Tag Archives: Exxon Mobil Corp

Dow closes more than 350 points higher, S&P 500 caps best January in four years

Stocks close higher in final trading day of January

Stocks added to a strong January rally in the final trading day of the month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 368.95 points, or 1.09%, to 34,086.04. The S&P 500 gained 1.46% to 4,076.60. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.67% to 11,584.55, in what was its best January since 2001.

— Sarah Min

Market is shifting to “Fed pause” rally too soon, says Lauren Goodwin

The stock market appears to be rallying in anticipation of pause in rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, even as the central bank is expected to hike its benchmark rate again on Wednesday, according to Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments.

“This ‘Fed pause’ window we believe is likely to prove bullish, with a long duration and growthy tilt. In fact, we see that expectation as playing a large role in the 2023 rally already, and it’s a good reminder why being fully invested is an important component of building long-term wealth,” Goodwin said.

However, the January rally appears to be jumping the gun, Goodwin said, as there will likely be bad news on the economic front before the Fed pauses that could cause a reversal.

“Just remember: when the Fed pauses, it will likely be because the economy is convincingly turning over. That means the related rally is liable to be short-lived. We are fading this rally,” Goodwin said.

Instead of chasing this rally, investors should look at shifting from growth stocks to “more resilient sources of income,” she added.

— Jesse Pound

Stocks are range-bound as Fed meeting kicks off, BTIG says

Stocks are range-bound as investors await the policy outcome from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, which kicked off Tuesday, according to BTIG.

“Yesterday morning we said ‘we think there are pretty good odds we stay between ~4,000 and ~4,080 over the next 48 hours.’ While we might increase the upper end of the range to 4,100, we haven’t seen anything since then to materially change that view,” BTIG’s Jonathan Krinsky wrote in a Tuesday note.

Where stocks will go after the meeting will depend on whether the S&P 500 is at the top or lower end of that range, according to the note.

“In other words, if we are at ~4,080 on Wednesday at 2pm, any upside reaction is likely dampened, and downside potential increases. Conversely, if we are closer to 4,000, then the short-term downside reaction is likely less severe,” Krinsky wrote.

“In other words, counterintuitively, whatever your bias is you likely want the opposite move into Wednesday,” he added.

— Sarah Min

Today is historically the best day for stocks in January

January 31 is the best day for the S&P 500 in the month of January, according to data compiled by Carson Investment Research on the average performance per day since 1950.

The S&P 500 was up 0.97% Tuesday. In January, the S&P 500 gained 5.7%, which is the best monthly performance for the index since November.

The Wall Street saying, “so goes January, so goes the year,” has rung true 87% of the time when January was positive, for an average gain of 15.9% for the full year, CFRA chief investment strategist Sam Stovall told CNBC earlier this month. Some investors attribute the January rally to the “January Effect,” a stock market phenomenon that typically refers to an increase in stock prices and the outperformance of small-cap stocks in the first few weeks of a new year.

— Pia Singh

PayPal shares rise on layoff news

PayPal’s stock gained more than 2% Tuesday after the payments company shared plans to cut 2,000 jobs, or roughly 7% of its workforce.

The reductions address a “challenging macro-economic environment,” said Dan Schulman, the company’s president and CEO, in a release posted to the PayPal’s website.

PayPal shares rise on layoff news

Charts suggest a new bull market has already begun, says Evercore ISI’s Ross

The S&P 500 is trading just above 4,000 in the final trading day of January and is on pace to post a monthly gain of more than 5.5%. Rich Ross, charts analyst at Evercore ISI, sees upside to 4,325 in the first half of the year.

“The sum of the charts continues to suggest that the bear market is over and a new bull phase began in Q4 of ’22,” he said in a note. “While I made that call in Q3 of ’22, the pillars of that view from both the top down and bottom up have only gotten stronger.”

He noted the dollar, crude, inflation, credit spreads and the oace of policy have all peaked, while breadth in global equities are expanding “in a bi-partisan show of force.”

— Tanaya Macheel

Stocks reach session highs during afternoon trading

Stocks reached session highs in the afternoon on the final trading day of January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 240 points, or 0.71%. The S&P 500 gained 0.96%, while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.19% higher.

That helped the major averages build on a strong start to 2023.

— Sarah Min

Equity ETFs in an uptrend, but investors appear skeptical

Technical analysis of ETFs shows that the January market rally is broad, but investors still appear to be hesitant, according to a note from Strategas ETF strategist Todd Sohn.

“Using a simple definition to define trend – the 50-day moving average trading above the 200-day moving average – shows over 60% of equity ETFs are now trading in an uptrend vs. just 5% at the end of September 2022,” Sohn said. “It’s a noted improvement, but recent flows have been surprisingly restrained – January is averaging about $1 Bn per day vs. a 2-year average of $2.1 Bn.”

The relatively meager inflows could the result of “unease” that the rally is being led by stocks that were beaten down last year, Sohn added.

— Jesse Pound

Cathie Wood’s Innovation ETF is set for best month ever

Cathie Wood is on pace to notch her best month ever as her beaten-down innovation darlings staged a big comeback in the new year.

Wood’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) jumped over 3% on Tuesday, bringing its January return to more than 27%. The fund is slated for its strongest month ever since its inception in 2014.

