Top Stock Market News For Today March 2, 2022 (2024)

Stock Market Futures Rebound Ahead Of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Testimony Today

U.S. stock futures are in the green going into Wednesday’s trading session today. This appears to be the case while oil prices continue to gain amidst the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine. As it stands, both Brent crude and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices are hovering around the $110 per barrel mark. Like it or not, investors will likely have to continue taking global energy supplies into account when trading now. This also coincides with the disappointing global agreement to release 60 million barrels of crude, less than a day’s global demand.

Commenting on this is Insigneo Securities’ chief investment officer, Ahmed Riesgo. He starts by saying, “The problem is that that would not be enough to offset a potential supply shock coming from Russia, which is really what the market is grappling with right now.” Riesgo continues, “The key question that all investors have to ask themselves right now is, are Russian exports going to stop? And if the answer to that is yes, then we need to de-risk further.” Alternatively, he argues that “if the answer is no, then this could potentially be near a bottom.” Amidst all this, investors also have plenty of exciting earnings-related news to keep track of in the stock market today. As of 6:34 a.m. ET, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures are trading lower by 0.72%, 0.74%, and 0.86% respectively.

Nordstrom Soars After Posting Solid Earnings And Upbeat Guidance

Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) appears to be stirring up a storm on the retail earnings front today. Namely, the company’s shares are currently moving higher by over a whopping 30% in pre-market trading today. Overall, this jump in the company’s shares follows its latest quarterly earnings figures. Diving in, Nordstrom posted earnings per share of $1.23 on revenue of $4.49 billion for the quarter. Notably, this handily tops consensus Wall Street projections of $1.02 and $4.35 billion respectively. For now, it seems that Nordstrom is kicking into high gear on the operational front. This is apparent as its net income skyrocketed by a whopping 506% year-over-year.

Regarding its latest performance, Nordstrom notes that its home, active, designer, beauty, and kids categories were core growth drivers. Additionally, the company is also seeing persisting strength in its suburban stores. Speaking on how Nordstrom plans to maintain its current momentum is CEO Erik Nordstrom. He highlights that the firm is focusing on bolstering three key aspects of its business. This includes, improving Nordstrom Rack’s performance, boosting profitability, and optimizing inventory and supply chain flow.

After considering this long-term strategy, Nordstrom appears to be confident of its performance this year. The company currently sees annual credit card sales rising by 5% to 7% for fiscal 2022. This is a notable jump from analyst estimates of 3.7%. Furthermore, Nordstrom is also guiding for an earnings per share of between $3.15 to $3.50 for the fiscal year. With this being well above initial forecasts of $2.01, investors are understandably keen on JWN stock.

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SoFi Gains Following Strong FY2022 Guidance

Elsewhere, SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) reported record figures in its fourth fiscal quarter after yesterday’s closing bell. For those uninitiated, SoFi identifies as a personal finance company, catering to consumers. Through SoFi, consumers have access to loan refinancing, mortgage, personal loan, credit card, investing, and general banking services. All of which are available on its mobile and desktop applications in a comprehensive hub for SoFi’s collection of digital financial services.

Back to its earnings, SoFi posted new highs in both its GAAP and adjusted revenue for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year. In particular, its total revenue for the quarter is up by 67% year-over-year, totaling $286 million. Aside from that, the company reported a quarterly net loss of $111 million. This translates to a loss per share of $0.15. Sure, this may seem negative at face value. However, it would mark a significant improvement over a loss of $1.85 per share in the same quarter last year. Not to mention, SoFi also added a record 523,000 new members throughout the quarter.

While all this is great, the company does not seem to be slowing down on the operational front as well. Just last week, it announced the launch of SoFi Checking and Savings, the company’s latest fintech offering. This move follows SoFi’s recent win in the form of a regulatory approval for a national banking charter. According to CEO Anthony Noto, Sofi’s new “zero account fees, high-yield checking and savings accounts make it simpler for people to save and spend their hard-earned money, with an institution who is looking out for their best interests.” After considering all of this, SOFI stock could be in focus at today’s opening bell.

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Salesforce In Focus After Reporting Earnings Beats On Top And Bottom Lines

Another tech firm making waves on the earnings front now is Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). After hosting its latest quarterly earnings call yesterday, the company seems to be gaining attention from investors now. All in all, Salesforce raked in a total revenue of $7.33 billion alongside an earnings per share of $0.84. For reference, this tops Wall Street’s forecasts of $7.24 billion and $0.74 respectively. Moreover, CFO Amy Weaver notes that Salesforce “drove record levels of revenue, margin, and cash flow” throughout the fiscal year.

Looking forward, the company expects to pull in revenue of between $7.37 billion and $7.38 billion for the current quarter. Among its core focuses would be the ongoing integration of Slack’s operations. This would be in reference to the Salesforce’s $27.7 billion acquisition of the enterprise messaging app. By the company’s estimates, it could see up to $1.5 billion in sales through these integrations this year. For one thing, with the increasing popularity of hybrid work practices today, this could play to Salesforce’s advantage. Because of all this, it would not surprise me to see CRM stock being in vogue later today.

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AMC Posts Best Quarterly Results In Two Years; Looks To Test Out New Ticket Pricing Model

AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC) also posted its latest quarterly update after yesterday’s market close. In it, the movie chain titan reported a loss per share of $0.11. This is noticeably better than initial analyst expectations of a $0.16 loss. Furthermore, AMC also ended the quarter with a revenue of $1.17 billion, just topping consensus estimates of $1.16 billion. According to the company, this marks its “strongest quarterly results in two full years.” With AMC pressing forward on its recovery from the pandemic, investors could be tuning in to the company today.

In general, the company cites a “robust and appealing film slate” as being a key factor in its recovery efforts. This is apparent with blockbuster movies such as Spiderman: No Way Home driving the return of consumers to cinemas. In fact, AMC is now testing out new pricing models in the U.S. Essentially, this will see movie tickets for The Batman being more costly compared to older releases in the cinema. With the premiere date set for this Friday, it remains to be seen if AMC can make the most of this change.

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