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Market indices snapped a 4-day losing streak today, albeit by the skin of its teeth: the Nasdaq gained but a single point: +0.01% for the session. The Dow ramped up +0.28% by the close, while the S&P 500 rose only +0.11%. The small-cap Russell 2000 outperformed the field today, gaining +0.54% for the session. All indices are still down significantly, especially since last Wednesday.
Part of what we’ve seen in trading during these final weeks of 2022 is some tax-loss selling, especially in macro-cap stocks. Apple (AAPL - Free Report), for instance, is -9% over the past 5 trading sessions. But that’s part of an expected seasonality we see every year; right now, we’re shaping up to see the worst-performing December in 4 years. That said, to whatever extent these near-term muted valuations are related to tax losses, we can expect to see them buoy higher by early into 2023.
Global delivery and logistics giant FedEx (FDX - Free Report) reported fiscal Q2 earnings after today’s closing bell, with mixed results sending shares between -4% down and +1.2% in the after-market. Earnings of $3.18 per share easily surpassed the $2.77 in the Zacks consensus and broke a string of 3-straight quarterly earnings misses. Revenues, however, missed expectations, coming in -3% year over year to $22.81 billion.
Further, full-year earnings guidance was lowered in the earnings report, now expecting a range of $13-14 per share in its fiscal Q3, below the $14.11 in the Zacks consensus prior to the release. The company had already announced it will be looking to cut between $2.2-2.7 billion in costs for the fiscal year. Margins, however, were 100 bps better than expected: +5.3% versus +4.3% expected.
Nike (NKE - Free Report) also reported fiscal Q3 earnings results after the normal trading session, beating expectations on both top and bottom lines. Earnings of 85 cents per share outpaced the consensus by a full 20 cents per share and swinging to 2 cents worth of growth year over year. Revenues of $13.3 billion surpassed the $12.61 billion for the quarter, which was already double-digits higher year over year.
The company had previously pre-announced its inventory issues, largely on demand from China as that country continues to work through its Covid-based shutdowns and subsequent challenges to its economy. But North American sales still look pretty good; Nike has always been a well-run company; it’s the wide scope of its global operations that provide its headwinds. After dipping into the red initially on the report, shares are now shooting up more than 7% in late trading.
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