The Best Investment Manager’s Guide to Thursday’s Stock Market: NVIDIA Falls, Affirm Soars, and Dollar General Tanks
At market close, the broad S&P 500 remained unchanged at 5,592, with the index retreating 0.8 percent from the Stockholm Stock Exchange’s closing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 percent to 41,335, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite weakened by 0.2 percent to 17,516.
On the macro front, US statistics showed that GDP in the second quarter preliminarily increased by 3.0 percent year-over-year. This exceeded the 2.8 percent that analysts had expected on average, according to Trading Economics.
The day was dominated by the aftermath of chip giant Nvidia’s quarterly report after Wednesday’s close. While the report surpassed analysts’ estimates, Nvidia’s stock still fell by 6.4 percent. Market commentators attributed the price movement to the fact that the estimates were surpassed by a smaller margin than in previous quarters.
“Death, taxes, and Nvidia beating estimates are three things you can count on. But the size of the beat this time was much smaller than before,” wrote Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist at Carson, to CNBC.
Weakness was also seen in sector peers Qualcomm, Broadcom, and AMD, which declined by 1.4 percent, 0.8 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Furthermore, cybersecurity company Crowdstrike added 2.8 percent. The company, which was involved in a high-profile IT crash in July that affected many of its customers, met market expectations regarding its outlook for the third quarter.
Affirm, operating in the BNPL (buy now pay later) space and competing with Swedish company Klarna, surged by 32 percent. The company provided a revenue forecast for the current quarter of $640-670 million, compared to analysts’ average expectations of $625 million.
Computer manufacturer HP climbed 2.0 percent after beating expectations for the third quarter of the fiscal year.
Discount chain Dollar General plummeted by 32 percent. The company missed market expectations for both revenue and earnings in its quarterly report and also lowered its sales forecast for the full year.
Meanwhile, electronics retailer Best Buy rose by 14 percent after raising its full-year 2024 forecast in conjunction with its second-quarter report.
Birkenstock, known for its sandals, fell by 16 percent after missing Wall Street’s expectations for the second quarter. The company reiterated its forecasts for full-year 2024.
Victoria’s Secret, the women’s underwear brand, dropped by 3.7 percent despite raising its full-year 2024 forecast.
In summary, despite some companies exceeding expectations and others falling short, the overall market showed mixed results on Thursday. Investors should carefully analyze each company’s performance and outlook to make informed decisions about their portfolios.