The S&P 500 closed out the week with slight gains on Thursday, with the benchmark index notching its strongest first quarter in five years, as investors digested the latest batch of economic data while looking towards the next inflation reading.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 47.29 points, or 0.12%, to 39,807.37, the S&P 500 rose 5.86 points, or 0.11%, to 5,254.35 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 20.06 points, or 0.12%, to 16,379.46.
Market Movers
Microstrategy — Kerrisdale Capital said Thursday that it is short shares of Microstrategy, Inc., despite also being long Bitcoin. Microstrategy shares dropped 11.18% on Thursday.
Reddit — Shares slipped 14.6% after CEO Steve Ladd Huffman disclosed he sold 500,000 shares and Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Wong disclosed she sold 514,00 shares. The stock has soared since it debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on March 25, surging 92% as of Wednesday’s close.
RH — The luxury retailer surged 17.26% after offering strong full-year forecasts for demand and revenue growth. That allowed investors to look past a fourth-quarter earnings report that came in below expectations.
Estée Lauder — Shares jumped 6.28% after Bank of America upgraded them to buy from neutral. The firm highlighted improving profitability, new products and rising presence in the prestige beauty sector.
Chemours — The stock fell 9.07% following the chemicals company’s announcement that it was cooperating with regulators and U.S. attorneys regarding its internal audit of its financial practices. An internal review found executives manipulated cash flows to meet targets tied to their bonuses.
Snowflake — The cloud data provider climbed 0.97% a day after CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy disclosed in a filing that he purchased 31,542 shares. He paid $158.52 per share, bringing the total paid to $5 million.
AMC Entertainment — Shares dropped 14.29% after the movie theater chain said in a filing it will sell $250 million worth of stock.
Verint Systems — Shares added 6.63% after the customer engagement solutions provider surpassed fourth-quarter earnings per share and revenue expectations. Verint Systems reported earnings of $1.07 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $265.1 million, while analysts polled by FactSet had called for 97 cents per share in adjusted earnings on revenue of $262.5 million.
TD Synnex — The stock shed 2.5% following the IT company’s launch of a secondary public offering of 10.5 million common shares, which are currently held by Apollo Global Management, up from the nine million previously announced. TD Synnex also authorized a concurrent repurchase of 500,000 shares as part of its existing buyback program.
MillerKnoll — The furniture company plunged 18.9% after reporting a fiscal third-quarter revenue miss and issuing guidance that fell below analysts’ expectations. MillerKnoll said demand patterns continue to be sluggish due to high interest rates, geopolitical concerns and a lagging U.S. housing market.
Braze — Shares sank 12.42% after the consumer engagement platform issued disappointing guidance. Braze anticipates a loss of 10 cents to 11 cents per share for its first quarter, versus a 5 cents loss expected from analysts polled by FactSet. Its full-year guidance was for an 8 cent to 12 cent loss per share, compared to the consensus estimate of a 2 cent loss.
Allstate — The insurance company gained 1.87% on the back of an HSBC upgrade to buy from hold. The bank cited Allstate’s “decisive management actions” and a less restrictive regulatory backdrop for the call.
Market News
Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years for Multi-Billion Dollar FTX Fraud
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a judge on Thursday for stealing $8 billion from customers of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded, the last step in the former billionaire wunderkind's dramatic downfall.