Coffee With Greta: Higher Open
DJIA Futures: +41 (+0.1%)
SPX Futures: +15 (+0.3%)
NASDAQ Futures: +63 (+0.4%)
Good morning friends!
Futures are up as the market attempts to recover from back-to-back losing days.
Let’s get right to it!
Walmart Slips Despite Earnings Beat
Walmart (WMT) shares are down 0.4% ahead of the open despite beating Q2 expectations and hiking its full-year outlook.
Here’s how the retailer’s results compared to analysts’ estimates:
- Adjusted EPS: $1.84 vs $1.71 expected
- Revenue: $161.63 billion vs $160.27 billion expected
Net income jumped 33% year over year.
Transactions rose 2.9% and the average ticket increased by 3.4% for Walmart U.S.
Walmart’s same-store sales in the U.S. grew 6.4% vs 4.1% expected.
As food prices remain high, shoppers are buying more of Walmart’s brands.
Private label grocery sales rose 9% year over year and made up 20% of Walmart’s total U.S. sales.
Walmart now expects full-year net sales growth of 4% to 4.5% with adjusted EPS between $6.36 and $6.46.
Cisco Jumps On Beat
Cisco (CSCO) shares are rising 2.4% in premarket trade after beating fiscal Q4 expectations on the top and bottom line.
Here’s how the computer networking giant’s results compared to analysts’ estimates:
- Adjusted EPS: $1.14 vs $1.06 expected
- Revenue: $15.2 billion vs $15.05 billion expected
Cisco forecast full-year revenue between $57 billion and $58.20 billion vs $58.38 billion expected.
But the CEO said during the earnings call that the company has gained more than 3% of market share in its three largest markets so far this quarter.
He also touted the company as a potential leading supplier of the networking gear needed for AI, saying, “This is a huge opportunity for Cisco.”
Weekly Jobless Claims Fall
Weekly jobless claims fell more than expected last week as the labor market remains tight.
The Labor Department reported 239,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits.
That was down by 11,000 from the week before and lower than 240,000 expected.
Continuing claims rose by 32,000 to 1.72 million in the week ending August 5.
Philly Fed Manufacturing Index Expands
The Philadelphia Fed’s manufacturing index showed an unexpected expansion in August.
The index jumped 25.5 points this month to 12 vs expectations for -10.
It was the first positive reading since August 2022 and up from -13.5 in July.
The gain was led by a surge in the new orders index which jumped 32 points to +16 vs -15.9 last month.
But the six-month index fell to 3.9 from 29.1 in July, the capital expenditures index fell to -4.5 from 8.6, and the employment index declined to -6 from -1.
In Case You Missed It
- The Fed released the minutes of its July meeting on Wednesday, showing officials are still worried about inflation remaining sticky. The readout said, “With inflation still well above the Committee’s longer-run goal and the labor market remaining tight, most participants continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy.” But the minutes also showed members are uncertain about the future of rate hikes. The report said, “Participants generally noted a high degree of uncertainty regarding the cumulative effects on the economy of past monetary policy tightening.”