US STOCKS-Futures Slip – Apple and Amazon Action Plans

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices tumbled down to a record low. The results of the mega-cap firms of Apple and Amazon.com exacerbated concerns about labor and supply shortages, which were at the forefront of this profitable quarterly season.

Market participants have been watching closely as corporate America copes with these challenges and growing inflation concerns.

Apple’s pre-market sales decreased by 3.5% after being advised that supply chain interruption would be even worse in the upcoming holiday sales quarter. Notably, supply problems cost $6 billion in the last quarter.

Amazon.com Inc fell 4.8% after the world’s most significant online retailer forecast low sales in the festive quarter. Higher wages to hire workers and other operating delays significantly reduce a company’s unexpected revenue from online shopping.

Starbucks Corp also plummeted down by 4.7%. Due to investment and inflation, the coffee chain expects the 2022 fiscal operating margin below its long-term target to be ~ 17%.

The focus is on the PCE core price index, U.S. consumer spending, and the Federal Reserve’s preferential inflation track. The latter data is due at 8:30 p.m. It may show some hints on the economy’s health before the central bank policy meeting next week.

Analysts’ Views and Numbers

According to Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst, the data will gain more weight in the markets. High prints over the weekend may see the Fed reduce trading. Halley said some concrete progress in U.S. spending taxes could give markets a pleasant stimulus by the end of the week.

On Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden failed because the House of Representatives abandoned voting plans on an infrastructure bill. Progressives have sought more time to decipher his call for $1.75 trillion in social initiatives.

At 6:44 a.m., the Dow e-minis fell 51 points or 0.14%. The S&P 500 e-minis decreased 23 points or 0.5%. At the same time, the Nasdaq 100 e-minis shaved off 0.92%, dropping to a total of 144.25 points. The S&P 500 rose almost 1.1% in the week. The technologically heavy Nasdaq also soared by 2.4%. Analysts predict that the profits of S&P 500 companies will increase by 38.6% in the third quarter. This will be 29.4% more at the beginning of the profit season.

Chevron Corp. rose 1.9% after the highest quarterly profit in eight years. Exxon Mobil also jumped before the revenue account opened. Western Digital Corp. fell 11.1% after storage equipment maker forecast second-quarter profit and revenue.

Apple and Amazon Condition

Apple’s latest revenue report reinforces fears that manufacturing and transportation complications could be the focus of attention.

After closing the markets, the most valuable American company said that the shortage of chips and delays in production reduced $6 billion in revenue in the last quarter.

Apple again released quarterly sales of $83.4 billion. However, this is lower than Wall Street expected. 

According to Brian Olsavsky, the chief financial officer of Amazon, the decline in the company’s stock is due to several factors, including the disruption of global supply chains as well as inflation in the cost of materials and services such as trucks, which increased the cost of the company’s operations.

Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy noted that the corporation’s consumer business expects further billions of dollars in an amount over the current cycle. Apple also hopes to increase supply chain costs.

Luca Maestri, chief financial officer, said the impact of supply constraints would be particularly noticeable in the December quarter.

Conclusion

The National Retail Federation forecasts that holiday spending will break records this year, increasing 8.5% to 10.5% over the previous year.

According to NRF President Matthew Shay, the holiday shopping season is a big boost. Consumers are at a disadvantage as incomes rise and household balances are significantly more substantial.

Retailers are making significant investments in supply chains and spending large sums of money to ensure they have the products they need for the best customer experience. However, analysts expect that additional investment to reduce profits.