Leading the 2023 rally were the largest laggards of last year, including Coinbase, which has skyrocketed about 66% year to date. Shopify, Tesla, Exact Sciences, Roku and Nvidia have all rallied more than 30% this year.

Defiance’s NFT ETF is shutting down

The Defiance Digital Revolution ETF (NFTZ) will begin liquidation next month, according to a press release, making it the latest casualty in last year’s crypto decline.

The fund holds stocks that have exposure to the non fungible token market, or NFTs, which soared in value at the height of the crypto boom before seeing trading volume dry up quickly last year.

The Defiance fund, which launched in December 2021, has a total return of -54% over the past year and has less than $6 million in assets under management.

— Jesse Pound

Homebuilders outperform during midday trading

Homebuilding stocks outperformed on the back of stronger-than-expected earnings results from PulteGroup.

PulteGroup shares jumped more than 8% during midday trading on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Lennar shares added 3%, and D.R. Horton shares were up 2.8%.

— Sarah Min

Most companies are topping fourth-quarter earnings projections

It’s the busiest week of earnings season, with thirty companies representing 6.8% of S&P 500’s market cap reporting fourth-quarter earnings today. 38.9% of the S&P 500’s market cap has already been reported. 

Earnings are beating estimates by 2% and 63% of companies have topped projections, according to a Credit Suisse note sent to clients on Tuesday morning. Earnings per share are on pace to dip by 0.9%, the firm said.

Credit Suisse noted that more domestically-oriented companies in the broader index are delivering faster growth in earnings per share compared to their globally-oriented peers, at 0.1% and -1.6%, respectively.

— Pia Singh

Stocks making the biggest moves in midday trading

These stocks are among those making the biggest moves in midday trading:

  • General Motors — The automaker’s stock surged more than 7% after the company cruised past analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines for its fourth quarter. The company reported an adjusted $2.12 per share on $43.11 billion in revenue.
  • Caterpillar — Shares fell about 3% after Caterpillar reported a 29% earnings decline. The construction machinery and equipment maker said higher manufacturing costs and foreign currency effects weighed on its quarterly results.
  • UPS — Shares of United Parcel Service gained 4% after shipping and transportation giant posted earnings of $3.62 a share, slightly ahead of the $3.59 expected by analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. UPS also raised its dividend and sanctioned a new $5 billion stock repurchase plan.
  • PulteGroup — Shares of the homebuilder soared 9% in midday trading after the company reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings. The company reported $3.63 in adjusted earnings per share on $5.17 billion of revenue, and its homebuilding gross margin rose year over year.

Click here to see more stocks making midday moves today.

— Pia Singh

Barclays reiterates equal weight on Apple, expects a miss in latest quarter

Investors can expect lackluster results from Apple when it reports this week, according to Barclays.

Analyst Tim Long reiterated an equal weight rating on Apple, saying the firm dealt with a challenging holiday season, and could issue weaker guidance.

“We see a miss for Dec-Q across hardware and Services. March-Q looks to be at risk due to deteriorating demand trends,” Long wrote in a Monday note.

“What started out as production-driven cuts have moved to demand weakness across product categories. We are also concerned by decelerating Services growth. At a 20% premium to the S&P 500, we see the stock as fairly valued at best,” Long continued.

Apple is expected to report its first year-over-year revenue decline since 2019. The tech giant couldn’t make enough of its high-end iPhone models when its assembly plant in China was shut down because of Covid.

Apple shares are up more than 10% this year amid a broad rally for tech stocks. The iPhone maker was down more than 26% in 2022. The stock ticked up 0.2% in Tuesday morning trading.

Apple reports earnings after the bell Thursday.

— Sarah Min

Lucid could reach all-time lows in next year, Morgan Stanley warns

Lucid‘s recent pop will likely be short-lived, Morgan Stanley said.

The electric vehicle maker rallied 43% Friday on the back of reports indicating Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was considering buying the more than 30% of shares it does not already own.

But analyst Adam Jonas expects the stock to hit $5 in the next 12 months — meaning it would fall 57.4% from where it closed Monday and reach a new all-time low — due to what he sees as a tough road ahead. The stock previously reached an all-time intraday low of $6.09 and closing low of $6.17 earlier this month.

“We believe the fundamental outlook facing Lucid is more likely deteriorating than improving,” Jonas said in a note to clients Tuesday.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

Nearly all sectors in the S&P 500 trading in positive territory

The S&P 500 was up 0.6% during Tuesday morning trading, with nearly all sectors trading in positive territory.

Ten out of 11 sectors were higher on the day. Consumer discretionary, materials and real estate led the gains, up about 1.5%, 1.1% and 1%, respectively.

— Sarah Min

Consumer discretionary is the leading sector in the S&P 500, boosted by General Motors

Consumer discretionary stocks led gains in the S&P 500 on Tuesday, with the sector up about 1% during morning trading.

General Motors was the biggest advancer in the sector. The stock jumped more than 8% after the automaker reported strong earnings.

Meanwhile, utilities underperformed the broader market index, down nearly 0.9%.

— Sarah Min

Copper and aluminum extended base metal rally in January

March copper contracts fell as low as $4.1185 per pound Tuesday, but still left Dr. Copper up about 8.7% in January and on pace for a third straight monthly gain. January is poised to become the best start to the year for the metal since 2017.

Meanwhile, London Metal Exchange aluminum on Tuesday matched Monday’s low of $2,555, still leaving aluminum higher by 8.5% in January and on course for its third gain in four months and the best start to a year since 2012.

