5 Big Tech Names I’m Watching
We’ll see if we retest or break the SPX 3619 low. And if it breaks, what’s the next level below? Those are questions I’m asking. We will go day by day, week by week, and month by month to find opportunities on all time frames. The euro is making new 20-year lows vs. the US dollar, which is pressuring Europe and the overall tape. We’ll see if SPX can hold 3738 and go green. We’ll also see if energy names hold in, or if they topped with oil. The FOMC minutes are Wednesday and the jobs numbers hit Friday. Now let’s dig into 5 big tech names I’m watching: AAPL isn’t special but it’s been decent to trade the past two weeks. Foxconn came out with some positive statements. Maybe AAPL worlds today. It needs to hold $135.60. If it gets and stays below that, it will hurt sentiment and will give clues of more downside. TSLA will be important today. The deliveries weren’t worse than expected, but also weren’t great. The stock hasn’t been special since April. See if it holds the $667 area and goes green, or if it gets sold. Clearing $690 will help tech. AMZN is a concern with all the retail problems. It went green first Friday. Maybe it goes today vs. $105.85. If it can’t hold that, then $101 is the hey macro spot into earnings season in a few weeks. GOOGL splits July 15. It broke $2303 to stop some out. See if it can hold the $2132 pivot. Otherwise the door opens the door for lower prices and negates the right shoulder. META led the market lower this year. Last week Zuckerberg said things were slowing down faster than he ever saw. On Friday, it didn’t make a lower low so we’ll see how it handles $154-$155 for clues on sentiment. Scott’s Positions Disclosure:
Continue Reading -->Coffee With Greta: Stocks Are Free… Free Fallin’
DJIA Futures: -98 (-0.3%) SPX Futures: -11 (-0.3%) NASDAQ Futures: -46 (-0.4) Good morning friends! Futures are falling as traders gear up for the first day of Q3 after the worst first half in decades. Let’s get right to it! Worst First Half in 50+ Years The S&P 500 logged its worst first half of a year since 1970. And things are even worse for the Dow, which booked its worst first half since 1962. Stocks are deep in a bear market as traders are focused on inflation and the possibility of a recession. Even though the Core PCE Price Index fell in May, it was still one of the hottest readings since the 1970s. Analysts say the dramatic drop in stocks was all due to the Fed getting behind on inflation. Now the Fed is playing catch up, with a recession looming overhead. If data later this month shows another GDP contraction in Q2, that will officially meet the criteria for a recession. Bitcoin Logs Worst Month Ever Crypto currencies are rising this morning after another tough session on Thursday. Bitcoin is up about 1.7% in the past 24 hours at over $19,200 while Ethereum is up over 3% at about $1,050. Bitcoin suffered its worst month on record in June, losing more than 38% of its value last month. Ethereum also plunged 47% in June. More than $2 trillion has been wiped off the global crypto market cap in recent months. Micron Slides on Weak Forecast Micron (MU) shares are down 4.7% ahead of the open despite beating fiscal Q3 expectations as traders focus on weak guidance. The chipmaker beat reported adjusted fiscal Q3 earnings of $2.59 per share on $8.64 billion in revenue. That topped analysts’ expectations for adjusted EPS of $2.43 on $8.64 billion in revenue. But Micron released a grim forecast for fiscal Q4. The company expects $7.2 billion in revenue this quarter, sharply missing Wall Street’s estimate for $9.1 billion. Micron also announced it is slowing its expansion plans. The CEO said, “Recently, the industry demand environment has weakened, and we are taking action to moderate our supply growth in fiscal 2023. We are confident about the long-term secular demand for memory and storage and are well-positioned to deliver strong cross-cycle financial performance.” Kohl’s Tumbles After Ending Takeover Talks Kohl’s (KSS) shares are plunging 18.6% in premarket trade after terminating sales talks with Franchise Group (FRG). The retailer announced today is was ending those talks