Good News for Investors: Earnings Season Generally Tends to Boost Markets
Although it seems counterintuitive, the combination of tighter monetary policy and the release of company earnings may boost stock returns.
“With first-quarter earnings season about to get underway, many investors are worried that budding economic uncertainty caused by high inflation and Federal Reserve rate increases could jeopardize the recent rebound in U.S. stocks. But historical experience suggests quite the opposite,” writes Gina Martin Adams in Bloomberg News. “Despite conventional wisdom, fears of an economic slowdown combined with the Fed’s tightening of monetary policy may only intensify the historically positive effect of earnings seasons. Indeed, higher weekly returns during earnings seasons are usually stronger when the Fed is not easing or economic confidence is low or both.”
This morning, the S&P 500 slid “as investors digested mixed earnings results from major banks. The S&P 500 dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 146 points, or 0.4%,” write Sarah Min and Tanaya Macheel of CNBC. “Major banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo posted their first-quarter earnings on Thursday. Investors are monitoring how banks weathered surging inflation and a recession warning from the bond market in the form of the flattening yield curve.”
Musk Offers to Buy Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has offered to buy social media giant Twitter.
“According to an SEC filing, Musk has offered to acquire all the shares in Twitter he does not own for $54.20 per share, valuing the company at $43.4 billion. That represents a 38% premium over the closing price on April 1, the last trading day before Musk disclosed that he had become Twitter’s biggest shareholder, and an 18% premium over its closing price Wednesday,” write Chris Isidore and Mark Thompson of CNN Business. “Musk said the cash offer was his “best and final offer,” according to the SEC filing, adding that if it’s not accepted he would have to reconsider his position as a shareholder.
Major Cybercrime Forum Seized
A popular English-language marketplace for stolen consumer records has been shut down, according to multiple reports.
“The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said (Tuesday) it seized the website and user database for RaidForums, an extremely popular English-language cybercrime forum that sold access to more than 10 billion consumer records stolen in some of the world’s largest data breaches since 2015. The DOJ also charged the alleged administrator of RaidForums — 21-year-old Diogo Santos Coelho, of Portugal — with six criminal counts, including conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft,” writes cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs. “ … as trading in hacked databases became big business, RaidForums emerged as the go-to place for English-speaking hackers to peddle their wares. Perhaps the most bustling marketplace within RaidForums was its ‘Leaks Market,’ which described itself as a place to buy, sell, and trade hacked databases and leaks.”
New App Enables Smoother Transition to Android Devices
A new “unlisted” app facilitates the switch from an iPhone to an Android device.
“Google has quietly released a free app for iOS to help you easily carry over data from an iPhone to an Android device, as reported by 9to5Google. The Switch To Android app works wirelessly, meaning you won’t have to worry about connecting the two phones with a cable,” writes Jay Peters of The Verge. “9to5Google says this is an unlisted app, and that does appear to be the case, as I can’t find it when searching the App Store on my iPhone. However, you can download it right now from this direct link. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about when the app might officially become listed on the App Store.”
