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Markets put up a fairly emphatic trading session on the markets this Hump Day, making the most of the new trade deal announcement with the Japanese auto industry, among other things. The Dow gained +507 points, +1.14%, while the S&P 500 notched a new all-time closing high to 6358, +49 points and +0.78%. The Nasdaq gained “only” +127 points, +0.61%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 was up 33 points, +1.48%.

Existing Home Sales came in the coolest they’ve been since September of last year, sub-4.0 million as expected to 3.93 million. The average sale price, however, climbed to its highest June level ever: $435,300. By region, Existing Home Sales reversed the trend: now down in the South, Midwest, and Northeast, where they were up last month, and up in the West, where they had been down.

Q2 Earnings Deluge After-Hours: GOOGL, TSLA, IBM & More
 

Google and YouTube parent Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) outperformed estimates on both top and bottom lines for its Q2 results, with earnings of $2.31 per share surpassing the $2.15 expected on $81.7 billion in revenues (minus traffic acquisition costs [TAC]), up +14% year over year on the top line, This makes the 10th quarter in a row Alphabet has beaten earnings.

YouTube ad revenue grew almost +13% in the quarter to $9.8 billion, while its Services margin was above +40%, with Search and Cloud both up double digits in Q2. Yet Q2 spending has also gone up: $22 billion in Q2, to an estimated $85 billion for the full year. Late trading has been a bit erratic this afternoon; the stock is currently up +1%, adding to the very slight gains year to date.

Tesla’s (TSLA - Free Report) quarter, on the other hand, turned out to be a bit more dismal: earnings of 33 cents per share missed the Zacks consensus of 39 cents (and the year-ago tally of 52 cents per share) on $22.5 billion in revenues, which actually came out slightly ahead of estimates. Free cash flow of $146 million is -89% down from a year ago (it had been estimated at $760 million), while Global Vehicle Inventory has grown almost a full week to 24 days. But Robotaxis are still looking at a 2026 launch, so shares are up slightly on this news.

IBM (IBM - Free Report) shares are shifting lower, by -5%, even after Big Blue outpaced on earnings — $2.80 per share versus estimates for $2.64 per share — on $16.98 billion in revenues, which bolted ahead of the expectations for $16.58 billion. The company, which also acquired AI consulting firm Hakkoda in the quarter, has been trading up +28% year to date, and so this good news is being met with a -5% haircut in after-hours trading.

Chipotle (CMG - Free Report) shares are down -10% after its earnings results after today’s close were flat to mixed: earnings of 33 cents per share beat by a penny, while revenues came in even with estimates at $3.10 billion. Comps were down -4.0% and traffic dropped -4.9%, and comps for the full year are now expected to be flat — not a good sign for any restaurateur, let alone one trading at 44x forward earnings. 

ServiceNow (NOW - Free Report) brought its A-game to Q2 results, with earnings of $4.09 per share surging beyond the projected $3.54 per share (and $3.13 reported in the year-ago quarter). Revenues of $3.22 billion were well past the $3.12 billion analysts had expected, +22.5% year over year. Subscriber revenues also grew +22.5% in the quarter, and shares are up +7% in late trading, almost making up the company’s losses year to date.

What to Expect from the Stock Market Tomorrow
 

Thursday morning brings us Weekly Jobless Claims and flash S&P Services and Manufacturing PMI for July. Also, New Home Sales for June, which completes today’s Existing Home Sales numbers from today. For earnings reports, we’ll look for American Airlines (AAL - Free Report), Honeywell (HON - Free Report), and Union Pacific (UNP - Free Report) in the morning and Intel (INTC - Free Report) and Deckers Outdoor (DECK  - Free Report) in the afternoon.

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