Image Source: Pixabay

Market indexes started the trading session in the green this morning, but steadily ran out of steam as the day wore on. Once afternoon lows had been established in the Dow and S&P 500, they leveled off through the close, while the Nasdaq and the small-cap Russell 2000 dwindled further. 

We’ve gotten back roughly to levels where we began the week. The Dow fell -177 points, -0.43% on the day, while the Nasdaq dropped -299 points, -1.67% — the lows for the session across major indexes. The S&P slipped -0.89% today and the Russell shed -0.95%. The Nasdaq and the Russell are now down in the past month of trading.

Market Participants Hedge Ahead of Jackson Hole Speech

Friday morning at 10am — a half hour after the opening bell tomorrow — Fed Chair Jerome Powell will deliver his annual address at the Economic Symposium from Jackson Hole, WY. This address has come to serve as a proxy for a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which traditionally skips the month of August. Analysts will be parsing Powell’s words for clues as to whether a rate cut is certain at the September 18th FOMC meeting, and if so, whether it will be a 25 bps or a 50 bps cut.

Earnings Results After the Close: INTU, CAVA, ROST

Among the still-sizable number of companies reporting earnings results this afternoon is TurboTax parent Intuit (INTU - Free Report). Earnings of $1.99 per share outpaced the $1.86 in the Zacks consensus for its fiscal Q4, while revenues of $3.18 billion improved over the expected $3.09 billion, +17% year over year. Revenues for the full year cvame in ahead of expected at $16.3 billion, and fiscal 2025 revenues are expected to grow another +5-6%. Shares are up +2.5% in late trading.

Fast-casual Mediterranean-style restaurant CAVA Group (CAVA - Free Report) are seeing share rise more than +6% following its Q2 earnings beat. A bottom line of $0.17 per share beat the $0.13 expected, with $233 million in sales which easily surpassed the $222 million anticipated. Same-store sales grew an excellent +144%, and forward guidance for the company are up for next quarter and the full year.

Discount apparel company Ross Stores (ROST - Free Report) (Ross Dress for Less) shares are also up +6% in late trading following its Q2 earnings beat: $1.59 per share was a dime ahead of the Zacks consensus, with revenues in-line with expectations to $5.25 billion. The high end of next-quarter earnings guidance was raised, on same-store guidance expected up +2-3% next quarter. 

More By This Author: