Wall Street Breakfast: What Moved Markets

Stocks finished little changed Friday and on the week, as investors weighed the start of quarterly earnings reports and conflicting economic data to assess whether an economic slowdown is coming. The S&P 500 has been generally stable during the early stages of first-quarter earnings season that investors expect will show tepid results. Next week will bring a flood of earnings, including from some of the megacap companies including Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet whose shares have helped the S&P to rally so far this year. For the week, the Dow Jones fell 0.3% to snap a four-week winning streak, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.4%. Read Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch for a preview of next week's major events.

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Top News Shutterstock Stocks finished little changed Friday and on the week, as investors weighed the start of quarterly earnings reports and conflicting economic data to assess whether an economic slowdown is coming. The S&P 500 has been generally stable during the early stages of first-quarter earnings season that investors expect will show tepid results. Next week will bring a flood of earnings, including from some of the megacap companies including Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet whose shares have helped the S&P to rally so far this year. For the week, the Dow Jones fell 0.3% to snap a four-week winning streak, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.4%. Read Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch for a preview of next week's major events.       Tech New market Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) plans for a pivot to India can be seen by CEO Tim Cook's visit to the country, which is quickly becoming the tech giant's most important manufacturing base outside of China. Cook this week opened up the country's first Apple Store in Mumbai, followed by a second one in Delhi, after saying he was "very bullish on India" on last quarter's earnings call. Only about 4% of the nation's nearly 700M smartphone users have iPhones, but the company is hoping to build brand and consumer loyalty, with Wedbush Securities calling it a "strategic poker move.") The growth story in India, where half the population is under the age of 30, also saw Cook meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the country becomes the world's most populous nation. (16 comments)       On The Move Next evolution Following the streaming giant's set of mixed results, Netflix (NFLX) went on a wild ride in after-hours trading on Tuesday, sliding over 12% before ending the session near the flatline. Note that Netflix no longer forecasts quarterly user figures after diversifying its business, but said it expects Q2 revenue of $8.2B, shy of consensus estimates for $8.47B. The company is also looking for its next streaming act after killing off its DVD-by-mail service that revolutionized movie rentals and eventually vaulted it into Hollywood. The business plan is to crack down on passwords (paid sharing), as well as new subscription plans that include advertising (ad-supported tiers), though it remains to be seen how things will play out. (72 comments)       Media Moving on It came a bit late, but Fox News (FOX) agreed to pay $787.5M to settle a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems centering around the network's claims about a rigged presidential election in 2020. The settlement, which represents "accountability" and a "ringing endorsement of truth and democracy," according to Dominion attorneys, marks just about the halfway point in the company's push for $1.6B in damages. Now the focus turns to Smartmatic, another voting machine company that is similarly suing Fox News for $2.7B in damages. "Ouch. $787.5M is 52% of Fox's net income TTM," wrote user Orangejulius, while The Real Cavalier was quick to explain why it's "not material to the stock price." Join the discussion here. (464 comments)       Earnings Margin miss Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell 7% after the bell on Wednesday after lower pricing and high expenses contributed to a margin miss. The company will continue to prioritize sales growth ahead of profit due to the EV price war and macro challenges in the economy. "This is an extremely important point," Elon Musk said on the earnings call. "We're like laying the groundwork here, and it's better to ship a large number of cars at a lower margin, and subsequently, harvest that margin in the future as we perfect autonomy." He further noted the energy storage business had its best quarter ever, and even managed to pick a fight with Microsoft (MSFT) after the Q1 earnings. EV makers also watched as Chile announced plans to nationalize its lithium industry. (239 comments)       Global U.S.-China In a speech at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen laid out the next phase of the Biden administration's relationship with China as tensions heat up between the two sides. "We will secure our national security interests and those of our allies and partners," she declared. "These national security actions are not designed for us to gain a competitive economic advantage, or stifle China's economic and technological modernization. The United States will assert ourselves when our vital interests are at stake, but we do not seek to 'decouple' our economy from China's." Friction between the world's two largest economies already lingers over areas like trade, and bigger economic risks are at stake with a battle over access to key cutting-edge technologies like the escalating semiconductor war. (20 comments)       U.S. Indices Dow -0.3% to 33,809. S&P 500 -0.1% to 4,134. Nasdaq -0.4% to 12,072. Russell 2000 +0.6% to 1,792. CBOE Volatility Index -1.8% to 16.77. S&P 500 Sectors Consumer Staples +1.7%. Utilities +1.1%. Financials +1%. Telecom -3.1%. Healthcare -0.2%. Industrials +0.8%. Information Technology -0.5%. Materials -0.3%. Energy -2.5%. Consumer Discretionary +0.5%. Real Estate +1.6%. World Indices London +0.5% to 7,914. France +0.8% to 7,577. Germany +0.5% to 15,882. Japan +0.3% to 28,564. China -1.1% to 3,301. Hong Kong -1.8% to 20,076. India -1.3% to 59,655. Commodities and Bonds Crude Oil WTI -5.7% to $77.82/bbl. Gold -0.5% to $1,993.1/oz. Natural Gas +5% to 2.22. Ten-Year Bond Yield -0.2 bps to 3.568. Forex and Cryptos EUR/USD -0.09%. USD/JPY +0.27%. GBP/USD +0.24%. Bitcoin -9.5%. Litecoin -11.1%. Ethereum -10.9%. XRP -12.4%. Top S&P 500 Gainers Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) +12%. Snap-on (SNA) +10%. First Republic Bank (FRC) +9%. D.R. Horton (DHI) +8%. Las Vegas Sands (LVS) +8%. Top S&P 500 Losers Albemarle (ALB) -15%. CDW (CDW) -13%. Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX) -12%. Tesla (TSLA) -11%. Moderna (MRNA) -10%. Where will the markets be headed next week? Current trends and ideas? Add your thoughts to the comments section. Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast Podcast Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast podcast brings you all the news you need to know for your market day. Released by 8:00 AM ET each morning, it is a quick listen that you can put on as you get ready to start your working day.
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