Metals traders are awaiting this week’s central bank rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England, while Reuters reported that copper demand in China remains stagnant.

— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

Atlantic Equities downgrades Bank of America as net interest margins struggle

Atlantic Equities moved to the sidelines on Bank of America as the firm sees net interest margins weakening for banks.

Analyst John Heagerty downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight and lowered his price target by $5 to $40. The new target implies a 13.3% upside from where the stock closed Monday.

Heagerty said it will be difficult to have operating leverage as net interest income, which finds the difference between revenue from interest-bearing liabilities and the cost to the bank of servicing them, slows for Bank of America and other financial services names.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Alex Harring

Crude oil in January poised to decline for 7th month in 8

March West Texas Intermediate crude oil contracts fell as low as $76.55 per barrel Tuesday, the lowest in about three weeks, and leaving crude on the verge of declining for the seventh month in eight. Moreover, crude is on pace to settle below its 50-day moving average ($77.62), also for the first time in nearly three weeks.

WTI is also on course in January to decline for a third straight month.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) is off about 0.3% premarket Tuesday, on course for a third straight decline. Exxon (XOM) (earnings), SLB and Devon (DVN) are all down about 1% in early Tuesday trading.

Energy SPDR ETF in past 12 months

Month-to-date, the Energy ETF is still up about 1%, and on the verge of advancing for the third month in four.

— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

Contrarian indicators in the futures market have Wolfe Research getting bullish

There are contrarian indicators coming from the futures market that have Wolfe Research turning more positive on stocks. Nasdaq 100 futures are down 29% from the peak and now large speculators have flipped to their most aggressive short position in over two years, analyst Rob Ginsberg wrote in a note Monday.

“With the Fed on Wednesday and earnings from AAPL, AMZN and GOOGL on Thursday, the contrarian in me is getting increasingly bullish,” he said.

In other words, given that a lot of bad news has already been priced in, anything positive from earnings or the Federal Reserve could be good for stocks.

On Wednesday, the central bank is set to announce another rate hike, which is expected to be one-quarter of a percentage point. Investors will also be watching to see what the Fed indicates about any future increases.

— Michelle Fox

Employment cost index rose 1% in Q3, slightly less than expected

Compensation costs for civilian workers increased at a slower pace in the fourth quarter, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The employment cost index, an important inflation gauge for the Federal Reserve, showed compensation increased 1% for the October-to-December period. That was a touch below the 1.1% estimate from Dow Jones. It also was lower than the 1.2% increase in the third quarter.

On a 12-month basis, the ECI rose 5.1%, up slightly from the 5% gain in the third quarter.

—Jeff Cox

Names making the biggest premarket moves

Here are some companies making the biggest moves before the bell:

  • McDonald’s — Shares dipped more than 1% after McDonald’s reported its latest quarterly results. The fast food giant topped earnings and revenue estimates, saying customers are increasingly visiting its restaurants. Still, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he expects “short-term inflationary pressures to continue in 2023.”
  • United Parcel Service – Shares of UPS rose 1.9% after the company reported earnings that beat analyst expectations. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.62 on $27.08 billion in revenue. Analysts had forecast earnings of $3.59 per share and $28.09 billion in revenue, per Refinitiv.
  • Exxon Mobil — The oil giant was under pressure despite reporting upbeat financial results for the latest quarter. The company, whose stock price rallied more than 80% last year, saw a tightening in supplies as economies began recovering, CEO Darren Woods said in a statement. Shares fell more than 1%.

For more stocks making moves in premarket trading, click here.

— Hakyung Kim

Pfizer shares fall after earnings

Pfizer shares dipped more than 2% after the vaccine maker said it expects 2023 sales to fall by as much as 33% compared to a record 2022.

The pharmaceutical company issued sales guidance of $67 billion to $71 billion for 2023. Last year, Pfizer booked $100.3 billion in revenue, which was an all-time high boosted by Covid vaccine and antiviral sales.

— Sarah Min, Spencer Kimball

McDonald’s shares decline after earnings results

McDonald’s shares dipped more than 2% in premarket trading after the fast food company reported its latest quarterly results. The fast food giant topped earnings and revenue estimates, saying customers are increasingly visiting its restaurants.

The company posted earnings per share of $2.59, better than the $2.45 expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. It reported revenue of $5.93 billion, greater than the forecasted $5.68 billion.

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he expects “short-term inflationary pressures to continue in 2023.”

McDonald’s shares decline

— Sarah Min, Amelia Lucas

Exxon Mobil falls despite earnings beating expectations

Shares of Exxon Mobil fell more than 3% despite the oil giant reporting earnings and revenue that beat analyst expectation.

Exxon earned $3.40 per share on Revenue of $95.43 billion. Analysts expected earnings per share of $3.29 per share on revenue of $94.67 billion.

“While our results clearly benefited from a favorable market, the counter-cyclical investments we made before and during the pandemic provided the energy and products people needed as economies began recovering and supplies became tight,” CEO Darren Woods said in a statement.

Exxon shares rallied more than 80% in 2022 thanks in large part to higher oil prices.

XOM under pressure after earnings

Caterpillar shares fall after earnings

Caterpillar shares fell more than 2% after the industrial giant posted a its latest quarterly results. The company reported adjusted earnings of $4.27 per share, above a Refinitiv consensus estimate of $4.02 per share. Caterpillar’s bottom line excludes an “unfavorable ME&T foreign currency impact in other income (expense) of $0.41 per share.”