and said the retail environment has significantly deteriorated since the beginning of the process. Kohl’s also slashed its fiscal Q2 outlook due to slowing consumer spending amid high inflation. The company now expects its annual sales decline to be in the high-single digits vs its previous forecast for low-single digits. The Chair of the board said, “Despite a concerted effort on both sides, the current financing and retail environment created significant obstacles to reaching an acceptable and fully executable agreement.” Meta Slashes Hiring Plans, Warns About Economy Meta Platforms (META) shares are down just 0.6% ahead of the open despite slashing its hiring plans for engineers. During a weekly employee Q&A on Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company has cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30% this year. Zuckerberg also warned them to brace for a severe economic downturn saying, “If I had to bet, I’d say that this might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.” Meta originally planned to hire about 10,000 new engineers this year but has now lowered that target to around 6,000-7,000. Gas Prices Still Dropping U.S. gas prices are still falling ahead of the 4th of July holiday weekend. AAA shows the national average for regular gas fell to $4.842/gal today. That’s down more than a cent overnight and more than 17 cents from the record high. Diesel also fell by more than a cent over night, down to $5.76/gal. Oil Prices Rebound Oil prices are rebounding today after falling on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate crude futures are up 2.8% to just under $109 bbl while Brent crude futures are up 2.9% to over $112 bbl. Prices have been volatile as the market grapples with supply concerns against the possibility of a recession. Libya’s oil production has fallen sharply as more ports and oilfields have been shutdown due to protests. Norway is expected to see shutdowns early next week with offshore workers planning to strike.In Case You Missed It A new CNBC survey shows investors expect stocks to keep falling. 42% of respondents said they’re most likely to buy high-dividend stocks right now while just 18% said they would buy mega-cap tech stocks. 50% also said cash is their safest play right now, signaling more investors may be pulling out of the market during this time.
Continue Reading -->Coffee With Greta: Is Inflation Actually Cooling?
DJIA Futures: -299 (-1%) SPX Futures: -40 (-1%) NASDAQ Futures: -125 (-1.1%) Good morning friends! Futures are slipping after the release of the Fed’s favorite inflation gauge. Let’s get right to it! Core PCE Inflation Cools The Fed’s favorite inflation measure cooled slightly in May. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index rose 0.3% monthly and 4.7% year-over-year. That index excludes food and energy prices. The gain was lower than expectations for a 0.4% monthly increase and 4.8% annual jump in prices. It was a slowdown from 4.9% in April but is still the highest reading since the 1980s. The headline PCE Price Index rose 0.6% monthly and 6.3% annually. That was sharply higher than the 0.2% monthly increase in April and unchanged on an annual basis. Personal incomes rose 0.5% but disposable incomes fell 0.1%. Headline personal spending rose 0.2% monthly but when adjusted for inflation that spending dropped 0.4%. Weekly Jobless Claims Fall Less Than Expected Weekly jobless claims fell slightly last week as the labor market remains tight. The Labor Department reported 231,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefits last week. That was down 2,000 from the previous week but higher than expectations for 228,000. It was the second weekly drop in a row but claims are still hovering near a five-month high. Continuing claims fell by 3,000 to 1.328 million in the week ending June 18. Walgreens Slips Despite Earnings Beat Walgreens (WBA) shares are down 2.3% ahead of the open despite beating fiscal Q3 expectations. The drugstore chain reported adjusted earnings of $0.96 per share on $32.6 billion in revenue. That beat analysts’ expectations for adjusted EPS of $0.92 on $32.06 billion in revenue. Sales