The markets roared to new record highs to wrap up the week as earnings from big tech names fueled another push by the bulls. The Dow 30 was higher by 31, and the S&P 500 added 20, but the Nasdaq 100 was the focus of the day, adding 144 points, or 2.20%. Next week will be another big week for earnings and that should continue to be the major focus.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) was the talk of the street today as the stock blasted off 13.22% on much stronger than expected earnings. Analysts were pleased with just about all of the earnings release and many focused on different metrics. One metric that was repeated across the street today was growth in its cloud business. Amazon Web Services' revenue was higher by 42% from a year ago. There was great news all around the earnings release with 52 cents profit on revenue of $43.7 billion. One analyst wrote to his clients saying, Amazon's results were "a Picasso-like quarter with the company handily beating all metrics across the board." The move today pushed Amazon to new highs, and closer to the 50% gain mark for the year.
JCPenney (NYSE: JCP) shares pushed to new lows today, losing 14.75% after the company lowered it's guidance for the third quarter. Announcements from the company said the lowered outlook is a result of its "decision to focus on getting rid of slow-moving inventory." Chief Executive Marvin Ellison wrote in a statement, "We took the necessary steps to accelerate inventory liquidation primarily across all apparel divisions, which increases available funding to invest in new and trending merchandise categories." The move today held back the sector as a whole, and shares of the retailer are now lower by over 64% on the year.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) did not participate in the market rally today as a report surfaced from the Economic Daily News that Tesla is cutting orders for Model 3 parts from one Taiwanese supplier. The supplier, Hota Industrial Mfg. Co, blamed the cuts on a bottleneck in Model 3 production. Shares have been sliding lower as earnings approaches but still maintain a healthy gain on the year. Earnings are set for next Wednesday after the close.