CAT falls in the premarket

— Fred Imbert

Correction: Caterpillar reported adjusted earnings per share of $4.27, according to Refinitiv. A previous version of this story used the company’s adjusted $3.86 figure, which did not strip out for a “foreign currency impact.”

GM jumps on strong earnings

General Motors reported quarterly earnings that beat analyst expectations, sending the auto stock up more than 3% in the premarket.

GM earned $2.12 per share in the fourth quarter, beating a Refinitiv forecast of $1.69 per share. The company’s revenue of $43.11 billion also beat a consensus estimate of $40.65 billion. Additionally, GM forecast another strong year.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Wayland

IMF hikes global growth forecast as inflation cools and household spending surprises

The International Monetary Fund on Monday revised upward its global growth projections for the year, but warned that higher interest rates and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would likely still weigh on activity.

In its latest economic update, the IMF said the global economy will grow 2.9% this year — which represents a 0.2 percentage point improvement from its previous forecast in October. However, that number would still mean a fall from an expansion of 3.4% in 2022.

It also revised its projection for 2024 down to 3.1%.

Read the full story here.

– Silvia Amaro

Where the major averages stand ahead of January’s last trading day

Stocks have so far posted a strong start to the year after the worst year for stocks since 2008. This is where all the major averages stand ahead of the final trading day of January.

Dow Jones Industrial Average:

  • Up 1.72% for the month and year
  • On pace for third positive month in four

S&P 500:

  • Up 4.64% this month
  • On track for best January since 2019
  • Headed for third positive month in four

Nasdaq Composite:

  • Up 8.86% in January
  • On pace for best monthly performance since July

— Samantha Subin, Chris Hayes

NXP Semiconductors, Whirlpool among stocks moving after the bell

These are some of the stocks moving the most in overnight trading:

NXP Semiconductors — NXP Semiconductors’ stock dropped more than 3% after its revenue outlook for the first quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations, according to FactSet.

Whirlpool — Whirlpool shares gained more than 1.9% in extended trading after the appliance maker shared strong guidance for the year. Fourth-quarter revenue came slightly behind analyst expectations.

Read the full list of stocks moving after the bell here.

— Samantha Subin

Ed Yardeni takes an optimistic view on the global economy, says to ‘look beyond’ U.S.

Ed Yardeni is more bullish on the economy this year — telling investors and analysts to take a comprehensive look at the global economy.

“I think we have to look beyond the US, for starters, and see that there’s more and more evidence that the global economy is better than people had feared last fall. Europe looks like it’s not going to have a recession, and we see China coming out of its Covid funk,” Yardeni said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”

“Meanwhile, when we come back to the U.S., there’s still a big debate about a soft versus hard landing.”

Yardeni added that he anticipates a soft landing due to falling bond yields and the inverted yield curve. 

The closely followed strategist also noted that while he believes the economy will grow at a slow pace this year, the worst has passed. According to Yardeni, the economy has already experienced a “rolling recession” in the past year, with different industries and sectors having experienced slumps during different times. 

Taking into account that the economy will experience a soft landing, Yardeni said the Fed will not maintain interest rates at the high 5% range for a long time, downplaying fears of an economic downturn resulting from a high federal funds rate. 

“I think inflation is turning out to be very transitory,” he said. “I’m an optimist on inflation.”

— Hakyung Kim

There are two ways to beat the market this year, says Trivariate Research’s Parker

The economy will slow down this year — but there are two ways for investors to gain earnings in the market, according to Adam Parker, Trivariate Research’s founder and CEO.

“I think there are two ways to beat the market this year,” Parker said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” 

“There are cyclicals that are so cheap, they can improve their balance sheets in this eroding backdrop,” such as pharmaceuticals, metals, consumer finance and energy stocks, said Parker. “Or, I have to get stuff that can earn gross profits well through this eroding economy.”

“It’s too early to make a big bet, but there are a lot of software companies that are doing interesting things with the cloud, that are going to grow their gross profits,” he added.

The market has rallied since the beginning of the year thanks to optimism on falling inflation and the prospect of slower interest rate hikes by the Fed. However, Parker added that he cautions investors from veering too bearish or bullish on the economy this year, saying that both extremes have their drawbacks. 

“I’m not wildly bullish or bearish, but I think people got too negative,” he said. “… I don’t want to get too negative and, you know, get locked in this bear den.”

— Hakyung Kim

Stocks open slightly higher

Stock futures rose slightly in overnight trading Monday.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 added 0.19%, while futures connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched 0.07%, or 25 points, higher. Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.19%.

— Samantha Subin



Read original article here

Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: McDonald’s, UPS and more

Nathan Stirk | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.

McDonald’s — Shares dipped more than 1% after McDonald’s reported its latest quarterly results. The fast food giant topped earnings and revenue estimates, saying customers are increasingly visiting its restaurants. Still, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he expects “short-term inflationary pressures to continue in 2023.”

General Motors — Shares of the automaker rose more than 5% in premarket trading after GM beat estimates on the top and bottom lines for its fourth quarter, even as its profit margin narrowed. The company reported an adjusted $2.12 per share on $43.11 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were looking for $1.69 in earnings per share on $40.65 billion in revenue. GM said it expected earnings to fall in 2023, but guidance was still above analyst estimates.