were down year-over-year as demand fell for Covid vaccines. The company administered 4.7 million vaccines in Q3, down from 11.8 million in Q2 and 15.6 million in Q1. Walgreens reiterated its full-year forecast, expecting adjusted earnings growth in the low single-digits. RH Tumbles After Slashing Outlook RH (RH) shares are tumbling 8.6% in premarket trade after slashing its full-year outlook after-hours on Wednesday. The high-end furniture chain now expects annual sales to fall between 2% and 5% this year. That’s down from previous guidance for sales to rise 0% to 2%. In a statement, RH’s CEO said, “With mortgage rates double last year’s levels, luxury home sales down 18% in the first quarter, and the Federal Reserve’s forecast for another 175 basis point increase to the Fed Funds Rate by year-end, our expectation is that demand will continue to slow throughout the year.” Gas Prices Continue Decline U.S. gas prices are continuing to fall. AAA shows the national average for regular gas fell to $4.857/gal today. That’s down about 16 cents from the record high earlier this month. Diesel prices are also continuing to decline. The national average for diesel slipped to $5.772/gal today, down from the peak of $5.816/gal on June 19. Oil Prices Slip Oil prices are falling today as the market weighs supply concerns against an increase in fuel product inventories in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down 1.2% at $108 bbl while Brent crude futures are slipping 0.8% to $115 bbl. U.S. oil inventories fell more than expected last week. The Energy Information Administration reported crude stockpiles fell by 2.8 million barrels vs 800,000 barrels expected. But U.S. crude-oil production also rose by 100,000 barrels per day to 12.1 million bpd, the highest level since mid-April 2020. The EIA reported gas inventories rose by 2.6 million barrels last week vs expectations for an 800,000 barrel drop. The gas increase comes as U.S. refineries are running at 95% capacity in an effort to keep up with demand and lower prices. Bitcoin Drops Below $19,000 The crypto crash is continuing with Bitcoin briefly falling below $19,000 today. Currently, the largest coin in the world is down 4.3% at $19,200. Ethereum is down 6.8% at just over $1,000 per coin. Crypto has been hit hard by macroeconomic pressures like inflation and the possibility of a recession. Bitcoin has fallen more than 70% from its record-high. In Case You Missed It Fed Chair Jerome Powell told other Central Bankers around the world on Wednesday that the Fed cannot “guarantee” a soft-landing for the U.S. economy. Speaking at a conference in Portugal, Powell said the bank is still optimistic the economy can handle tighter monetary policy. But he said recent events have made that goal more challenging. He said the Fed is aiming to “growth moderate” to allow the supply chain to catch up with demand. JPMorgan (JPM) analysts say they now see a “reasonable” risk of a recession this year. In a note on Wednesday, Bruce Kasman and Joseph Lipton said “it is reasonable to consider the risk that the US and/or global economy slips into recession this year.” They added, “rising concern about persistent inflation shocks has combined with news of a more aggressive Fed and sliding sentiment to materially shift our views on 2022 growth.” This is a reversal from last week’s global markets outlook that showed no risk of a recession this year.
Continue Reading -->Coffee With Greta: Recession Alarms Go Off
DJIA Futures: +33 (+0.1%) SPX Futures: -1 (-0.03%) NASDAQ Futures: -20 (-0.2%) Good morning friends! Futures are falling flat after new data shows the U.S. economy contracted further than initially estimated in Q1. Let’s get right to it! Q1 GDP Contraction Was Worse Than Originally Estimated The U.S. economy contracted further than originally estimated in the first quarter. The Commerce Department released its final Q1 GDP revision this morning, showing the economy shrank 1.6% annually. That was worse than the initial estimate of a 1.4% contraction. All eyes are now on the first Q2 GDP estimate on July 28. If that report shows another contraction it would meet the official