Here are the top news, trends, and analysis investors need to get their trading day started:
1. Dow intends to extend profits to a three session rally
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Source: NYSE
Dow futures indicated a relatively flat Wednesday, a day after the DJIA posted its best single-session advance of more than 475 points, or 1.58%, and its best two-session rally since November.
The back-to-back surge in the broader stock market coincided with a strong two-day reversal of the fast-paced GameStop that saw modest gains faded in the pre-market on Wednesday. Reddit-fueled short squeeze stock fell 72% to $ 325 since the close of trading on Friday. On the 400% increase last week, Gamestop hit an intraday all-time high of $ 483 per share.
Nasdaq futures were stronger Wednesday as Alphabet shares rose over 7% in premarket trading after Google parent company reported better-than-expected earnings and sales in the fourth quarter.
Prior to the release of the government’s monthly employment report on Friday, ADP released its January look at US corporate job trends on Wednesday morning. According to ADP, 174,000 private sector jobs were added last month. That was more than triple expectations. The December balance sheet was revised up to a decrease of 78,000.
2. Jeff Bezos resigns as CEO; Amazon delivers record earnings
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive officer, delivers a keynote address at Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley conference on July 12, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, said he plans to step down as CEO and move to executive chairman. This announcement coincided with the company’s earnings report, which showed record sales for the quarter. Amazon’s cloud boss Andy Jassy will take over Bezos as CEO in the third quarter. Bezos, 57, said he will continue to be involved in key Amazon projects but will also have more time to focus on the Bezos Earth Fund, its spacecraft company Blue Origin, the Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
Amazon’s stocks have barely changed in the Bezos News pre-market, with the company posting over $ 100 billion in quarterly sales for the first time. In fact, fourth quarter revenue rose to a better-than-expected $ 125.56 billion. Earnings per share of $ 14.09 nearly doubled expectations. At Amazon’s cloud computing unit, which Jassy runs, sales rose 28% to $ 12.7 billion, although it was below forecast.
3. Alphabet beats quarterly results, reports Google Cloud loss
The logos of Google and some of its applications are displayed on a computer screen.
Chesnot | Getty Images
A strong return to growth in its core advertising business pushed Alphabet’s fourth quarter earnings and revenue above Wall Street’s expectations. The company achieved $ 22.30 per share on sales of $ 56.90 billion. Alphabet announced its first operating results from Google’s cloud business. This shows the company lost $ 1.24 billion for the fourth quarter and $ 5.61 billion for the full year. In contrast, Amazon’s cloud business had operating profits of $ 3.56 billion in the fourth quarter and $ 13.53 billion last year.
4. Yellen cites market volatility and GameStop madness
The GameStop Corp. logo on a laptop and the Robinhood application on a smartphone.
Tiffany Hagler-Geard | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling a meeting of key financial regulators this week, possibly as early as Wednesday, to discuss the market volatility caused by retailing GameStop and other sharply depreciated stocks. Yellen asked ethics lawyers for permission to do so, according to a document released by Reuters. On Monday, Reuters noted that after Yellen was head of the Fed and before she was posted to the Treasury, speaking fees were only paid last fall by a key player in the GameStop saga, the Citadel hedge fund.
5. Biden, Yellen says the GOP offer for Covid stimuli is too low
President Joe Biden will receive an economic briefing with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on January 29, 2021.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Yellen and President Joe Biden met for a private virtual meeting with Democratic Senators on Tuesday, declaring a GOP offer from Covid stimulus of $ 618 billion to be too low. They called for big and swift measures to contain the pandemic and the economic consequences that it caused. While the White House is still trying to get a bipartisan relief bill, the Democrats assembled their narrow Senate majority to launch a lengthy process of approving Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion proposal, with or without Republican support.
– Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow all developments on Wall Street in real time with CNBC Pro’s live market blog. Find out about the latest pandemics on our coronavirus blog.
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