Stock Market Live July 21: S&P 500 (VOO) Inches Higher on More Good Earnings News
Key Points
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President Trump’s August 1 deadline for foreign nations wanting to sign trade agreements with the U.S. is a “hard” deadline and will not move again.
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Investors seem cautiously optimistic despite tariffs uncertainty, as earnings season rolls ahead.
Live Updates
Stocks Drop Near the End of Trading
Stocks lost momentum near the end of trading with the Dow Jones closing down slightly while the Nasdaq posted the best gains among major indexes.
- Dow Jones: -19.12 (-.04%)
- S&P 500: +8.81 (+.14%)
- Nasdaq Composite: +78.52 (+.38%)
Energy stocks performed the worst (-1.08%) while Communications Services gained 1.28% thanks to Alphabet‘s (Nasdaq: GOOG) strong gains.
Bullish on Verizon
Circling back to Verizon and its morning earnings beat, Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider has reviewed the news and says Verizon stock should hold onto hold its gains after raising guidance for both EBITDA and free cash flow. Although the decline in wireless subscribers was a surprise, Schneider thinks they were actually “better than feared. The analyst is keeping his buy rating on the stock, and Verizon stock is up 5.3%.
Good news for Analog, too
It’s probably worth mentioning that Texas Instruments isn’t the only stock Seaport upgraded today. Analyst Jay Goldberg similarly upgraded Analog Devices (Nasdaq: ADI | TXN Price Prediction), also to neutral, and for exactly the same reason it upgraded TI.
Analog Devices stock is up 1.3%, TI is now up 0.7%, and the Voo is up 0.6%.
Texas's Star Rises
In happier analyst news, Seaport Global Securities analyst Jay Goldberg upgraded Texas Instruments (Nasdaq: TXN) today. Removing his sell rating on the stock, Goldberg upgraded to neutral. “We thought the analog inventory cycle was not going to improve and the macro economy was slowing,” aid the analyst. “We were wrong. While we see no strong catalysts, it now appears conditions will not deteriorate and inventories may start to improve.”
Texas Instruments is trading 0.8% higher in the market’s opening minutes. The Voo is now up 0.2%.
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made the rounds of Sunday morning talk shows over the weekend, insisting that President Trump’s revised August 1 deadline for foreign nations wanting to make trade agreements with the U.S. (and avoid higher tariffs) was a “hard” deadline and wouldn’t shift again. In a move to mollify investors, Lutnick reassured that even countries that don’t sign agreements by August 1 can still reach agreements thereafter.
They’ll be hit with higher tariffs in the meantime, though.
As for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO), the broad stock market ETF closed at 576.92 Friday, and is inching higher premarket on Monday, up 0.1%, as investors appear to be looking past the tariffs turmoil today, and focusing instead on earnings.
Earnings
Speaking of earnings, S&P 500 component company Verizon (NYSE: VZ) reported an earnings beat this morning. The telecom giant earned $1.22 per share in Q2, ahead of expectations. Revenue of $34.5 billion also exceeded analyst forecasts. In a surprise development, however, Verizon reported that its wireless customer count, which was expected to grow by 13,000 subscribers, instead shrank by 9,000.
Despite this setback, Verizon raised its earnings forecast modestly, saying adjusted profit will grow from 1% to 3% this year. Free cash flow will run between $19.5 billion and $20.5 billion, also more than previously forecast.
The news wasn’t so good for another S&P 500 component company, however. Domino’s Pizza (Nasdaq: DPZ) missed on Q2 earnings this morning, reporting $3.81 per share instead of the expected $3.94. Sales were as expected: $1.15 billion.
CEO Russell Weiner noted, however, that Domino’s gained market share in the quarter.
Analyst Calls
In retail news, Barclays Capital downgraded shares of retail giant Target (NYSE: TGT) to underweight with a $91 price target. “Our analysis suggests comps have improved from Q1,” wrote analyst Seth Sigman, but “we believe that there is a ceiling med-/longterm due to growing competitive issues.”
Joel South covers large-cap stocks, dividend investing, and major market trends, with a focus on earnings analysis, valuation, and turning complex data into actionable insights for investors.
He brings more than 15 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist, including 12 years at The Motley Fool, where he served as an investment analyst, Bureau Chief, and later led the Fool.com investing news desk. He has also co-hosted an investing podcast and appeared across TV and radio discussing market trends.
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