criteria for a recession. Bed Bath & Beyond Sales Plunge Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) shares are tumbling 12.6% ahead of the open after missing fiscal Q1 expectations on the top and bottom line. The retailer reported a loss of $2.83 per share on $1.46 billion in revenue. That was worse than analysts’ expectations for a loss of $1.39 per share on $1.51 billion in revenue. Same-store sales tumbled 24% year-over-year, worse than the 20.1% drop in the previous quarter. Bed Bath & Beyond also announced it is replacing CEO Mark Tritton. Sue Gove, who serves as an independent director on the board, will tak over as interim CEO. In a statement, Gove said, “We must deliver improved results. Our shareholders, Associates, customers, and partners all expect more.” General Mills Tops Fiscal Q4 Expectations General Mills (GIS) shares are up 2.4% in premarket trade after topping fiscal Q4 expectations on the top and bottom line. The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.12 per share on $4.89 billion in revenue. That was better than analysts’ expectations for adjusted EPS of $1.03 on $4.81 billion in revenue. Sales rose 8% year-over-year and General Mills said price increases helped offset supply chain challenges and higher costs. The Chairman and CEO said, “Though significant inflation and supply chain disruptions put pressure on our margins, we responded quickly to address those challenges and keep our brands on shelf for our customers and consumers.” The company said it expects double-digit inflation on its costs of goods sold in the next fiscal year and plans to raise prices further. Gas Prices Continue to Tumble U.S. gas prices are continuing to tumble. AAA shows the national average for regular gas fell to $4.868/gal today. That’s down about 15 cents from the record high earlier this month. Diesel prices are also continuing to decline. The national average for diesel slipped to $5.78/gal today, down from the peak of $5.816/gal on June 19. Oil Prices Rise on Supply Worries Oil prices are rising for the fourth straight session as supply concerns outweigh economic growth worries. West Texas Intermediate crude futures are up 1.5% at over $113 bbl while Brent crude futures are up 1.4% to just under $120 bbl. The market is concerned OPEC will not be able to make up for lost Russian oil supply. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have so far been seen as the only two countries with spare capacity to fill that gap. Tesla Begins Layoffs Tesla (TSLA) shares are down 1% in premarket trade after the automaker layed off about 200 autopilot workers. CNBC confirmed the automaker is shutting down its office in San Mateo, CA and eliminating the jobs located there. The employees at that location labeled videos from Tesla cars to improve the Autopilot system. The layoffs are part of a wider cost-cutting effort at the company after CEO Elon Musk said he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy. Pinterest CEO Steps Down Pinterest (PINS) shares are up 4.3% ahead of the open after announcing its CEO Bel Silbermann is stepping down. The company made that announcement after the close on Tuesday and said a former Google executive, Bill Ready, will take his place. Ready also previously served as the vice president and COO of PayPal (PYPL). In a statement, Silbermann said, “In our next chapter, we are focused on helping Pinners buy, try and act on all the great ideas they see. Bill is a great leader for this transition. He is a builder who deeply understands commerce and payments.” Ready said in a LinkedIn post, “As someone who has spent most of my career in commerce and payments, it’s so clear to me that Pinterest has the opportunity to build something unique—something special.”In Case You Missed It Consumer confidence tumbled to a 16-month low as Americans deal with high inflation. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 98.7 this month from 103.2 in May. That was worse than economists’ expectations for 100. Confidence in current conditions fell to 147.1 from 147.4 while six month expectations plunged to 66.4 from 73.7.
Continue Reading -->Should We Trust the Monday Rally?
