Equity Indexes Wrap: Tech Mega Caps Boost Nasdaq; Telec🙈oms Shaken by Business Updates

The Dow

Apple (AAPL) led the Dow, gaining 2.1% to close with a market capitalization of more than $3 trillion after key supplier Fo♊xconn raised its current-quarter guidance, signaling unexpectedl♚y strong end-of-year smartphone sales. Apple shares have risen more than 7.5% in the past month. 

Merck & Co. (MRK) gained 1.1% after it signed a $70 million deal with Abbisko Therapeutics to commercialize its cancer treatment pimicotinib in China. The company also launched AIDDISON, an AI-enabled drug discovery software that the company said could help save drug makers more than $70 billion in drug discovery costs by 2028.

Nike (NKE) shares rose 0.2% after analysts at Goldman Sachs issued a buy rating on the stock and raised its price target, citing an attractive valuation and potential for higher ♊revenue growth as inventory improves. 

Procter & Gamble (PG) shares fell 3.5% after it said it would 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:book $2.5 billion in charges related to restructuring and the write-down of its Gi🉐llette ⭕business.

Goldman Sachs (GS) lost 2.2% after chief finan🌌cial officer Dennis Coleman said at the firm’s U.S. Financial Services Conference that he expected 20🎃23 compensation costs to rise “low single digits” despite another year of muted dealmaking and the bank’s costly retreat from consumer banking.

Walt Disney (DIS) shares slipped 1.3% after activist investor Ancora sided with Nelson Peltz in his fight with the entertainment giant. Ancora urged Disney on Tuesday to offer Peltz a board seat. 

The S&P 500

Fixed-income securities trading platform MarketAxess (MKTX) gained 5.3% after it report🧜ed record trading volume of mo🃏re than $300 billion in November. 

Alaska Air Group (ALK) rebounded 4.4% after tumbling yesterday on its proposed $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines (HA) and news it would be dropped from the S&P 500 later this month.&nbs൲p;

CVS Health (CVS) rose 3.7% after its 2024 earnings and sales guidance 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:topped analysts’ expectations. 

AT&T (T) added 3.4% after it awarded Ericsson (ERIC) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:a $14 billion contract to help it roll out an ope✤n radio access network that it said would support 70% of its U.S. wireless traffic by 2026. 

J.M. Smucker (SJM) gained 3.3% after raising prices and cutting costs helped it to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:exceed Wall Street estimates with its third-quarter sales and earnings.

Charter Communications (CHTR) shares tumbled 8.7% after CFO Jessica Fisher said at a UBS conference that the telecommunications provider could record a net loss of broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter. Shares of peer Comcast (CMCSA) fell 3.4%.

Albemarle Corp. (ALB) fell 5.6% after Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to underweight, citing slumping lithium prices. 

The Nasdaq 100

Nvidia (NVDA) gained 2.3% to lead the index higher. 

Shares of Palo Alto Networks (PANW) rose 2.2% as it announced💛 the completion of its acquisition of cybersecurity fir🌼m Dig Security. 

Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) each rose 1.4%. 

Tesla (TSLA) gained 1.3% amid reports that Chinese insurance registrations roꦍse in November, raising hopes it can meet its goal of 1.8 million deliverie🐻s in 2023. 

Lucid Group (LCID) fell 3.9% after the luxury electric vehicle maker anno🍒unced its 2024 line-up and cut prices on its least expensive model. 

CVS🔴 Gains on Strong Guidance, Raised Dividend, and New Initiatives

CVS Health (CVS) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:shares jumped about 4% Tuesday after the drugstore chain and healthcare firm posted strong guidance and rai🐲sed its dividend on reported higher demand for its healthcare services.

CVS projected that 2024 revenue would be at least $366 billion, well above analysts’ estimates of $344.5 billion. The company also said it would increase its quarterly dividend to 66.5 cents a share from 60.5 cents per share, payable Feb. 1 , 2024, to shareholders of record Jan. 22 of that year.

In addition, CVS said it would overhaul its drug pricing model. The pharmacy said the initiative, called CVS CostVantage, will bring “greater transparency and simplicity" to the drug pricing and reimbursement system. It expects to implement the new model with 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:pharmacy benefit managersꦗ—the middlemen that negotiate drug prices, rebates, and reimbursements with insurers, drugmakers, and pharmacies—in 2025.

Despite Tuesday’s gains, shares of CVS Health are down about 23% for the year to da🐈te.

-Bill McColl

Bitcoin Surges to $44K for First T🦩ime S🥃ince April 2022

Bitcoin jumped to more than $44,000 early Tuesday, extending a rally that’s seen the cryptocurrency gain more than 60% in just three months amid increasing optimism t🐲hat U.S. regulators will approve a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Bitcoin got an extra boost Tuesday from a regulatory filing from BlackRock (BLK) revealing the asset manager had received $100,000 seed capital for its proposed Bitcoin ETF. BlackRock is one of more than a dozen firms that has applied with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a Bitcoin ETF.

Bitcoin retreated from Tuesday's high to trade around $43,600 later in the afternoon, but the token's rising tide has lifted most other boats. Ethereum has risen nearly 40% in the last three months while Ripple has gained 24%. Dogecoin, a favorite among 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:meme traders,🧔 has climbed 40%. Solana has surged more than 200%.

Midday Movers

J.M. Smucker Co. (SJM): Shar🌄es of the packaged food company rose 4% after its quarterly earnings and revenue topped estimates, with comparable sales up 7% from lꦕast year.

Apple Inc. (AAPL): Shares rose 2% after its major supplier Foxconn raised its outlook for the 🐠fourth quarter, citing better-than-expected sales in the first two months of the quarter. 

