Dow leads broad rally on weak jobs report, Apple’s profit win

live6 updates

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  Friday, May 3, 2024, 12:30 PM EDT

  Stock prices rise in afternoon trading

  U.S. stocks rose on Friday as investors took the weaker-than-expected employment situation as a sign of hope that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the coming months.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 1% (about 400 points) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) rose 1.8%.

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  Friday, May 3, 2024, 11:44am EDT

  Apple investors rejoice over largest stock buyback in history

  Apple (AAPL) has lagged behind most big tech companies this year, with profits down 10%. But its fortunes quickly turned around when it announced the largest share buyback program in history.

  The iPhone maker’s stock rose more than 6% on Friday morning after the company said its board of directors had approved a new $110 billion share buyback plan.

  According to Bloomberg, Apple is responsible for the top six of the 10 largest stock buybacks announced in the U.S., including buybacks from Chevron (CVX) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL). It is included.

  The latest round of share buybacks, which follows a stock buyback program over the past two years, was well above the $90 billion some analysts expected. Apple also increased its shareholder dividend to 4% as an added sweetener.

  Angelo Gino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, maintained his rating on Apple’s stock at “buy” and set a 12-month price target of $210. This represents a 14% premium to the current stock price of $184.

  Gino said in the note that the share repurchase program and dividend increase “demonstrate AAPL’s high level of confidence in its future business prospects.” “These results change the narrative for the AAPL story as China is holding up better than expected and there are upcoming events and catalysts on the horizon that could improve investor sentiment and lift consensus expectations. We believe it is.”

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  Friday, May 3, 2024, 11:19am EDT

  Amazon’s AWS expected to bring in $100 in revenue this year

  The division, which accounts for more than 60% of Amazon’s quarterly operating profit, has reached an important milestone. It is expected to bring in $100 billion in revenue this year.

  Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports that Amazon’s enterprise cloud business grew for the second straight quarter, compared with the same period last year, driven by growing demand for generative AI services and the continued trend of enterprises moving workloads to the cloud. This is a 17% increase compared to the previous fiscal year, to $25 billion.

  AWS CEO Adam Selipsky, who was appointed to run the division in 2021, said on the Opening Bid podcast that even given this growth, the business still has room to grow. He said there is. Selipsky argues that AWS still has a huge opportunity to grow their business, as his 85% of companies still store data on-premises. A gust of wind just started.

  “We are optimistic about the business outlook for AWS and think it has the potential to continue to grow very rapidly. We don’t really see an upper limit,” Selipsky said. “Of course, it’s not our birthright and it’s not guaranteed. We can only be successful if we do what we do for our customers tomorrow.”

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  Friday, May 3, 2024, 10:25am EDT

  Stock prices rise in morning trading

  Below are some of the stocks that topped Yahoo Finance’s trend ticker page during Friday morning trading.

  apple (AAPL): Shares rose as much as 6% on Friday morning after the iPhone maker announced better-than-expected earnings, less-than-expected revenue declines and a new $110 billion share buyback plan. Tech giants are basking in the sun.

  Amgen (AMGN): The company’s stock rose 13% on Friday morning after the company’s CEO said he was “very encouraged” by interim results from a Phase II trial of his injectable obesity treatment Maritide.

  Coinbase (coin): The cryptocurrency exchange reported better-than-expected revenue in its first quarter earnings report, but analysts were mixed on the company’s outlook. Some point out that Coinbase’s stock price remains heavily influenced by fluctuations in digital currencies.

  cloudflare (Net): The cloud cybersecurity company’s stock price plunged more than 16% Friday morning following the release of its second-quarter earnings forecast, which fell short of expectations and raised concerns about maintaining its growth rate.

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  Friday, May 3, 2024, 9:34am EDT

  Dow soars 500 points in morning trading

  A weaker-than-expected jobs report reignited hopes on Wall Street that the Fed would eventually cut interest rates this year as the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, prompting central bank officials to challenge current restrictions. It signaled that policy was still having an impact on the economy.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 1.5% (over 500 points) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC), which has a high proportion of high-tech stocks, rose about 1.9%. All three indicators are poised to grow based on the strong closing price gains from Thursday.

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  Friday, May 3, 2024, 7:46am EDT

  Valuation controversy surrounding Apple

  Let’s start discussing the valuation of Apple (AAPL) stock after a soft quarter and ahead of some artificial intelligence catalysts coming soon. I rate this quarter as soft, even if the sales side overlooks all the sales declines and just focuses on Apple’s surprise.

  Ananda Barua of Loop Capital makes a good point on this.

  “The stock itself isn’t ‘overvalued’… but it doesn’t scream cheap, either. Apple has been trading in the middle of its recent trading range, but given weak fundamentals, the current valuation… Our hunch is that, while near-term stock price trends may fluctuate, expectations do not currently appear to be as volatile compared to Wall Street. Considering that stock price movements in the second half of this year may be more “situational” and that[Apple may generate news regarding GenAI and AR/VR (i.e. VisionPro)]These two areas could be catalysts. “[ApplehasthepotentialtogeneratenewsonGenAIandonAR/VR(ieVisionPro)twoareasthatcouldprovetobecatalysts”[AppleはGenAIとAR/VR(つまりVisionPro)に関するニュースが生成される可能性があり、この2つの分野が触媒となる可能性があります。」[ApplehasthepotentialtogeneratenewsonGenAIandonAR/VR(ieVisionPro)twoareasthatcouldprovetobecatalysts”