Sami explains why he is skeptical about Monday’s rally: Why he was surprised by the market’s rally Where Sami sees most of the overhead supply Why Monday’s gap could be a novice gap Why Sami wants to take profits on swing longs The big problem Sami sees with new swing longs
Continue Reading -->4 ETF’s I’m Watching Right Now
We have mostly green arrows around the world to extend last week’s gains. There’s not much out of the G7. China declared victory on the pandemic as the region keeps outperforming. There could be a ceasefire in Ukraine as Russia takes more territory. SPX futures are +16 giving upside follow-through to last week’s strength. The Oscillator is probably +60, making new buys tricky. But maybe the markets want to test the 50 day above into quarter-end. Big resistance is in the 3974-4020 area. Now let’s dig into some of the ETF’s I’m watching right now: Tech led last week, giving clues we can have an oversold bounce with some power. The QQQ’s filled one gap and are already near the second. Friday’s high is $295.04. We’ll see if it wants to fill the second gap above at $299. XBI was a great vehicle last week as it finally showed relative strength and hit a high of $77.65. I sold mine Friday, but I’m looking to buy it back. We’ll see what type of digestion we get here. ARKK didn’t lead the markets to new lows the week of June 14, which signaled it could outperform. It hit high of $45.98 Friday. With a little digestion, this can see $54ish if this market rallies into quarter-end. XLE gave ways to sell as it lost special status. There was the break below $91.71 and then it lost the 8/21 day. Then there was a correction to the 200 day with a low of $69.47 last week. If it tries to bounce, there will be resistance in the $74-$77 area. Scott’s Positions Disclosure:
Continue Reading -->Coffee With Greta: All Eyes On Powell
DJIA Futures: -464, (-1.5%) SPX Futures: -64 (-1.7%) NASDAQ Futures: -208 (-1.8%) Good morning friends! Futures are lower as traders turn their focus back to the Fed and the looming possibility of a recession. A quick note that I will be out of the office tomorrow through Tuesday, June 28 so there will be no Coffee With Greta during that time. Let’s get right to it! Jerome Powell Prepares for Senate Testimony Focus is back on the Fed as Chairman Jerome Powell is set to deliver his report on monetary policy to the Senate Banking Committee today. Powell’s testimony begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. This is a routine hearing but comes at a time when the Fed is working to tackle sky-high inflation. Analysts expect the questioning to focus on what the Central Bank got wrong about inflation, what the rate hike schedule looks like moving forward, and whether Powell sees a recession on the horizon. President Biden Set to Call on Congress for Gas Tax Holiday White House officials say President Biden will call on Congress today to suspend federal taxes on gas and diesel for 3 months. He’s also expected to call on states to suspend their own taxes. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon while the diesel tax is 24.4 cents a gallon. The suspension would save Americans roughly 3.6% on gas. But the move has been viewed in the past as a bad idea as it would impact funding for infrastructure projects. White House officials say the $10 billion cost of the tax suspension would be paid for without impacting the Highway Trust Fund, but did not detail new sources of revenue for it. The plan requires approval from both the House and the Senate. Biden is expected to make the announcement at 2:00 p.m. ET today. Gas Prices Continue to Fall U.S. gas prices are continuing to fall after peaking last week. AAA shows the national average for regular gas fell to $4.955/gal today from $4.968/gal yesterday. Diesel prices are unchanged at $5.812/gal. The recent drop comes as gasoline demand dipped but more Americans are expected to drive over the July 4 holiday weekend. Oil Slumps Oil prices are falling amid Biden’s push to suspend federal taxes on fuel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down 5.3% at under $104 bbl while Brent crude futures are down 4.7% at just above $109 bbl. The Energy Information Administration reported Tuesday that U.S. oil refining capacity fell in 2021 for the second year in a row. That capacity declined by 125,790 barrels per day last year on top of the 800,000 bpd drop in 2020. Capacity is down 5.4% from its peak in 2019. The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly report on oil and gasoline inventories later today. Mortgage Demand Rises Despite Biggest Rate Jump in 13 Years Mortgage demand rose last week even as rates continued to soar. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported purchase applications rose 8% weekly but were still down 10% year-over-year. That increase was boosted by higher demand for adjustable-rate mortgages. ARM applications made up more than 10% of all purchase applications. The average 30-year contract rate soared to 5.98% from 5.65% the prior week. Refinance applications fell 3% last week and tumbled 77% compared to a year ago. In Case You Missed It The National Association of Realtors reported existing home sales fell 3.4% in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.41 million units. That was the lowest reading since June 2020. Supply rose 12.6% from April to 1.16 million units but the median price still hit a new record-high at $407,600. Twitter’s (TWTR) board of directors voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend shareholders approve Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover. The $54.20 per share offer requires shareholder approval. Musk meantime said debt financing is still needed and he is awaiting a resolution on the dispute over fake users.
