The stock market hung on every word of the new Federal Reserve chairman, Powell's testimony today. Though the Democrats sought to continue to show their disgust with the Chairman, investors were focused on the rate hike plan which seemed to mostly coincide with Janet Yellen's previous plan. The Chairman stated that more rate hikes will be coming to contain inflation. The Dow 30 was lower by 299, the S&P 500 lost 35, and the Nasdaq 100 pulled back 91.
Retail earnings were the underlying headline today and will likely continue to be the focus this week. Fitbit (FIT ) shares were lower on the day by 12% after missing earnings and suggesting that the future is not too bright. AutoZone (AZO ) was the weakest name in the S&P 500, losing 11% after they missed earnings as well. This also took down the other competitors in the space including O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY ) and Advanced Auto Parts (AAP ) which lost 6.5% and 4.5% respectively.
It wasn't all bad news though, Macy's (M ) beat earnings expectations by a mile which came a sort of a shock to investors. The company said that earnings growth exceeded their expectations which fueled the bullish pop today. The stock pushed higher by 3.5% on the day.
Boeing (BA ) announced their deal with President Trump today for two new Air Force One planes. It was reported that the deal came in at $3.9 billion for the two planes. This has been a major, public negotiation between the company and President Trump and he claims that it will save the taxpayers $1.4 billion. Shares of boeing were higher by 0.27% today, hitting new highs in the process.
In other news, Viasat (VSAT ) announced today that it's high speed, satellite-based home internet service is now available in the US. With the recent launch of their new "ViaSat-2, new customers can expect speeds of up to 100 megabytes per second. There are 5 unlimited plans ranging from 12 to 100 megabytes per second. Their next satellite ViaSat-3 aims to provide internet to the entire world at speeds up to 1 terabit per second. (1,000,000 mbps). SpaceX and Boeing are also in the process of launching "Low Earth Orbit" networks.
