US markets are expected close to balance, but with a negative bias. While there will be many corporate results over the next few days, State Street and Charles Schwab have launched hostilities. In terms of statistics, the New York Fed’s manufacturing index rose more than expected in April. This better-than-expected data pushed the 10-year yield up to nearly 3.57%. A few minutes before the opening, futures on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.01% and 0.06% respectively.
Friday on Wall Street
US markets ended slightly down despite a well-oriented banking sector. The earnings season for US banks has started auspiciously. JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo reported higher-than-expected first-quarter profits. The rise in long rates – the 10-year yield reached 3.52% – weighed on the equity markets. Today’s statistics painted a mixed picture of the health of the US economy. The Dow Jones index lost 0.42% to 33,886.47 points while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.35% to 12,123.47 points.
Macroeconomic figures
The New York Fed’s manufacturing index came out at 10.80 in April, from -24.60 in March. It was anticipated at -18.
The NAHB homebuilder confidence index for April will be released at 4 p.m.
The values to follow
Apollo
On April 4, 2023, asset manager Apollo Management Holdings had submitted a fifth proposal to the board of directors to acquire the entire capital of John Wood at a price of 240 pence per share in cash. The oil services company finally decided to engage Apollo in dialogue to see if a firm offer could be made. The asset manager now has until May 17 to make an offer or drop it.
Charles Schwab
Broker Charles Schwab reported higher-than-expected first-quarter profits. Its net profit rose 14% to $1.6 billion, or 83 cents per share. Excluding exceptional items, earnings per share came out at 93 cents, 3 cents better than the consensus. Revenue rose 10% to $5.12 billion from an expected $5.13 billion. On the other hand, interest income increased by 26.9% to 2.77 billion dollars whereas they were anticipated at 2.74 billion dollars.
Merck
Merck announced a definitive agreement to acquire, through a subsidiary, Prometheus Biosciences for $200 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of approximately $10.8 billion. Prometheus is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a precision medicine approach to the development of novel products for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases. Its lead product, PRA023, is a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand 1A.
Netflix
According to the Downdetector site, more than 11,000 users were briefly deprived of Netflix services due to an outage on Sunday evening. The platform did not indicate the reasons for this inconvenience when it was to broadcast a special episode of the reality show “Love is Blind” live by bringing together the cast of the show. “We are terribly sorry that the ‘Love is Blind’ live reunion did not go as planned,” Netflix commented on Twitter.
State Street
The State Street financial group unveiled disappointing results. In the first quarter, net income fell 9% to $549 million, or $1.52 per share. Earnings per share came in 12 cents below the FactSet consensus. Revenue rose less than 1% to $3.1 billion thanks to the 50% interest income voucher to $766 million. The market was for $3.13 billion. Assets under management are down 10% to $3.62 billion.
source : AOF
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