The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly topped 40,000 for the first time on Thursday as Wall Street's bull market was boosted by recent positive inflation data. The 30-stock average dipped slightly lower at market close, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2% and 0.26%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.21% or -11.05 points to 5,297.10
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.10% or -38.62 points to 39,869.38
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.26% or -44.07 points to 16,698.32
On the Earnings Front:
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) delivered better-than-expected fiscal first quarter earnings on Thursday, as the bog-box retailer saw gains in its e-commerce and advertising segments. The company now expects to reach the high end or slightly top its previous full-year guidance of net sales growth between 3% to 4% and adjusted earnings per share in the range of $2.23 and $2.37.
"We've got customers that are coming to us more frequently than they have before and new customers that we haven't traditionally had, and they're coming into a Walmart whether it's a virtual store online, or whether it's one of our physical stores," CFO John David Rainey said in an interview with CNBC.
Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) also reported strong first-quarter earnings on Thursday, as its ad revenue and increase AI demand helped boost revenues.
"Baidu Core's online marketing revenue remained stable, while the end-to-end optimization of our AI technology stack continued to propel the growth of our AI Cloud revenue during the quarter," said CEO Robin Li in a statement.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) also posted better-than-expected fiscal third quarter earnings late Wednesday, even as its revenue fell at its steepest rate since 2009, falling 13% annually. Still, Cisco raised its fiscal 2024 revenue outlook to a range of $53.6 billion to $53.8 billion, from $51.5 billion to $52.5 billion. The company also narrowed its full year adjusted earnings forecast to $3.69 to $3.71 from its previous range of $3.68 to $3.74.
"We currently expect customers to complete the installation of the majority of their inventory by the end of our fiscal year in July," said CEO Chuck Robbins during the company's earnings call with analysts.
In Economic News:
First-time unemployment claims were muted for the week ended May 11, the Labor Department reports Thursday, with filings coming in slightly above estimates and 10,000 below the previous week's upwardly revised print to a total of 222,000. Continuing jobless claims, meanwhile, rose by 13,000 from the week prior to 1.74 million.
In the News:
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) shares came under pressure Thursday after the European Commission announced it was launching an investigation into whether the company's Facebook and Instagram platforms, "may stimulate behavioural addictions in children, as well as create so-called 'rabbit-hole effects.'"
Wolfe Research added Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) to its Alpha List on Thursday, replacing Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) after the chipmaker's dramatic outperformance so far this year. The decision comes ahead of Nvidia's earnings report next week.
"We make a tactical shift in priority to AMD, adding it to the Wolfe Alpha List, replacing NVDA given the relative move in shares YTD," analyst Chris Caso wrote in a note to clients on Thursday. "We expect more significant catalysts for NVDA later this year, and expect numbers to move higher for both NVDA and AMD."