Finance

Customers are trying on and learning about Apple Vision Pro headsets at an Apple store in Shanghai, China, on July 22, 2024. 
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading:
Apple — Shares of the iPhone maker inched higher, as the company beat analysts’ estimates on the top and bottom lines. Apple reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $1.40 per share while analysts polled by LSEG called for $1.35 per share. Revenue clocked in at $85.78 billion, also surpassing the Street’s estimates.

Intel — The chip stock sank 17%. Intel said it would suspend its dividend in the fiscal fourth quarter, and it announced plans to lay off 15% of its workforce. The news coincided with worse-than-expected quarterly results. Intel also shared disappointing guidance for the current quarter.
Amazon — Shares of the e-commerce giant dropped 5% in extended trading. The company reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the second quarter and issued a disappointing forecast for the third quarter. Revenue in its cloud division increased 19% in the second quarter, beating analysts’ estimates, however.
DoorDash — Shares surged nearly 14% after the online food ordering company reported a revenue beat in the second quarter. DoorDash posted $2.63 billion in revenue while analysts polled by LSEG had estimated $2.54 billion. Management also raised the marketplace gross order value forecast for the third quarter.
Coinbase — The crypto exchange operator saw its shares rise nearly 5% in extended trading. In the second quarter, revenue came in at $1.45 billion, slightly above estimates of $1.40 billion, according to LSEG.
Block — The fintech company rallied more than 7% on better-than-expected adjusted earnings in the second quarter. Block reported adjusted earnings of 93 cents per share, coming above consensus calls for 84 cents per share, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG. Meanwhile, revenue of $6.16 billion missed analysts’ estimates for $6.28 billion. 

Snap — The parent of the instant messaging app cratered 17%. Snap called for third-quarter adjusted earnings to range between $70 million and $100 million, falling short of the $110 million estimate from analysts polled by StreetAccount. Revenue for the latest quarter missed the Street’s forecasts.
Roku — Shares jumped more than 5% after Roku posted second-quarter results that exceeded expectations. The streaming device company posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss of 24 cents per share, better than the loss of 43 cents per share anticipated by analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue of $968 million topped the $938 million consensus estimate.
Clorox — The stock advanced 4%. Clorox issued fiscal full-year earnings guidance in a range between $6.55 and $6.80 per share, coming above analysts’ estimates of $6.45 in earnings per share, according to analysts polled by LSEG. Fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings came in at $1.82 per share, while consensus estimates called for $1.56 per share.
Coterra Energy — Shares dipped 1.8% after Coterra Energy posted disappointing earnings results. Coterra reported adjusted second-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share, below the FactSet consensus estimate of 39 cents in earnings per share.   
GoDaddy — Shares jumped 6% after the web hosting company raised its revenue guidance for the full year. GoDaddy issued full-year revenue guidance between $4.525 billion and $4.565 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected $4.53 billion. 
Atlassian — The software company sank more than 13% after the company’s forward outlook disappointed investors. Atlassian guided revenue in the current quarter between a range of $1.149 billion to $1.157 billion, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected $1.16 billion.
Booking Holdings – The online travel reservation company slumped 4%. Gross bookings for the second quarter came in at $41.4 billion, missing consensus estimates of $41.73 billion, per StreetAccount. The company beat on the top and bottom lines for the period.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min, Yun Li, Samantha Subin, Tanaya Macheel and Darla Mercado contributed reporting. More

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Federal Reserve officials held short-term interest rates steady, but indicated that inflation is getting closer to its 2% target.
Central bankers made no obvious indications that a rate cut was imminent. Instead, they maintained their statement that more progress is needed before rate reductions can happen.
“The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals continue to move into better balance,” the Federal Open Market Committee’s post-meeting statement said.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday held short-term interest rates steady but indicated that inflation is getting closer to its target, which could open the door for future interest rate cuts.
Central bankers made no obvious indications, though, that a reduction is imminent, choosing to maintain language that indicates ongoing concerns about economic conditions, albeit with progress. They also preserved a declaration that more progress is needed before rate reductions can happen.

“The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals continue to move into better balance,” the Federal Open Market Committee’s post-meeting statement said, a slight upgrade from previous language.
“Inflation has eased over the past year but remains somewhat elevated,” the statement continued. “In recent months, there has been some further progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent inflation objective.”
However, speaking with the media, Chair Jerome Powell indicated that while no decision has been made about actions at future meetings a cut could come as soon as September if the economic data showed inflation easing.
“If that test is met, a reduction in our policy rate could be on the table as soon as the next meeting in September,” Powell said.

Stocks react to Powell comments

Markets had been looking for signs that the Fed will reduce rates when it next meets in September, with futures pricing pointing to further cuts at the November and December meetings, assuming quarter percentage point moves. Stocks rallied to the highest levels of the day on Powell’s comments.

As for the Fed’s statement, its language also represented an upgrade from the June meeting, when the policy statement indicated only “modest” progress in bringing down price pressures that two years ago had been running at their highest level since the early 1980s. The previous statement also characterized inflation as simply “elevated,” rather than “somewhat elevated.”
There were a few other tweaks as well, as the FOMC voted unanimously to keep its benchmark overnight borrowing rate targeted between 5.25%-5.5%. That rate, the highest in 23 years, has been in place for the past year, the result of 11 increases aimed at bringing down inflation.
One change noted that committee members are “attentive” to the risks on both sides of its mandate for full employment and low inflation, dropping the word “highly” from the June statement.
Still, the statement kept intact one key sentence about the Fed’s intentions: “The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”
That phrase has underscored the Fed’s data dependence. Officials insist they are not on a predetermined course for rates and won’t be guided by forecasts.

Price pressures off 2022 peak

Economic data of late has indicated that price pressures are well off the boil from their peak in mid-2022, when inflation hit its highest level since the early 1980s.
The Fed’s preferred measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, shows inflation around 2.5% annually, though other gauges indicate slightly higher readings. The central bank targets inflation at 2% and has been insistent that it will stick with that goal despite pressure from some quarters to tolerate higher levels.
Though the Fed has held to its tightest monetary policy in decades, the economy has continued to expand.
Gross domestic product registered a 2.8% annualized growth rate in the second quarter, well above expectations amid a boost from consumer and government spending and restocking of inventories.

Labor market data has been a little less robust, though the 4.1% unemployment rate is far from what economists consider full employment. The Fed statement noted that unemployment “has moved up but remains low.” A reading Wednesday from payrolls processing firm ADP showed July private sector job growth of just 122,000, indicating that the labor market could be weakening.
However, there was some positive inflation data in the ADP report, with wages increasing at their slowest pace in three years. Also Wednesday, the Labor Department reported that costs of wages, benefits and salaries increased just 0.9% in the second quarter, below expectations and the 1.2% level in the first quarter.
Fed officials have vowed to proceed carefully, despite signs that inflation is weakening and worries that the economy won’t be able to withstand the highest borrowing costs in some 23 years for much longer. Their position got some fortification Wednesday, when yet another economic report showed that pending home sales surged a stunning 4.8% in June, defying expectations for a 1% increase.

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