Coffee With Greta: Traders Dump $BBBY
DJIA Futures: -262 (-0.8%)
SPX Futures: -42 (-1%)
NASDAQ Futures: -154 (-1.1%)
Good morning friends!
Futures are falling with the S&P 500 on track to snap its 4-week winning streak.
Let’s get right to it!
$BBBY Plunges As Ryan Cohen Sells Stake
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) shares are plunging -42.4% ahead of the open after activist investor and GameStop (GME) chairman Ryan Cohen sold off his stake in the company.
An SEC filing shows Cohen’s venture capital firm RC Ventures dumped all of its BBBY stock on Wednesday at a range of prices between $18.68 and $29.22 per share.
Those shares were originally purchased at an average of roughly $15.34 per share in March.
RC Ventures also sold the call options it purchased earlier this week.
GM To Reinstate Dividend, Increase Share Buyback Program
General Motors (GM) shares are up 1.5% in premarket trade after the automaker announced it is reinstating its quarterly dividend.
The company cut that dividend during the early days of the pandemic to preserve cash.
GM’s board of directors authorized a $0.09 per share dividend, roughly 76% smaller than the $0.38 per share dividend when it was suspended in April 2020.
CEO Mary Barra said progress on “key strategic initiatives has improved our visibility and strengthened confidence in our capacity to fund growth while also returning capital to shareholders.”
The first dividend will be paid September 15 to all shareholders of record as of August 31.
GM is also resuming its share buyback program and increasing it to $5 billion of common stock, up from $3.3 billion previously.
Foot Locker Surges on Strong Earnings, CEO Transition
Foot Locker (FL) shares are rallying 21% ahead of the open after beating Q2 expectations.
The sneaker retailer reported adjusted earnings of $1.10 per share on $2.07 billion in revenue.
That was better than analysts’ expectations for EPS of $0.80 per share and in line with revenue estimates.
Foot Locker’s same-store sales fell 10.3% year over year vs analysts’ expectations for a 14.6% decline.
The company cut its full-year adjusted EPS outlook to $4.25 to $4.45 down from $4.25 to $4.60.
Analysts were estimating $4.42 per share.
Foot Locker also announced its CEO will retire Sept 1 and will remain executive chairman until January 31, 2023.
Former Ulta Beauty (ULTA) CEO Mary Dillon will become CEO effective September 1.
Dillon said, “I am thrilled to be joining Foot Locker, an iconic company that possesses a strong set of values and focus on the customer experience as well as tremendous growth opportunities.”
Oil Prices Drop As Recession Fears Take Over
Oil prices are lower today as recession fears overpower demand concerns.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down 1.5% to $89 bbl while Brent crude futures are down 1.8% to under $95 bbl.
Both are on track for weekly losses of more than 3%
Cryptocurrencies Plunge
Major cryptocurrencies are plunging amid a sudden drop across the market after a recent rebound.
CoinGecko shows Bitcoin is down 9% in the past 24 hours to $21,425 while Ethereum is down 8.9% to $1,699.
That’s Bitcoin’s lowest level in more than three weeks after the coin recently pushed back above $25,000 for the first time in June.
Analysts saw no real catalyst for the drop besides continued concerns across risk assets about the Fed’s tightening schedule.
The July meeting minutes on Wednesday showed the bank won’t be finished with rate hikes until inflation shows significant signs of improvement across the board.
The sudden drop in the crypto market is weighing on Coinbase (COIN) with shares down 9.4% in premarket trade.
In Case You Missed It
- The National Association of Realtors reported existing home sales fell 5.9% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million units. That was in line with expectations and the slowest pace of sales since November 2015. Supply remained tight with 1.31 million homes for sale at the end of July, a 3.3-month supply. Prices cooled a bit as the market slows. The median price of an existing home sold in July was $403,800, down from the record-high in June but up 10.8% year over year.