Stock Market Futures Steady Following Whipsaw Trading Day
U.S. stock futures
seem to be on the decline as the
stock market
continues to go through immense volatility. This is apparent from the movement in stock yesterday. In essence, all the major indexes ended the day with gains despite falling significantly in the earlier half. Namely, the tech-heavy Nasdaq in particular saw gains of 1.75% even after falling nearly 2% earlier on. While investors attempt to make sense of all the current input on the economy, the volatility could persist.
Providing some further context to all this is the head of U.S. economics at Renaissance Macro Research, Neil Dutta. He highlights, “
Stock prices are down. Treasury yields are down. Oil prices are down. Corporate credit spreads are wider. The dollar exchange rate is higher. This is a recession trade.
” Dutta also argues that “
there is no other way of describing it.
” Meanwhile, as consumer prices continue to rise and fear of a recession grows, markets would likely remain under pressure.
The latest update from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell also would contribute to this pressure. According to Powell there is now “
no guarantee
” that the Fed can avoid a hard landing with its aggressive interest rate hike plans. This would put further focus on the Fed’s June meeting minutes releasing later today. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of stock market news to consider today as well. As of 6:10 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading lower by 0.03%, 0.05%, and 0.06% respectively.
Walmart Looking To Introduce New Logistics Fees To Suppliers
Walmart
(
NYSE: WMT
), like many other cyclical businesses, seems to be adapting to the inflationary business environment now. To point out, the company, according to an internal memo, is planning to introduce new charges to its suppliers. Starting next month, Walmart will be charging new fees to transport goods to its warehouses and stores. Accordingly, as the general transportation and fuel costs continue to pile on, this is understandable. According to the update from Walmart’s COO, Dacona Smith, all this will be in the form of a “
collect pickup charge
” or CPC, for short.
In detail, the CPC, Smith notes, will come from a percentage of the cost of goods received alongside a fuel surcharge based on the fuel costs to transport the goods. Ideally, such a move could help Walmart further streamline its operations during these uncertain times. Just earlier this year, the company cut its full-year profit outlook, citing increasing labor and fuel costs. In particular, Walmart’s mentions of fuel costs coming in at $160 million more than expected would be eye-opening.
In the memo, Smith explains, “
This program is a result of Walmart adapting to the significant transformation and increased costs seen in the transportation industry over the past few years.
” Smith also notes that this change permits Walmart to share cost accountability with its Collect suppliers. Ultimately, the company argues that this is helping it to continue offering customers lower prices. As such, WMT stock could be worth checking out in the stock market now.
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Spirit Airlines Receives 16 Peak-Hour Flight Slots At Newark From U.S. Transportation Department In Attempts To Reduce Congestion
On the air travel front,
Spirit Airlines
(
NYSE: SAVE
) recently received some positive news from the U.S. government. Notably, the U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT), as of yesterday, is assigning 16 peak-hour runway timings to Spirit. These slots are at the increasingly busy Newark Airport in New Jersey. The shift would be from
Southwest Airlines
(
NYSE: LUV
) to Spirit. According to the USDOT, this change “
secures low-cost service options for Newark customers and improves competition in the Newark market.
” As officials look to ease congestion at some of the nation’s busiest airports, it seems like travel demand is back in full force.
For some context, Southwest has been servicing these 16 timings for about 12 years now. This would follow the merger between
United Airlines
(
NASDAQ: UAL
) and Continental back in 2010. Even so, United remains a prominent airline operator at Newark now. It is currently operating 69% of flights according to data from the USDOT. In fact, United is temporarily reducing 12% of its daily departures this month for the sake of congestion management as well. In response to this positive update, Spirit appears to be optimistic. The company notes that it plans to
“continue to promote competition and offer affordable, high-value travel options for guests traveling in and out of the New York Metropolitan area.
” With this shake up in the airline space, investors could be eyeing SAVE stock this week.
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Netflix Sees Watch Time For Stranger Things Season 4 Soar Past Billion Hours Mark
In other news, streaming goliath
Netflix
(
NASDAQ: NFLX
) continues to draw viewers in with its flagship
Stranger Things
series. Overall, this is apparent seeing as the fourth and latest season has raked in over 1.15 billion viewing hours in its first 28 days since release. This would make it the second Netflix Original show to surpass the billion hour viewership mark in that time span. Getting into the specifics, Netflix notes that 301 million of those hours were from over the 4
th
of July weekend. While this would be well behind
Squid Game’s
1.65 billion hours, it remains a commendable feat.
All in all, these results could be encouraging for investors looking to jump on streaming stocks now. Even as parts of the world return to normalcy, streaming content remains relevant. For a sense of scale,
Stranger Things
has been and still is in Netflix’s Top 10 list in 93 countries worldwide. Not to mention, this could further build up consumer hype for the final season of the show, if anything. As the shift from cable TV to digital streaming continues, NFLX stock may be among the leading names to consider.
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Oil Prices Rebound To Hold Above $100 Per Barrel Levels Following Broad-Based Declines On Tuesday
Alongside the broader stock market, oil prices continue to fluctuate wildly this week. Following a downbeat day on Tuesday, the per barrel cost of oil is soaring early on Wednesday morning. Evidently, Brent crude futures hit a high of $105.85 in early trading today. This represents gains of 2.9% or $3.08 just after substantial losses of 9.5% yesterday.
At the same time, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude’s session high was $102.14 a barrel. This adds up to a 2.7% rise or $2.64. Commenting on all this is John Kilduff, a founding partner at Again Capital LLC. He explains, “
Today is sort of a reset. No doubt there is short covering and bargain hunters are coming in.
” Kilduff also adds that “
the fundamental story regarding global tightness is still there … The sell-off was definitely overdone.
” This would also come at a time where further issues with production continue to emerge from Norway with local workers striking. Regardless, all these updates could further propel oil stocks into the spotlight now.
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