In a sign that economic recovery is picking up pace, weekly jobless claims dropped to a new pandemic low of around 444,000 this week. The market responded positively to the impressive jobs data. The S&P 500 index recovered from the mid-week sell-off and opened Friday’s session up 25 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bounced back and crossed the 34,000 mark once again, but remained below the recent peak.
Putting an end to speculation, AT&T and WarnerMedia signed a $43-billion pact to combine the latter’s entertainment and sports assets with the global leisure business of Discovery, in one of the largest deals in recent times that would create a new company.
In another tech deal, the cloud communications platform Twilio agreed to acquire Seattle-based messaging app Zipwhip for about $850 million. Continuing its acquisition spree, professional services firm Accenture bought management consultancy Homburg & Partner. The latest to join the M&A bandwagon was Snap, which is buying AR display maker WaveOptics for more than $500 million.
On the earnings front, the spotlight was on the retail sector this week – leading store chains Walmart, Macy’s and Home Depot reported on Tuesday, while Target Corporation on Wednesday posted earnings that more than doubled as the COVID-driven shopping boom continued.
From the tech space, Analog Devices and Cisco Systems released their quarterly reports on Wednesday. Earlier, game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software revealed that fourth-quarter results grew in double-digits on the strength of its iconic title Grand Theft Auto.
Having entered the new fiscal year on a positive note, Kohl’s Corp. Thursday said it turned to profit in the most recent quarter from a loss last year. The first-quarter earnings of Foot Locker, which reported on Friday, was the other important announcement.
With the market approaching the fag end of the season, tech firms will be dominating next week. Among the closely-followed events, quarterly announcements of IT major Hewlett Packard Enterprise and remote conferencing platform Zoom Video Communications are due on June 1 after the market’s close.
Before the opening bell, Canada-based cannabis producer Canopy Growth is expected to report. On the next day, the financial statements of Campbell Soup and Advance Auto Parts are on tap. On June 3, Broadcom, Crowdstrike Holdings, and Slack Technologies will report.
Key Earnings to Watch
Monday: BiomX, Genetron Holdings, MICT, Natuzzi S.p.A, Zymergen, Agora, and IRIS Business Services
Tuesday: Dycom Industries, Autozone, Trinity Biotech, Agilent Technologies, Intuit Corp, ReneSola Ltd, Zscaler, Nordstrom, and Urban Outfitters
Wednesday: Pinduoduo, BMO Financial Group, Abercrombie & Fitch, Dick’s Sporting Goods, American Eagle Outfitters, Nutanix, Workday, NVIDIA Corp, Okta, Pure Storage, and Snowflake
Thursday: CIBC, Best Buy, Medtronic, Royal Bank of Canada, HP Inc., Ulta Beauty, Amgen, VMware, Autodesk, Box, Costco Wholesale, Gap, Salesforce, and Dell Technologies
Friday: Big Lots, Hibbett Sports, and National Bank of Canada
Key Corporate Conferences to Watch
Key Investor Days/AGMs to Watch
Key US Economic Events
Notable Transcripts
The following are notable companies which have reported their earnings last week. In case if you have missed catching up on their performance, click the respective links to skim through the transcripts to glean more insights.
Tencent Music Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Macy’s Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Baidu Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Wal-Mart Q1 2022 Earnings Transcript
Vodafone Q4 2021 Earnings Transcript
Home Depot Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Take-Two Interactive Q4 2021 Earnings Transcript
Lowe’s Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Target Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Cisco Q3 2021 Earnings Transcript
L Brands Q1 2021 Earnings Transcript
Ralph Lauren Q4 2021 Earnings Transcript
Palo Alto Networks Q3 2021 Earnings Transcript
If you want to listen to how management responds to analyst questions and the tone they use, you can head over to our YouTube channel to listen to conference calls on the go.