Ford — Shares of Ford rose 2% after the company announced Monday it would lower the price of the Mach-E, its electric pickup truck. The company reports earnings later in the week.

United Parcel Service – Shares of UPS rose 1.9% after the company reported earnings that beat analyst expectations. The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.62 on $27.08 billion in revenue. Analysts had forecast earnings of $3.59 per share and $28.09 billion in revenue, per Refinitiv.

Exxon Mobil — The oil giant was under pressure despite reporting upbeat financial results for the latest quarter. The company, whose stock price rallied more than 80% last year, saw a tightening in supplies as economies began recovering, CEO Darren Woods said in a statement. Shares fell more than 1%.

Caterpillar — Caterpillar shares fell more than 2% after the industrial giant posted a disappointing quarterly profit. The company reported earnings of $3.86 per share, well below a Refinitiv consensus estimate of $4.06 per share. Caterpillar said its bottom line was impacted by an “unfavorable ME&T foreign currency impact in other income (expense) of $0.41 per share.”

Pfizer – Shares of the vaccine maker fell more than 2% after the company reported mixed quarterly results and issued earnings and revenue guidance for the full year that came in below analysts’ expectations, according to StreetAccount. Pfizer said it expects revenues from its Comirnaty and Paxlovid drugs to fall 64% and 58%, respectively, from actual 2022 results.

International Paper – The packaging and paper products company reported fourth-quarter adjusted operating earnings of 87 cents per diluted share, exceeding StreetAccount’s estimate of 69 cents per diluted share. However, the company reported a net earnings loss of $318 million for the quarter. International Paper nearly 6% in the premarket.

Lucid – Shares of Lucid slipped 4.4%, further cooling off after a monster options fueled rally on Friday.

PulteGroup – Shares of the homebuilder rose more than 1% in premarket trading after PulteGroup reported a better-than-expected fourth quarter. The company reported $3.63 in adjusted earnings per share on $5.17 billion of revenue. Wall Street analysts were expected $2.93 in earnings per share on $4.58 billion of revenue, according to StreetAccount. PulteGroup’s homebuilding gross margin rose year over year.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Jesse Pound, Tanaya Macheel, Sarah Min, Carmen Reinicke and Michelle Fox contributed reporting

Read original article here

Dow drops more than 100 points as Chinese Covid protests dampen market sentiment

Stocks fell Monday as social unrest from China’s prolonged Covid restrictions weighed on markets, sending oil prices lower after Wall Street notched gains during the Thanksgiving holiday-shortened week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 100 points, or 0.3%, at open. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each lost 0.5%.

Over the weekend, demonstrations broke out in mainland China as people vented their frustrations with Beijing’s zero-Covid policy. Local governments tightened Covid controls as cases surged, even though earlier this month Beijing adjusted some policies that suggested the world’s second-biggest economy was on its way to reopening.

The developments weighed on sentiment in Asia trading, with oil futures hovering around new 2022 lows around demand concerns. Shares of companies with big production facilities in the country led premarket losses.  Shares of Apple lost 1.5% and Tesla declined 0.9%.

“You cannot rewire supply chain overnight,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz and president of Queens’ College. “So what does it mean for those companies? It means supply uncertainty.”

The moves come after all three major U.S. indexes ended last week higher, even with the shortened trading time due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow rose 1.78%, and the S&P 500 increased 1.53% during the short week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lagged the other two indexes but was still up 0.72% in the same timeframe.

Stocks were lifted during the week by comments from Federal Reserve officials signaling that the central bank would step down its aggressive rate hike path as inflation cools. Minutes from the Fed’s November meeting confirmed the likely shift in policy.

“A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” the minutes stated.

Investors will be watching this week more earnings reports and a slew of economic releases that will give further information on the state of the consumer and the U.S. economy. Intuit, Salesforce and Five Below are among companies scheduled to report earnings. Personal consumption data and the labor report for November will also be released.

Read original article here

A big new Exxon Mobil climate deal that got assist from Joe Biden

Could it be that Big Oil’s next big thing got a big assist from Joe Biden?

Maybe, if carbon capture and storage is indeed as big a deal as ExxonMobil’s first-of-its-kind deal to extract, transport and store carbon from other companies’ factories implies.

The deal, announced last month, calls for ExxonMobil to capture carbon emitted by CF Industries‘ ammonia factory in Donaldsonville, La., and transport it to underground storage using pipelines owned by Enlink Midstream. Set to start up in 2025, the deal is meant to herald a new stage in dealing with carbon produced by manufacturers, and is the latest step in ExxonMobil’s often-tense dialogue with investors who want oil companies to slash emissions.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August, may determine whether deals like Exxon’s become a trend. The law expands tax credits for capturing carbon from industrial uses in a bid to offset the high up-front costs of plans to capture carbon from places like CF’s plant, as other tax credits in the law lower costs of renewable power and electric cars. 

The Inflation Reduction Act and Big Oil

The law may help oil companies like ExxonMobil build profitable businesses to replace some of the revenue and profit they’ll lose as EVs proliferate. Though the company isn’t sharing financial projections, it has committed to investing $15 billion in CCS by 2027 and ExxonMobil Low-Carbon Solutions president Dan Ammann says it may invest more.

