Good evening, everyone. We hope you all had a pleasant Hump Day. 😌
Each index added to yesterday’s gains. 💚The Russell 2000 rose 0.8% for a third straight session. The Nasdaq leaped 0.64% and the S&P 500 sprang 0.31%.
Photronics popped 25.95% to fifteen-year highs after topping Q4 earnings and sales expectations with ease. $PLAB is up 60.4% YTD.
Healthcare hopped for the fifth consecutive session. Financials flopped 0.32% as the weakest sector.
United Natural Foods flew 13.21% to six-year highs after reporting stellar earnings and sales results. 🤑
Roku’s shares raged 18.23% after signing a multi-year contract to keep YouTube on Roku devices. 📺
$ISIG increased 84%, $DWAC climbed 28%, and $EOS.X expanded 13.2%.
Here are the closing prices:
| S&P 500 | 4,701 | +0.31% |
| Nasdaq | 15,787 | +0.64% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,271 | +0.80% |
| Dow Jones | 35,754 | +0.10% |
Economy
Record Job Openings
The U.S. Labor Department released this month’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS report). The report suggests hiring and resignations are falling, but that job openings have increased massively.
On Oct. 31, job openings increased from 431,000 to a whopping 11 million, the second-highest boost in job openings ever recorded. 🏆
Hiring decreased by 82,000 and quits fell 205,000. The number of employers hiring fell to 6.5 million, down 82,000. 1.5 job openings per unemployed worker were recorded in October. BMO Capital Markets economist Jennifer Lee commented:
“Under normal circumstances, a near record number of job openings would be something worth celebrating. But no employer is in a celebratory mood. It is difficult to fill orders or meet customer demands if there are not enough people to do the actual work.”
By industry, accommodations and food service posted 254,000 open jobs. Manufacturing recorded 45,000 job openings, education had 42,000 openings, and state/local government available jobs decreased by 115,000.
According to Reuters, the quits rate remains high, which could mean that wage inflation will also stay high (above the target rate of 2%) — quit rates can be interpreted as signals of workers’ confidence in job markets.
Sponsored
The Best Stocks to Own in 2022
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Earnings
$GME Earnings 🚀 🎮
Everyone’s favorite GameStop reported earnings today. 🚀 The company posted wider losses and better-than-expected revenue.
$GME posted GAAP EPS of -$1.39 (analysts anticipated -$0.58) and revenue of $1.3 billion, +30% YoY. Revenue beat analysts’ expectations by $110 million. Net sales also got a boost to $1.297 billion during the quarter, compared to $1.005 billion in Q3 2020.
GameStop shared that its inventory reached $1.141 billion compared to $861 million in Q3 2020 as the company hopes to offset supply issues during a period of higher customer demand. $GME also reported on a new $46.2 million term loan related to the French government’s pandemic response. 💰💰
In other exciting news, GameStop announced the opening of two new offices in Seattle and Boston to attract local tech talent and the company’s exploration of “emerging opportunities” related to web3, blockchain, and NFTs.
$GME lost 2.34%.
Earnings
Earnings Recap
The Lovesac Company reported a surprise profit in the third quarter while sales grew 56% year-over-year. $LOVE leaped 20.76% and erased all of November’s losses.
$LOVE | EPS: $0.17 (vs. ($0.40) expected) | Revenue: $116.7 million (vs. $112.2 million expected) | Link to Report
Restoration Hardware surged 11% in extended trading on an earnings beat and raise in revenue guidance. 👍
$RH | EPS: $7.03 (vs. $6.68 expected) | Revenue: $1.01 billion (vs. $985.2 million expected) | Link to Report
Udemy reported earnings for the first time as a public company after the bell. $UDMY moved 5.4% higher after hours.
$UDMY | EPS: ($0.25) (vs. ($0.05) expected) | Revenue: $129.6 million (vs. $128.3 million expected) | Link to Report
Bullets
Bullets from the Day
Travel surges after Omicron deemed “mild.” The Omicron FUD might be behind travel stocks, which rallied to the tune of high single digits today. Cruise companies $NCLH (+8.2%), $CCL (+5.5%), and $RCL (+5.2%) were the biggest winners, followed by $LVS (+4.4%) and $UAL (+4.2%). Read more in Reuters.
Apple scores App Store reprieve. A ruling made several months ago would have meant competition for Apple in its own App Store. The company might not have to worry about that for a little while longer. An appeals court in San Francisco says that the former suit “failed to show Apple’s conducted violated any antitrust laws.” Lawsuits levied against tech giants such as Apple and Google have aimed to prevent tech companies from forcing developers to use company payments systems, opening up the floodgates for alternatives. Read more in CNBC.
Trouble with SushiSwap. The Chief Technology Officer of decentralized exchange (DEX) SushiSwap tendered his resignation today amid an ongoing scandal involving the DEX. Two of $SUSHI.X‘s largest holders submitted a proposal to SushiSwap governance indicating their desire to restructure the project. Its creators, Alex Woodard and Dean Eigenmann, hope it will establish a formal entity for SushiSwap and “establish further checks and balances between the various teams developing under Sushi and the Sushi community.” Read the proposal (and feedback) on Sushi.com.
Links
Links That Don’t Suck:
🎅 Is the Santa Claus Rally real? Find out in this infographic from IBD*
🖥️ A YouTuber Paid $2500 For Five High-End Laptops. They’re All Broken. He Tries To Fix Them.
💡 What Do Wine, Finance, and Art Have In Common? Sumsub Explains New-Age Money Laundering.
🚗 Reviewing Spotify’s Car Thing, The Company’s New Hardware Product
🎉 Why Snow and Confetti Ruin YouTube Video Quality
⚖️ Instagram CEO Leaves Option Open for Kids’ Version of the App
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