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Pre-Markets Cool Ahead of Fed; Q2 Results from GE, MMM & More
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Pre-markets look to be taking a breather today, after entering Q2 earnings season at levels not seen since the Great Recovery, if not before, with the Dow carrying a 10-day winning streak into today’s trading session. Only the Nasdaq is in the green at this hour, while the Dow, S&P 500 and small-cap Russell 2000 are all marginally lower. Markets are still strong over the past month, from +4.6% on the Dow to +7.3% on the Russell. We also see the Fed reconvening today for its two-day session on new monetary policy, which is expected to bring another 25 basis-point hike by Wednesday afternoon.
General Electric (GE - Free Report) has at last delivered the type of quarter investors have been expecting since the American stalwart hired Larry Culp as CEO five years ago. Earnings of 68 cents per share sped past the 46 cents analysts were looking for, on $15.92 billion in revenues which easily topped the $15.09 billion estimate. Record renewable energy orders ($8.3 billion) joined growth in its LEAP engine business, whose guidance has been upped to 1700 deliveries by the end of the calendar year.
Further, GE’s full-year earnings guidance has improved by half a dollar to a range of $2.10-2.30 per share, which has helped buoy the stock in today’s pre-market by +4% at this hour. This has already been a strong trading year for the company founded by Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan in 1892; shares are already up +66% year to date, and climbing steadily from lows in September of last year beneath $50 per share. Currently, the stock trades at $114 per share.
Minneapolis-based industrial giant 3M (MMM - Free Report) also posted clean beats on both top and bottom lines in its Q2 earnings report this morning: earnings of $2.17 per share outpaced the $1.65 in the Zacks consensus, while revenues in the quarter of $8.33 billion bettered estimates by +4.65%. On the news, shares are up nearly +3%, although it is still working back from its -13% performance year to date. The company also sees higher profits in its newly issued guidance. For more on MMM’s earnings, click here.
Verizon (VZ - Free Report) posted mixed Q2 earnings numbers ahead of today’s opening bell, with earnings of $1.21 per share surpassing the Zacks consensus of $1.17 (though still below the year-ago figure of $1.31 per share). Revenues in the quarter reached $32.6 billion, beneath the expected $33.39 billion. Yet shares are up +2.3% in pre-market activity on the news, as earnings guidance of $4.55-4.85 per share still comfortably ensconces the Zacks estimate $4.69. Year to date, Verizon shares are -11%, -22% over the past year. So the positive pre-market is a long time coming; Verizon remains near multi-year lows.
After today’s opening bell, Consumer Confidence for July is expected to tick up to 112.0 from 109.7 reported a month ago. After today’s close, a big earnings bonanza brings us Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Texas Instruments (TXN - Free Report) and plenty of others. We’re now entering the thick of Q2 earnings season, which may give Fed members a glimpse at how the past quarter’s economy has treated publicly traded companies across a wide spectrum of industries.
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Pre-Markets Cool Ahead of Fed; Q2 Results from GE, MMM & More
Pre-markets look to be taking a breather today, after entering Q2 earnings season at levels not seen since the Great Recovery, if not before, with the Dow carrying a 10-day winning streak into today’s trading session. Only the Nasdaq is in the green at this hour, while the Dow, S&P 500 and small-cap Russell 2000 are all marginally lower. Markets are still strong over the past month, from +4.6% on the Dow to +7.3% on the Russell. We also see the Fed reconvening today for its two-day session on new monetary policy, which is expected to bring another 25 basis-point hike by Wednesday afternoon.
General Electric (GE - Free Report) has at last delivered the type of quarter investors have been expecting since the American stalwart hired Larry Culp as CEO five years ago. Earnings of 68 cents per share sped past the 46 cents analysts were looking for, on $15.92 billion in revenues which easily topped the $15.09 billion estimate. Record renewable energy orders ($8.3 billion) joined growth in its LEAP engine business, whose guidance has been upped to 1700 deliveries by the end of the calendar year.
Further, GE’s full-year earnings guidance has improved by half a dollar to a range of $2.10-2.30 per share, which has helped buoy the stock in today’s pre-market by +4% at this hour. This has already been a strong trading year for the company founded by Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan in 1892; shares are already up +66% year to date, and climbing steadily from lows in September of last year beneath $50 per share. Currently, the stock trades at $114 per share.
Minneapolis-based industrial giant 3M (MMM - Free Report) also posted clean beats on both top and bottom lines in its Q2 earnings report this morning: earnings of $2.17 per share outpaced the $1.65 in the Zacks consensus, while revenues in the quarter of $8.33 billion bettered estimates by +4.65%. On the news, shares are up nearly +3%, although it is still working back from its -13% performance year to date. The company also sees higher profits in its newly issued guidance. For more on MMM’s earnings, click here.
Verizon (VZ - Free Report) posted mixed Q2 earnings numbers ahead of today’s opening bell, with earnings of $1.21 per share surpassing the Zacks consensus of $1.17 (though still below the year-ago figure of $1.31 per share). Revenues in the quarter reached $32.6 billion, beneath the expected $33.39 billion. Yet shares are up +2.3% in pre-market activity on the news, as earnings guidance of $4.55-4.85 per share still comfortably ensconces the Zacks estimate $4.69. Year to date, Verizon shares are -11%, -22% over the past year. So the positive pre-market is a long time coming; Verizon remains near multi-year lows.
After today’s opening bell, Consumer Confidence for July is expected to tick up to 112.0 from 109.7 reported a month ago. After today’s close, a big earnings bonanza brings us Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) , Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) , Texas Instruments (TXN - Free Report) and plenty of others. We’re now entering the thick of Q2 earnings season, which may give Fed members a glimpse at how the past quarter’s economy has treated publicly traded companies across a wide spectrum of industries.
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