The Dow led markets higher on Thursday as Salesforce (CRM) earnings boosted the index. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also recovered from early losses to close in the black.
The S&P 500 was up 0.76%, the Nasdaq was up 0.73%, and the Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.05% at the end of trading on Thursday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note settled above 4%, its highest level since November, indicating that rates continued to be a major concern for investors.
As inflation is still high and the economy is still robust, investors are preparing for more aggressive action from the Federal Reserve in the coming months, which has caused yields to increase.
The yield on 2-year notes continued to trade close to its highest level since 2007 at the front end of the Treasury curve. The greatest indicator of investor expectations of the Fed’s short-term interest rate path is the 2-year yield, which was close to 4.8% on Thursday.
Following the company’s most recent quarterly report, which showed the troubled Dow member doubling down on cost-cutting strategies and shareholder return plans, Salesforce shares soared 11.5% on Thursday, with single-stock movements. According to Bloomberg data, the stock’s opening gap higher of 16% was the biggest since August 2020.
We have struck the hyper-space button,” Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in a late-Wednesday interview with Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi in reference to the business’ efficiency ambitions.
In a conference call with investors, COO Brian Millham stated, “We’re inspecting every part of our business to find opportunities to drive efficiencies and reduce cost of sales, marketing, and G&A.” The company announced in its quarterly report that its share repurchase authorization had been increased to $20 billion.
The price-weighted Dow gained 340 points on Thursday, or about 110 points, and Salesforce’s 11.5% increase, or just over a $19 per share increase in the stock price, contributed around 110 points to that gain.
Other single-stock swings on Thursday included a 57% drop in shares of failing bank Silvergate (SI) after the business postponed submitting its annual report and warned that losses would likely be higher than previously stated.
The bank signed on a number of well-known cryptocurrency clients in recent years, and as a result of the failure of FTX and other crypto-related bankruptcies, its share price has fallen by more than 90%.
The electric carmaker hosted its most recent investor day on Wednesday, which unveiled few new product specifics but highlighted the company’s push to unlock new efficiencies in its production and design processes. Tesla (TSLA) shares were also in the spotlight on Thursday, tumbling 5.9% as a result.
In terms of economic data, the weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance revealed 190,000 fresh applications were made last week, the most recent indication the labour market is still strong. Although the first Friday of the month is tomorrow, the February jobs data won’t be made public until March 10.
