U.S. futures fall on tech stocks as banks head into earnings season

live4 updates

• Friday, April 12, 2024, 8:23am EDT

  Jamie Dimon makes a point about interest rates to Yahoo Finance

  JP Morgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and CFO Jeremy Burnham had a fun phone conversation with reporters.

  The topic was, of course, earnings, but Dimon’s views on interest rates and the economy were also a hot topic.

  Dimon made a good point to me about interest rates (I had asked Burnham about how the company was preparing for higher long-term interest rates).

  “I would like to point out that it is not so important that interest rates are high in and of itself. What matters is why. Is it because of stagflation, is it clearly negative, or is it because of healthy growth? It is actually quite good. is.”

  Dimon went on to say that he is not “predicting” a recession.

• 

  Friday, April 12, 2024, 7:43am EDT

  Early trend indications from bank profits: Investment Banking

  This morning, one sector immediately jumped out from the earnings calls of JPMorgan (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

  Investment banking.

  JPMorgan’s investment banking division’s revenue increased 27% year-on-year due to an increase in bond and stock underwriting commissions.

  Wells Fargo’s investment banking revenue increased 69% from the same period last year.

  Are there any signs that we will see more M&A and IPOs this year? Let’s start the discussion.

• 

  Friday, April 12, 2024, 6:14am EDT

  It’s hard to make a fuss about BlackRock’s earnings

  You should always be very critical of earnings reports and financial statements. Question everything, both good and bad.

  That being said, I’m having a hard time putting a damper on these results for BlackRock (BLK) this morning. In its simplest form, here is a huge asset management company that increased its assets under management (AUM) by $1.4 trillion year over year to $10.5 trillion. At the same time, the company monitored its expenses more closely, resulting in an improvement in operating margin of 180 basis points year-over-year.

  Considering BlackRock’s size, it doesn’t get any better than this.

  It’s no surprise that the stock is up nearly 2% pre-market.

• 

  Friday, April 12, 2024, 6:01am EDT

  Inside the Apple industry

  The Apple (AAPL) ticker is back on Yahoo Finance’s “Trending Ticker” page to end the week.

  Shares soared on Thursday following reports that the company is revamping its Mac product line with new AI-enabled chips. While this seems like good news, it may only embolden bulls who want to reinvigorate the tech giant’s stock, which has fallen 9% since the beginning of the year.

  The reason the stock has lagged reflects multiple reasons, and JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee explains it well in a new client note.

  Chatterjee said iPhone sales data “highlights headwinds,” including in China. There are also concerns about the downside risk of Apple’s services business amid “increasing regulatory scrutiny in multiple regions.”

  But these concerns are now largely baked into stock prices, Chatterjee argues.

  He says investors are starting to warm to Apple.

  • The valuation premium for the company’s stock relative to the broader market has eased, and the company’s stock is currently valued at the low end of the multiple the stock has traded at recently since the launch of the iPhone 12.

  • At Apple, “investor appetite is increasing” as the stock market is in the “AI upgrade cycle.”