Continue Reading -->50% Market Drop Ahead?
The S&P 500 officially entered a bear market last week with SPY and QQQ both in a bear market as well. Now Sami is predicting a 50% drop in the market! That would mean a long downtrend is ahead. Find out both the bullish and bearish trades he’s targeting this week. In this video, Sami explains: -Why he’s predicting a HUGE drop in the market -Why he feels like he hasn’t missed out on ADMA -Why he sees DOCU as a good long-term breakout -How to play MVST as a day trade -This year’s huge breakout in SIGA
Continue Reading -->Coffee With Greta: Stocks Try To Recover From Brutal Sell-Off
DJIA Futures: +417 (+1.4%) SPX Futures: +58 (+1.6%) NASDAQ Futures: +182 (+1.6%) Good morning friends! Futures are rebounding after the market suffered its worst week since 2020. Let’s get right to it! Biden Considers Gas Tax Holiday President Biden told reporters Monday he is strongly considering a federal gas tax holiday. He said he could make a decision on that proposal by the end of this week. The White House is aiming to do something to lower gas prices before the July 4 weekend. But a gas tax holiday would require Congressional approval. A gas tax holiday would eliminate some funding for the massive infrastructure law Biden signed last year. Gas Prices Continue To Cool The average U.S. gas price is continuing to cool after peaking last week. AAA shows the national average for regular gas fell to $4.968/gal today, down from the record $5.016/gal a week ago. Diesel prices also slipped today after peaking over the weekend. The national average for slipped to $5.812/gal today from the record-high $5.816/gal on Sunday. Oil Prices Rise On High Demand, Tight Supply Oil prices are rising today as high summer demand weighs on tight supply issues. West Texas Intermediate crude futures are up 2.5% at just under $111 bbl while Brent crude futures are up 1.8% at over $116 bbl. Analysts say oil demand has remained solid despite recent concerns about economic growth. Elon Musk Clarifies Tesla Layoff Plan Speaking at a Bloomberg event today, Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk clarified layoff plans at the automaker. Musk said the company will layoff 10% of salaried workers in the next three months and simultaneously expand the number of hourly employees. A leaked email to employees last week said he simply wanted to cut 10% of jobs because he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy. The cuts will end up affecting about 3.5% of Tesla’s overall workforce. Tesla shares are up 3% ahead of the open. Kellogg To Split Into 3 Companies Kellogg (K) shares are jumping 6.6% in premarket trade after announcing plans to split into three independent companies. Those will include a snacking, cereal, and plant-based company. Kellogg’s CEO said, “These businesses all have significant standalone potential, and an enhanced focus will enable them to better direct their resources toward their distinct strategic priorities.” The company expects the spinoffs to be complete by the end of 2023. The current CEO will lead the snacking company and executives for the other two will be announced at later dates. JetBlue Sweetens Spirit Buyout Offer Spirit Airlines (SAVE) shares are rallying 8.4% ahead of the open after JetBlue (JBLU) upped its buyout offer for the discount airline. JetBlue raised its offer to $33.50 a share from $31.50. The new offer is an effort to push Spirit into accepting this offer over the Frontier (ULCC) merger. Spirit has said it will decide between the two by the end of June.In Case You Missed It Pixar’s “Lightyear” had the best animated domestic opening since the beginning of the pandemic. The film brought in $51 million in domestic ticket sales over the weekend and $34.6 million in international ticket sales. Although that was the strongest animated film opening since before the pandemic, it fell short of analysts’ expectations for $70 million to $85 million domestically. Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” brought in $58.6 million over the weekend while Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” sold $44 million in tickets.