Albemarle Corp. (ALB): Share🌠s of the world’s largest lithium miner fell about 6% after analysts at Piper Sandler downgrade༺d the stock to underweight, citing weak lithium pricing. 

KeyCorp (KEY): Shares fell more than 3% after the regional bank cut its 🅰currentꦍ quarter non-interest income guidance.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC): Shares of the bank fell more than 1% after its chief executi❀ve Charlie Scharf said at a conference Tuesday that the company expects to book $750 million to $1 billion in unanticipated severance costs in the fourth quarter.

GꦆitLab Shares Surge After Posting Its First Profit Ever as It Added More Custom𒁃ers

Shares of GitLab (GTLB) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:jumped over 12% Tuesday after the maker of software for devel💙opers posted a surprise profit as its high-end customer base soared.

GitLab reported third quarter fiscal 2024 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earnings per share (EPS) of $0.09, its first-ever adjusted 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:operating profit. Analysts had anticipated a loss. Revenue rose 32% from a year ago to $149.7 million, also beating forecasts.

GitLab said the number of customers with $100,000 or more in annual recurring revenue (ARR) skyrocketed 37% to 874🍬. Those with more than $5,000 ARR increased 26% to 8,175.

GitLab 🔯shares jumped to their highest level since August of 2022 followingജ the news.

-Bill McColl

Nokia 😼Falls, Ericsson Rises as AT&T Chooses Ericsson for $14B D🐬eal

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:American deposita🍬ry receipts (ADRs) of Nokia (NOK) fell over 4% to a three-year low while Ericsson (ERIC) rose 5% Tuesday morning after AT&T (T) 澳洲幸运🌸5官方开奖结果体彩网:tapped Ericsson for a $14 bil😼lion deal to modernize its wireless network. AT&T shares were up 3%.

Over the five-year deal, AT&T will work with Ericsson to deploy an open radio access network (Open RAN) in the U.S. that will handle 70% of the industry giant's wireless network traffic by late 2026.

The deal represents a major setback for Nokia; AT&T accounted for 5-8% of the company's mobile network net sales in 2023.

Nokia suggested cost-cutting initiatives could partially offset the impact of AT&T's decision but might delay the company's goal of achieving a double-digit operating margin in its mobile networks division by up to two years.

-Fatima Attarwala

Job Openings Fell in October to꧃ Th🌃eir Lowest Since March 2021

The number of job openings fell much more in October than economists expected as employers reined in hiring amid a slowing economy. ꦍ

Total job openings fell more than 6% to about 8.7 million on the last day of October, the lowest number since March 2021 when the Covid-19 vaccine was in the early stages of widespread dis༒tribution and the economy was still significantly constrained by restrictions. The number of hires and separations were little changed from September, as was the rate at which🐲 workers quit their jobs. 

♒ It’s encouraging news for the Federal Reserve, which has raised interest rates to their highest level in decades in an attempt to slow economic growth without causing widespread layoffs.

Chinese Stocks Fall on Moody's Credit Outlook Warnings

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both fell nearly 2% Tuesday as credit rating agency Moody’s cut its outlook for t🎀he government’s financial health. 

Moody’s downgraded the outlook for the Chinese government’s credit rating to negative from stable, while maintaining its current A1 rating. The agency cited concerns about the costs the national government could incur to support local governments and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as well as the challenges posed by slowing growth and a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:contracting property sector.

Moody’s sees the Chinese government becoming♎ more selective about the support it offers to regional governments and SOEs as it attempts to prop up the economy “while preventing moral hazard and containing the impact on the sovereign’s balance sheet.” 

Still, there’s reason to believe the government can weather the storm. “Its economy’s vast size and robust, 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:albeit slowing, potential growth rate, support its high shock-absorptio𝕴n capacity,” according to the agency. 

With Tuesday’s losses, the Hang Seng is down more than 17% year-to-date, while the Shanghai Composite is about 4% lower. 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:American depositary receipts of Chinese companies trading on U.S. exchanges also fell Tuesday. E-commerce company JD.com (JD) fell 2% Tuesday morning, while peers Alibaba Group (BABA) and PDD Holdings (PDD) each slipped 1%.

Stocks Making the Biggest Moves Premarket

Gains:

• GitLab Inc. (GTLB): Shares of the software development company jumped 13% after it reported its first-ever adjusted quarterly profit. The company earned 9 cents a share on nearly $150 million in revenue. Both exceeded analysts’ expectations. 
• Ericsson (ERIC): Shares of the Swedish telecommunications equipment provider rose more than 3% after AT&T (T) selected it to build its new open radio access network. The five-year contract could total as much as $14 billion. Shares of Nokia (NOK), AT&T’s former vendor, fell 6%. 
• CVS Health (CVS): Shares of the pharmacy chain and insurance provider gained about 2% after it raised its dividend and offered encouraging initial projections for 2024 sales and earnings.
  

Losses:

• Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO): Shares of the video game maker fell nearly 3% after the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, the latest entry in its blockbuster franchise, was leaked. 
• UBS Group AG (UBS): Shares of the Swiss bank slipped more than 2% after Bank of America downgraded the stock to neutral, citing the cost of integrating Credit Suisse, the failed rival it acquired earlier this year.
• PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD): Shares of the Chinese e-commerce company fell more than 2% after Moody’s lowered its outlook for Chinese government debt to negative, a reflection of the country’s mounting economic woes. Peers Baidu (BIDU) and JD.com (JD) also fell about 2%. 

Futures Fall Ahead of Job Openings Data

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones I𝔍ndus▨trial Average were about 0.3% lower in early trading Tuesday.

S&P 500 contracts also fell about 0.3%.

Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.4% before the bell.⭕