Pre-Markets in Green to Start August, Big Week for Q2 Earnings

Zacks Equity Research

Mon, Aug 2, 2021, 9:50 AM3 min read

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Stock futures point to a higher opening today to start August. Last Friday, all three major stock indexes — the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — fell sharply primarily due to 7.5% decline of Amazon.com Inc. AMZN shares. The company’s second-quarter 2021 top line missed the consensus estimate - for the first time in three years.

Overall, July was a good one for Wall Street with three major stock indexes moving northward sidelining the concerns over the resurgence of the Delta variant of COVID-19 and mounting inflation. In fact, the core PCE inflation — Fed's favorite inflation gauge — in June was a tad below the consensus estimate despite recording its highest since July 1991.

Wall Street has entered August with a strong momentum. The S&P 500 registered a six-month winning streak, for the first time since 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained in five and the Nasdad Composite rallied in six out of the first seven months of the year.

Meanwhile, this week has started with a plethora of news on mergers & acquisitions front. On Aug 1, digital payment giant Square Inc. SQ agreed to buy Australian buy-now, pay-later platform Afterpay Ltd. for $29 billion in an all-stock deal. The newly emerged buy-now, pay-later ecosystem that allows a person to buy products without a credit card, is immensely popular, especially among younger consumers.

Industrial products manufacturing bigwig Parker-Hannifin Corp. PH has agreed to buy British defense and aerospace company Meggitt for £6.3 billion ($8.8 billion). Apparel and shoes retailer Foot Locker Inc. FL will buy California-based shoe store chain WSS for $750 million and Japanese streetwear retailer Atmos for $360 million in cash.

Moreover, this week is a big one for the second-quarter earnings. More than 1,500 companies will report results this week. So far the earnings results are better than expected. As of Jul 30, 296 S&P 500 companies reported results. Total earnings of those companies increased 102% year over year on 26.8% higher revenues. Also, 89.2% of those companies beat their EPS estimates and a record 87.5% surpassed revenue estimates.

After the closing bell today, several big corporates will report their quarterly earnings results. Some of them are REIT Simon Property Group Inc. SPG, energy bigwigs Pioneer Natural Resources Co. PXD and The Williams Co. Inc. WMB, water supplier American Water Works Co. Inc. AWK and communication components developer Arista Networks Inc. ANET.

Two important economic data will be released during today's trading season. The ISM Manufacturing Index for July for which the consensus estimate is 60.8% slightly above June's reading of 60.6%. Any reading above 50% means expansion in manufacturing activities. Moreover, Construction Spending data for June will also to be released. The consensus estimate indicates a gain 0f 0.4% in contrast to a drop of 0.3% in May.

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Pre-Markets in Green to Start August, Big Week for Q2 Earnings

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