An hour ago
Government shutdown looms as search for Republican speakers continues
Michael Townsend, managing director of legislative and regulatory affairs at Charles Schwab, said Tuesday that he wouldn’t be surprised if the U.S. federal government shuts down next month, but that Wall Street would likely shrug it off as it has in previous years .
“I’m not too worried about how the market will react if we have a shutdown,” Townsend said at Schwab’s Impact conference in Philadelphia.
Townsend’s comments came shortly after Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota withdrew his bid for House speaker. The continued failure to find a speaker means Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina could end up with some temporary powers to help Congress do its work, Townsend said.
The Schwab expert also said that the federal deficit is becoming a larger factor in markets because of higher interest rates, but that there is no urgency in Washington to address the budget deficit in any meaningful way.
“The spending changes that even Republicans are talking about are just a tiny drop in the bucket compared to these big problems,” Townsend said.
–Jesse Pound
An hour ago
Stocks make the biggest moves after hours
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.
Microsoft – Shares rose 2.5% after the maker of Windows software and Xbox video games reported fiscal first-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates. Microsoft posted earnings per share of $2.99 on revenue of $56.52 billion. Meanwhile, analysts had forecast earnings per share of $2.65 on revenue of $54.50 billion, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. Microsoft’s profit rose due to slower operating expense growth and better-than-expected revenue from its Azure cloud segment.
Alphabet – The Google and YouTube parent company fell more than 6% despite beating analysts’ estimates for both revenue and profit in the third quarter. Sales growth accelerated again compared to the previous quarter to 11%, the first time in four quarters that sales reached double digits. However, according to StreetAccount, Google Cloud revenue came in at $8.41 billion, well below consensus estimates of $8.64 billion.
Snap – Snapchat’s parent company rose slightly following third-quarter results. Snap reported profit of 2 cents per share on revenue of $1.19 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had estimated a loss of 4 cents per share on revenue of $1.11 billion. CEO Evan Spiegel highlighted the return to revenue growth during the quarter. Shares initially rose as much as 20% in after-hours trading before gains were reversed as investors digested news that some advertisers had stopped spending after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The full list can be found here.
– Hakyung Kim
An hour ago
Stock futures open little changed on Tuesday
US stock futures made only slight movements on Tuesday evening.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 40 points, or 0.1%.
Meanwhile, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively.
– Hakyung Kim