Market activity today was pretty lackluster, showing some resistance of higher valuation levels after good economic news last week but still-uncertain jobs figures which come out starting Wednesday morning. Only the Dow crested the zero-balance and closed the day in the green: +73 points, +0.21%. The S&P 500, in particular, seems to be shying away of the 4600 level (at least until jobs numbers are out), -12 points, -0.26%, to a hair below 4577. The Nasdaq slipped -61 points, -0.43%, while the small-cap Russell 2000 dipped steepest, -0.46% for the session.

Actually, we did see jobs numbers out today, with the release of June’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) depicting a cooling labor market across regions and industries. Headline Openings reached 9.58 million, -34K month over month. This is the lowest monthly total since April of 2021, and below the projected 9.61 million. Job Quits came in -295K to 3.77 million (compared to 4.016 million in June of last year). This is also near the lows for the 12-month cycle.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD Quick QuoteAMD - Free Report) slightly beat the Zacks consensus on the bottom line, by a penny to 58 cents per share, on revenues that clearly if modestly topped expectations: $5.4 billion versus $5.32 billion estimated. AI engagements increased 7x in the quarter — clearly flexing AMD’s viability in this all-important space — but revenue guidance was below what analysts were looking for, to $5.7 billion from $5.86 billion expected. Yet shares are up +4.6% on the news, as AMD tries to make up ground versus semiconductor competition, and its Data Center performance was better than some had feared.

Starbucks (SBUX Quick QuoteSBUX - Free Report) put up mixed numbers in its fiscal Q3 report after today’s close. Earnings of an even $1.00 per share outpaced the Zacks figure by a nickel, but revenues, while posting a record quarter, +12% year over year, reached $9.17 billion (consensus had been for $9.29 billion). Comps were +10% globally, slightly under projections, down in the U.S. and International. China grew by +46%, and domestic Rewards members came in at 31.4 million, +15% year over year. Shares are dipping -0.95% in late trading.

Pinterest (PINS Quick QuotePINS - Free Report) easily surpassed expectations on both top and bottom lines in its Q2 report: earnings of 21 cents per share swept past the 12 cents expected and 11 cents per share from the year-ago quarter, while revenues of $708 million outperformed the $698.3 million in the Zacks consensus. User numbers and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) were up slightly from expectations, but revenue guidance is still looking at high single digit gains. Shares had initially dropped on the news before shooting back up +1.5% in the after-market.

Electronic Arts (EA Quick QuoteEA - Free Report) reported fiscal Q1 numbers after today’s close, beating earnings estimates solidly — $1.47 per share versus $1.01 — though quarterly sales came in a touch light at $1.58 billion. Net bookings grew +21% year over year, but sales guidance for fiscal Q2 — between $1.7-1.8 billion — is below the previous consensus $1.82 billion, and as a result, shares are down more than -3% on the news. EA stock is still up roughly +15% over the past 6 months.

Tomorrow morning, monthly private-sector payroll results from Automatic Data Processing (ADP Quick QuoteADP - Free Report) come out, with a lower-than-trend 175K jobs expected to have been filled in the private sector for the month of July. This comes after the big surprise +497K posted for June, which was more than double expectations. But as forecasts for both ADP numbers and Friday’s non-farm payrolls suggest — and today’s JOLTS numbers confirm to a reasonable level — that the domestic employment market is indeed decreasing overall. We’ll see if there’s another surprise in store.

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