Continue Reading -->Coffee With Greta: Stocks Jump As Volatility Continues
DJIA Futures: +212 (+0.7%) SPX Futures: +32 (+0.9%) NASDAQ Futures: +118 (+1.1%) Good morning friends! Futures are rebounding despite looming recession fears as volatility continues on Wall Street. A quick reminder the market will be closed in observance of Juneteenth on Monday, so there will be no Coffee With Greta that day. Let’s get right to it! Dow Bounces After Giving Up 30,000 Dow futures are rebounding after the bluechip index plunged below 30,000 on Thursday. Wall Street gave back all, plus more, of its post-Fed rally during the session, pushing the Dow below that level for the first time since January 2021. Reality seemed to set in after the largest Fed rate hike in 28 years, that the U.S. is unlikely to avoid a recession. The Central Bank’s dot plot shows more aggressive rate hikes are expected this year. Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is delivering the welcoming remarks at the Inaugural Conference on the International Roles of the U.S. Dollar in Washington, D.C. this morning. All three major indexes are on track for steep weekly losses. The S&P 500 is on course for its worst week since March 2020. Biden Insists U.S. Can Avoid A Recession President Biden told AP Thursday that a recession is “not inevitable” as the Fed works to tackle inflation. Citing the 3.6% unemployment rate, Biden claimed the U.S. is “in a stronger position than any nation in the world to overcome this inflation.” He said claims that the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan in 2021 caused inflation to get worse, calling the argument “bizarre”. But Biden did admit the American people are “really, really down” after the pandemic, volatility in the economy, and soaring prices. He said, “Be confident, because I am confident we’re better positioned than any country in the world to own the second quarter of the 21st century. That’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact.” Adobe Slips On Weak Full-Year Guidance Adobe (ADBE) shares are down 4.4% ahead of the open despite beating Q2 expectations. The software maker reported adjusted earnings of $3.35 per share on $4.39 billion in revenue. That topped analysts’ expectations for adjusted EPS of $3.31 on $4.34 billion in revenue. Revenue was up 14% year-over-year. Adobe forecast Q3 revenue will rise to $4.43 billion with full-year 2022 revenue of about $17.65 billion. That’s down from its previous forecast for $17.9 billion in full-year revenue. Gas Prices Fall Again U.S. gas prices declined today for the third day in a row. AAA shows the national average for regular gas dipped to $5.000/gal today, down from $5.009/gal on Thursday. The recent drop in prices comes as gasoline demand has pulled back a bit. The Energy Information Administration says U.S. demand fell to 9.09 million barrels per day from 9.2 million. But diesel prices are still pushing to new records. The national average for diesel jumped to $5.798/gal today from $5.786 on Thursday. Oil Prices Dip Oil prices are slightly lower this morning as the market continues to weigh tight supply concerns against recession fears. West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down 0.4% at $117 bbl while Brent crude futures are 0.1% lower at just under $120 bbl. Prices are on track for a weekly decline following the Fed rate hike. It would be the first weekly drop for Brent crude in five weeks and WTI crude in eight weeks. Leading Economic Indicators Expected to Fall Economists expect the U.S. economy softened further in May. The Conference Board releases its leading economic index at 10:00 a.m. ET today. That index is expected to fall to 0.4% after slipping 0.3% in April. The LEI is a weighted gauge of 10 economic indicators. One of those indicators is building permits, which plunged 7% in May. Another is consumer confidence, which fell 2.2 points last month. In Case You Missed It Elon Musk held a town hall meeting with Twitter (TWTR) employees on Thursday. Employees submitted questions beforehand that they wanted the Tesla (TSLA) CEO to answer. Musk emphasized his focus on free speech, building trust with employees, in-person work, and the possibility of layoffs. He said “Right now the costs exceed the revenue… Anyone who is a signification contributor has nothing to worry about.” He also set a goal of reaching 1 billion daily active users. In Q1, Twitter said it had 229 million DAUs. The U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) tumbled 5.9% on Thursday as recession fears threaten to dent surging travel demand. American Airlines (AAL) plunged 8.6% to $12.16, its lowest level since November 2020. Southwest Airlines (LUV) hit a nearly two-year low, dropping 6% to $34.98.
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