Platinum, Copper, And Corn… Oh My!

Tale of the Tape

Happy Thursday, y’all!! Can you believe it’s almost the end of the week?? Yeah, neither can we.

Three of four indices ended red today. The Nasdaq advanced 0.87% and was the only index to close green. 💚

The Dow led the losers, -0.62%. The Russell 2000 fell 0.23% and the S&P 500 slid 0.04%.

Commodities are down bad, with some erasing nearly all their gains YTD. Soybeans and gold have wiped their gains. Crude’s trying its best to buck the trend. 📉

$RUN jumped 9.2% after Morgan Stanley hinted at a bullish tone. AMD popped 5.5% with a trifecta of good news.

Real estate reeked. 🤮 $XLRE gave up 3.4% and almost all of June’s gains.

Here are the closing prints:

S&P 500	4,221	-0.04%
Nasdaq	14,161	–0.87%
Russell 2000	2,314	-0.23%
Dow Jones	33,823	-0.62%

Earnings Roundup

Adobe reported earnings today. The infamous software company beat on both its top and bottom lines.

Here are the numbers:

EPS: $3.03 vs $2.81 est
Revenue: $3.84B, +23% YoY

Adobe President and CEO Shantanu Narayen shared:

Adobe had an outstanding second quarter as Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and Experience Cloud continue to transform work, learn and play in a digital-first world … our innovative product roadmap and unparalleled leadership in creativity, digital documents and customer experience management position us for continued success in 2021 and beyond.

$ADBE advanced 2.9% after hours.

Grocery chain Kroger reported earnings today. 🥦 🐓 🍎

Here are the details:

EPS: $1.19 vs $0.54 est
Sales: $41.3B, +14.9% YoY

Kroger CFO Gary Millerchip said:

Based on the momentum within our business, we are raising our full year guidance. We now expect our two-year identical sales stack to be in the range of 10.1% to 11.6%. We expect our adjusted net earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $2.95 to $3.10.

$KR lost 0.07% after hours.

23andMe’s Big Break

23andMe had its market debut today. 🥳 The listing comes just months after 23andME announced its listing via Richard Branson’s Virgin Group SPAC.

23andMe is famous for its at-home DNA test, but there’s only so many DNA tests you can sell… which means the consumer genetics company is searching for new ways to make money. 🧬 💸

23andMe is pursuing genetic research (with the help of self-reporting users). The company will sell access to its data and research to universities, pharmaceutical companies, and nonprofits.

On the consumer front, the company also launched a subscription service providing health reports, risk scores, and access to DNA relatives. 23andMe+ is available for $30/yr.

$ME soared 21.8% today. 👏

In Awe of AMD

It’s a good day to be AMD.

Yesterday, Intel’s CEO said he expects “10 good years” of chip industry growth. If he’s right, that’s great news for the semiconductor industry— $AMD, $INTC, and all their friends.

European regulators also signed off on AMD’s planned acquisition of Xilinx today. $XLNX rose 5.6% on the news, and AMD picked up another Team Red believer. ❤️

Lastly, Google announced its decision to use AMD’s EPYC server processors for its family of high-performance virtual machines. 🤖

Not groundbreaking, but still a trifecta of great news for the chipmaker. $AMD finished +5.9%.

Commodities Hit The Fan

Commodities sold off hard on Thursday— everything from platinum, copper, and corn… oh my. 🦁 🐯 🐻 Weakness in commodities can be attributed to China’s action against rising asset prices and US dollar appreciation.

The Midwest heartland’s forecast for cool temperatures and rain didn’t help, either. 🥶 Here are some charts displaying the damage. 💣

Soybean futures: