The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher on Wednesday, stretching its winning streak to six straight sessions and closing above 39,000 points for the first time in five weeks, as investors kept betting on supportive U.S. monetary policy.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 172.13 points, or 0.44%, to 39,056.39, the S&P 500 lost 0.03 points, or 0.00%, to 5,187.67 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 29.80 points, or 0.18%, to 16,302.76.
Market Movers
Shopify fell 19% after the e-commerce company swung to a surprise loss in its fiscal first quarter and warned the sale of its logistics business would weigh on second-quarter revenue growth.
Uber Technologies fell 5.7% after the ride-hailing giant swung to a loss of $654 million in the first quarter. The period included a charge of $721 million “related to the revaluation of Uber’s equity investments,” the company said. Gross bookings grew 20% from the prior year to $37.7 billion, below expectations of $37.93 billion.
Lyft’s first-quarter adjusted earnings topped forecasts, revenue jumped 28% to $1.3 billion, and the ride-hailing company logged 188 million rides during the quarter, a 23% increase from a year earlier. Gross bookings in the quarter rose 21%. The stock was up 7.1%.
Intel declined 2.2% as the chip maker issued new revenue guidance after the U.S. revoked export licenses to China. Intel said it expects revenue for the second quarter of 2024 to remain in the original range of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, but below the midpoint.
Reddit shares rose 4.1% after the social-media platform reported a narrower-than expected first-quarter loss and revenue in the period jumped to $243 million from $163.7 million a year earlier, beating analysts’ estimates of $214 million. It was Reddit’s first report as a public company. Reddit said daily active users increased 37% to 82.7 million. For the second quarter, Reddit said it expects revenue of between $240 million and $255 million, well ahead of analysts’ consensus of $227.5 million.
Tesla declined 1.7% after a report from Reuters said U.S. prosecutors were investigating the electric-vehicle maker to see if statements made by the company and CEO Elon Musk about Tesla’s driver-assistance technology qualify as fraud.
Arista Networks reported first-quarter revenue that rose more than expected and the cloud-networking company said its board authorized additional stock buybacks of up to $1.2 billion. Arista posted an adjusted profit in the quarter of $1.99 a share, topping analysts’ estimates of $1.74. Revenue rose 16% from a year earlier to $1.57 billion. Shares jumped 6.5%.
Match Group declined 5.4%. First-quarter earnings topped analysts’ forecasts but paying customers to dating app Tinder declined and Match issued second-quarter guidance that was below expectations.
Tripadvisor tumbled 29% after a special committee of its board determined that a potential sale of the online travel-booking company wasn’t “in the best interests of the company and its stockholders.” In February, Tripadvisor said it would be forming a special committee to evaluate potential deals.
DoubleVerify slumped 39% after the advertising data software company cut its full-year outlook, saying it expects revenue of between $663 million and $675 million, down from previous guidance of $688 million to $704 million. The company also said it anticipates adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2024 of between $199 million and $211 million, compared with a prior range of $205 million to $221 million. The company said it reduced guidance “due to uneven spending patterns among select large advertisers.”
Dutch Bros was up 12% after the coffee chain raised its revenue outlook for the year. The company said same-store sales in the first quarter rose 10% and revenue jumped 39.5% year over year to $275.1 million.
Upstart Holdings was down 5.6% after the artificial-intelligence lending company’s second-quarter forecast missed analysts’ expectations. Upstart said it expects revenue of $125 million in the period and an adjusted Ebitda loss of $25 million. Analysts had anticipated revenue of $145 million and a $5.9 million adjusted Ebitda loss.
Shares of ZoomInfo Technologies sank 24% after guidance from the provider of databases of customer contact information for second-quarter revenue of $306 million to $309 million was below analysts’ estimates of $313.2 million.
Anheuser-Busch InBev rose 4%. The brewer of Budweiser beer said net profit in the first quarter was $1.09 billion, down from $1.64 billion a year earlier. Underlying earnings per share rose to 75 cents a share, beating estimates of 62 cents. Revenue in the period rose 2.6% to $14.55 billion and beat expectations.
Shares of Twilio declined 7.5% after the cloud-communications company said it expected second-quarter revenue of $1.05 billion to $1.06 billion, below Wall Street forecasts of $1.08 billion. The company reported first-quarter adjusted profit of 80 cents a share, topping estimates of 59 cents.
Affirm fell 9.5%. The stock rose earlier in the session after the consumer lending company reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and offered upbeat guidance.
Market News
Google DeepMind Unveils Next Generation of Drug Discovery AI Model
Google Deepmind has unveiled the third major version of its "AlphaFold" artificial intelligence model, designed to help scientists design drugs and target disease more effectively.
In 2020, the company made a significant advance in molecular biology by using AI to successfully predict the behaviour of microscopic proteins.
With the latest incarnation of AlphaFold, researchers at DeepMind and sister company Isomorphic Labs – both overseen by cofounder Demis Hassabis – have mapped the behaviour for all of life's molecules, including human DNA.
Arm Shares Fall After Company Gives Tepid Annual Forecast
Arm Holdings Plc shares tumbled after the chip designer gave a lukewarm revenue forecast for the fiscal year, raising concerns that the tech industry’s artificial intelligence spending spree is slowing.
For fiscal 2025, which ends next March, revenue will be $3.8 billion to $4.1 billion, the company said Wednesday. Profit will be $1.45 to $1.65 a share. Analysts were predicting a total of $4.01 billion — representing a gain of 26% — and a profit of $1.53 a share.
The shares dropped as much as 10% in late trading after the report was released. Three months ago, an upbeat forecast sent its shares soaring and helped turn the company into an AI darling on Wall Street. The stock was up 41% this year through Wednesday’s close.
Airbnb Sees Growth Slowing Before Summer Travel Uptick
Airbnb Inc. provided lackluster guidance for a second consecutive quarter, indicating that growth in travel spending will slow further before the peak summer season kicks in. The shares were down about 8% in extended trading.
Revenue for the current quarter ending in June will be $2.68 billion to $2.74 billion, the company said Wednesday in a letter to shareholders. Analysts were expecting $2.74 billion, according to Bloomberg-compiled estimates. In its statement, Airbnb blamed the earlier timing of the 2024 Easter holiday as well as currency headwinds.
Comments