“We see a big business opportunity here,” Ammann told CNBC’s David Faber. “We’re seeing interest from companies across a whole range of industries, a whole range of sectors, a whole range of geographies.”

The deal calls for ExxonMobil to capture and remove 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide yearly from CF’s factory, equivalent to replacing 700,000 gasoline-powered vehicles with electric versions. 

Each company involved is pursuing its own version of the low-carbon industrial economy. CF wants to produce more carbon-free blue ammonia, a process that often involves extracting ammonia’s components from carbon-laden fossil fuels. Enlink hopes to become a kind of railroad for captured CO2 emissions, calling itself the would-be “CO2 transportation provider of choice” for an industrial corridor laden with refineries and chemical plants. 

An industrial facility on the Houston Ship Channel where Exxon Mobil is proposing a carbon capture and sequestration network. Between this industry-wide plan and its first deal for another company’s CCS needs, ExxonMobil is hoping that its low-carbon business quickly scales to a legitimate source of revenue and profit.

CNBC

Exxon itself wants to develop carbon capture as a new business, Amman said, pointing to a “very big backlog of similar projects,” part of the company’s pledge to remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as Exxon itself emits by 2050.  

“We want oil companies to be active participants in carbon reduction,” said Julio Friedmann, a deputy assistant energy secretary under President Obama and chief scientist at Carbon Direct in New York. “It’s my expectation that this can become a flagship project.”

The key to the sudden flurry of activity is the Inflation Reduction Act.

“It’s a really good example of the intersection of good policy coming together with business and the innovation that can happen on the business side to tackle the big problem of emissions and the big problem of climate change,” Ammann said. “The interest we are seeing, the backlog, are all confirming this is starting to move and starting to move quickly.”

The law increased an existing tax credit for carbon capture to $85 a ton from $45, Goldman said, which will save the Exxon/CF/Enlink project as much as $80 million a year. Credits for captured carbon used underground to enhance production of more fossil fuels are lower, at $60 per ton.

“Carbon capture is a big boys’ game,” said Peter McNally, global sector lead for industrial, materials and energy research at consulting firm Third Bridge. “These are billion-dollar projects. It’s big companies capturing large amounts of carbon. And big oil and gas companies are where the expertise is.” 

Goldman Sachs, and environmentalists, are skeptical

A Goldman Sachs team led by analyst Brian Singer called the law “transformative” for climate reduction technologies including battery storage and clean hydrogen. But its analysis is less bullish when it comes to the impact on carbon capture projects like Exxon’s, with Singer expecting more modest gains as the law accelerates development in longer-term projects. To speed up investment more, companies must build CCS systems at greater scale and invent more efficient carbon-extraction chemistry, the Goldman team said.

Industrial uses are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to the EPA. That’s narrowly behind both electricity production and transportation. Emissions reduction in industrial uses is considered more expensive and difficult than in either power generation or car and truck transport. Industry is the focus for CCS because utilities and vehicle makers are looking first to other technologies to cut emissions.

Almost 20 percent of U.S. electricity last year came from renewable sources that replace coal and natural gas and another 19 percent came from carbon-free nuclear power, according to government data. Renewables’ share is rising rapidly in 2022, according to interim Energy Department reports, and the IRA also expands tax credits for wind and solar power. Most airlines plan to reduce their carbon footprint by switching to biofuels over the next decade.

More oil and chemical companies seem likely to get on the carbon capture bandwagon first. In May, British oil giant BP and petrochemical maker Linde announced a plan to capture 15 million tons of carbon annually at Linde’s plants in Greater Houston. Linde wants to expand its sales of low-carbon hydrogen, which is usually made by mixing natural gas with steam and a chemical catalyst. In March, Oxy announced a deal with a unit of timber producer Weyerhauser. Oxy won the rights to store carbon underneath 30,000 acres of Weyerhauser’s forest land, even as it continues to grow trees on the surface, with both companies prepared to expand to other sites over time.

Still, environmentalists remain skeptical of CCS.

Tax credits may cut the cost of CCS to companies, but taxpayers still foot the bill for what remains a “boondoggle,” said Carroll Muffett, CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law in Washington. The biggest part of industrial emissions comes from the electricity that factories use, and factory owners should reduce that part of their carbon footprint with renewable power as a top priority, he said.

“It makes no economic sense at the highest levels, and the IRA doesn’t change that,” Muffett said. “It just changes who takes the risk.” 

Friedman countered by saying economies of scale and technical innovations will trim costs, and that CCS can reduce carbon emissions by as much as 10 percent over time.

“It’s a rather robust number,” Friedmann said. “And it’s about things you can’t easily address any other way.” 

Read original article here

BP rakes in quarterly profit of $8.2 billion as oil majors post another round of bumper earnings

Shares of BP are up over 45% year-to-date.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Oil and gas giant BP on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter profits, supported by high commodity prices and robust gas marketing and trading.

The British energy major posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $8.2 billion for the three months through to the end of September. That compared with $8.5 billion in the previous quarter and marked a significant increase from a year earlier, when net profit came in at $3.3 billion.

Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected third-quarter net profit of $6 billion.

BP announced another $2.5 billion in share repurchases and said net debt had been reduced to $22 billion, down from $22.8 billion in the second quarter.

It reported a net loss for the quarter of $2.2 billion, compared with a profit of $9.3 billion in the previous quarter. BP said this third-quarter result included inventory holding losses net of tax of $2.2 billion and a charge for adjusting items net of tax of $8.1 billion.

