salesforce
-9.96 (-4.31%)
DoorDash
-4.6 (-2.75%)
Airbnb
+23.835 (+13.10%)
Foot Locker
-3.78 (-7.17%)
Beyond Meat
+3.59 (+2.49%)
McDonald's
+0.48 (+0.23%)
Yum! Brands
-0.09 (-0.09%)
Costco
-0.91 (-0.27%)
Amazon.com
+32.88 (+1.07%)
Target
+0.41 (+0.22%)
Ziopharm
+0.495 (+10.66%)
Dynavax
+1.075 (+13.18%)
DraftKings
+3.87 (+6.69%)
Envestnet
-13.325 (-16.63%)
Virgin Galactic
-4.6 (-10.89%)
Carter's
-11.67 (-12.30%)