The world’s largest oil and gas majors have reported bumper earnings in recent months, benefitting from surging commodity prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Combined with BP, oil majors Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon and Chevron have posted third-quarter profits totaling nearly $50 billion.

This has renewed calls for higher taxes on record oil company profits, particularly at a time when surging gas and fuel prices have boosted inflation around the world.

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday called on oil majors to stop “war profiteering” and threatened to pursue higher taxes if industry giants did not work to cut gas prices.

Oil and gas industry groups have previously condemned calls for a windfall tax, warning it would fail to resolve a sharp upswing in energy prices and could ultimately deter investment.

“This quarter’s results reflect us continuing to perform while transforming,” BP CEO Bernard Looney said in a statement.

“We remain focused on helping to solve the energy trilemma – secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. We are providing the oil and gas the world needs today – while at the same time – investing to accelerate the energy transition,” Looney said.

Shares of London-listed BP rose nearly 1% during morning deals. The firm’s stock price is up over 45% year-to-date.

Windfall tax ‘now a necessity’

Environmental campaign groups said BP’s third-quarter results underscored the need for a windfall tax, describing the results as “a slap in the face” for the millions of Britons facing a deepening cost-of-living crisis.

“The case for a bigger, bolder windfall tax is now overwhelming,” said Sana Yusuf, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “This must address the ridiculous loophole that undermines the levy by enabling companies to pay the bare minimum if they invest in more planet-warming gas and oil projects.”

“Some of the billions of pounds raised should be used to pay for a street-by-street, home insulation programme to cut energy bills and reduce emissions,” Yusuf said.

The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate crisis.

“A proper windfall tax on the profits of big polluters is no longer a far cry, it is now a necessity,” said Jonathan Noronha-Gant, senior fossil fuels campaigner at Global Witness.

“But the new U.K. Government must also urgently put us on track for a rapid transition away from dirty fossil fuels and onto renewables and decent home insulation, so we can fix this broken energy system once and for all.”

Our job is to ‘pay our taxes’

Speaking at the ADIPEC conference in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, BP CEO Bernard Looney said on a panel moderated by CNBC that he understood the public scrutiny on oil majors’ record profits, but sought to defend the firm’s record when it comes to investing and paying taxes.

“We are facing a very difficult winter ahead in the U.K., in Europe and right across the world,” Looney said.

“Our job is to pay our taxes; our job is to invest. We just announced a $4 billion acquisition in the United States just last week in renewable natural gas so that’s what our job is to do. We will continue to do that and do the very best that we can,” he added.

Read original article here

Nasdaq futures fall after weak Amazon guidance adds pressure to tech rout

Nasdaq 100 futures were lower Friday after disappointing Amazon earnings added to the already pressured index.

Futures tied to the Nasdaq dropped 0.84% Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were fractionally lower and S&P 500 futures lost 0.53%.

Amazon led the declines in extended trading, having plunged after the company posted weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue and issued disappointing fourth-quarter sales guidance.

Apple shares were initially lower too after the company reported weaker-than-anticipated iPhone revenue, but they have since reversed higher. The company still beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly earnings and revenue.

Tech names were a dark cloud over the market in regular trading, too. Earlier in the day, the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.6%, due to a rout in Meta and other tech stocks, and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%. Meanwhile, the Dow rose 194.17 points, or 0.6%, for its fifth straight day of wins, helped by GDP data that hinted that inflation may be waning.

SoFi head of investment strategy Liz Young said the pain investors are feeling in earnings was inevitable and necessary to move forward in the current cycle.

“We’ve been waiting for this to happen,” she said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “There’s usually a sequence of events: First the market goes, then earnings go, then the economy goes. So this is finally that part where we’re seeing earnings get hit and I don’t think it’s any mistake that it’s tech getting hit the most. Tech is what has been under pressure in this market since the beginning.”

“This is just another check on the list of things that we need to get through before we can really be done with this part of the cycle,” she added.

The Dow and S&P are on pace to end the week higher by about 3% and 1.5%, respectively. The Nasdaq is set to finish slightly lower.

Friday brings a quieter day for earnings. As investors digest the bloodbath in tech, they’ll have Chevron and Exxon Mobil on deck before the bell as well as AbbVie and Colgate-Palmolive.

In economic data, traders are looking forward to the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, as well as consumer sentiment and pending home sales.

Read original article here

Exxon illegally fired two scientists suspected of leaking information to WSJ, Labor Department says


New York
CNN
 — 

ExxonMobil has been ordered to reinstate two scientists who were fired after being suspected of leaking information to The Wall Street Journal, the US Labor Department said Friday.

A federal whistleblower investigation found the oil and gas giant terminated the two computational scientists illegally in late 2020. The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration also ordered ExxonMobil to pay the two employees back more than $800,000 in back wages, interest and compensatory damages.

An article in The Wall Street Journal last year claimed ExxonMobil might have inflated its production estimates and the value of oil and gas wells in the Texas Permian Basin, where much of US production is located. The story scrutinized the company’s assumption in its 2019 SEC filings that drilling speed would increase substantially in the next five years.

Exxon denied the allegations at the time, maintaining that it was reaching its drilling targets. “The claims made about drilling rates are demonstrably false,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson said.

The two unidentified employees “raised concerns about the company’s use of these assumptions in late 2020,” according to the Labor Department’s release. Exxon claimed it fired one scientist for “mishandling proprietary company information,” the Labor Department statement said, and the other for “having a ‘negative attitude,’ looking for other jobs, and losing the confidence of company management.”

In a statement to CNN Business, Exxon denied the allegations and said that it will “defend itself accordingly.”

“The terminations in late 2020 were unrelated to the ill-founded concerns raised by the employees in 2019,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson said.

Though neither employee was revealed as a source for the Journal’s story, OSHA learned that the company knew one of the scientists was a relative of a source quoted in the WSJ article and had access to the leaked information.

“ExxonMobil’s actions are unacceptable. The integrity of the US financial system relies on companies to report their financial condition and assets accurately,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker.

Read original article here

Cisco, BJ’s Wholesale, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s and more

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday:

Cisco Systems — Shares of the networking equipment producer jumped 5.8%. The company reported earnings after the bell on Wednesday that beat estimates. Cisco also provided a better-than-expected forecast for 2023.

Bed Bath & Beyond — The latest favored meme stock, which has surged in August, dropped over 20%. Investors appeared to be reacting to activist investor Ryan Cohen’s filing that he intends to sell his entire stake in the company.

Kohl’s — Kohl’s shares sank about 5% after the retailer slashed its financial forecast for the year, citing inflation pressures on middle-income customers. The company expects net sales in fiscal 2022 down 5% to 6%, down from a prior range of flat to up 1%. However, Kohl’s beat analysts’ expectations for fiscal second-quarter profit and revenue.

BJ’s Wholesale — Shares of the club retailer popped more than 7% on Thursday after BJ’s reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter. The company generated $1.06 in adjusted earnings per share on $5.01 billion of revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting 80 cents per share on $4.67 billion of revenue. The company’s comparable sales rose 7.6% year over year, excluding gasoline. BJ’s was also upgraded by Bank of America to a buy from neutral.

Elanco Animal Health — Shares of Elanco shed more than 3% after the company was downgraded by Morgan Stanley. The firm shifted the stock to equal weight from overweight citing concerns about future profits.

Verizon — Shares of Verizon slipped 2.7% after MoffettNathanson downgraded it to underperform and slashed its price target. Increased competition from AT&T and T-Mobile is weighing on Verizon and will likely drag shares lower, analysts said.

Canadian Solar — The solar equipment and services company hit a new 52-week high, popping nearly 18%, after reporting quarterly profits that beat expectations. Canadian Solar also raised its full-year revenue forecast and reported solar module shipments that were at the high end of its forecast.

Wolfspeed — Shares surged more than 27% after the semiconductor company surpassed expectations in its most recent earnings report. Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said he remains “very encouraged about the industry’s prospects for future growth and the activity we are seeing across our end-markets.”

Walgreens Boots Alliance — Shares of Walgreens fell more than 5% in midday trading. The drugstore chain, along with CVS and Walmart, was ordered Wednesday by a federal judge to pay a combined $650.6 million to two Ohio counties to address damage done by the opioid crisis. Walgreens also announced Wednesday it had sold 11 million shares of Option Care Health’s common stock in an underwritten secondary offering.

Energy stocks — Energy stocks were buoyed by the rise in oil prices, with shares of Devon Energy rising more than 3%. Halliburton jumped 4%, and APA added more than 5%. Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum and both gained about 2%.

—CNBC’s Jesse Pound, Carmen Reinicke and Sarah Min contributed reporting.

Read original article here

Stock futures fall slightly to start August trading with market coming off best month since 2020

Stock futures fell slightly following the market’s best month since 2020 as investors look ahead to another week of key earnings reports and economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 67 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures shed around 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped by 0.3%.

On Friday, all major indexes gained, posting winning weeks and capping off the best month of the year so far and then some. The Dow gained 6.7% in July, while the S&P 500 added 9.1%. The Nasdaq Composite rose 12.4% as investors rushed into the tech stocks beaten up the most during this bear market. For each index, July’s performances were the best since 2020.

“We are seeing a relief rally in the stock market, as pessimism reached extreme levels, and as longer-term interest rates have been coming back down,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.

“We believe the rally will last until later in the summer, but as stock prices rebound and it becomes increasingly clear that we are headed for a more typical recession (e.g. one with higher unemployment and nominal GDP dropping close to zero or negative), markets will again have another selloff,” he added. “But until that time, enjoy the rally as it’s likely catching a lot of people off guard.”

This week, investors have more economic data and company earnings to digest. On Monday, companies such as Activision Blizzard, Devon Energy, Loews and more report earnings. Later in the week Uber, Caterpillar, Starbucks, Eli Lilly, Amgen and others also have scheduled reports.

In addition, the Friday nonfarm payrolls report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics will give more insight into the strong labor market. So far this year, the solid growth of jobs has prompted economists to say the U.S. is currently not in a recession, even with two consecutive quarters of negative GDP.

Read original article here

Don’t get fooled by the bears, sometimes good news is actually … good

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, June 6, 2022.

Peter Dasilva | Reuters

This weekend I read a host of negative articles assailing this market and the earnings reports from individual companies. The suggestion: The numbers are all hiding something and even companies like Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) simply reported figures that exceeded lowball analyst estimates that were meant to generate upside. 

Read original article here