Market Indexes Reap Profits at Close; Zoom, URBN Report Q3

Stock market indexes had remained relatively buoyant throughout most of the day, but nosedived into the close, finishing at lows for the session across the board. The Dow hung onto a very slight beat on the day, +0.05% as big banks closed higher, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had hit intraday record highs before sliding into the red -0.32% and -1.26%, respectively. The small-cap Russell 2000 also slid into negative territory, -0.50%.

Both Zoom Video ZM and Urban Outfitters URBN posted fiscal Q3 earnings results Monday afternoon, and although both posted beats on top and bottom lines for the quarter, both are also trading down in after-hours markets.

Just ahead of this morning’s opening bell, President Biden announced he’d be keeping Jay Powell as head of the Fed, moving also-ran Lael Brainard to second-in-command Vice Chair. Just before the noon hour, indexes took a step lower but retained gains; this didn’t end until the last 35 minutes of regular trading or so. Although the market seems to have hit a softer patch after an excessively strong October, we’re still near all-time record highs (aside from the Dow, which is off by roughly 2%). Thus, consider this late-day move a measure of booking profits.

We also see a resurgence of Covid-19, particularly in North-Central European countries of Austria and Germany, where a lower-than-average rate of vaccination in certain regions have left their populations vulnerable to the highly infectious Delta variant — similar to what we saw in pockets of the U.S. South over the late summer. Even in the U.S., new cases are +30% to an average of 92K per day. Regional pockets of Northern states are seeing higher rates of infection, and directly ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Zoom Video posted a 2-cent beat on its bottom line to $1.11 per share — more than +10% year over year — on $1.05 billion in revenues, which outpaced the $1.02 billion expected. Further, Q1 earnings guidance was raised to $1.06-1.07 per share from a $1.04 Zacks consensus estimate. Initially, shares popped north of +8% on the release, but have subsequently dwindled down to a -2% drop in late trading. Shares had already traded down more than -32% year to date, -25% in just the past six months.

Urban Outfitters beat its bottom line estimate by 5 cents to 89 cents per share, 11 cents higher than in the year-ago quarter. This was on quarterly sales amounting to $1.13 billion, which were right in-line with Zacks consensus. Yet even though the stock traded up +3% in the regular session, it tumbled -10% in late trading on its earnings news. November comps had accelerated +14%, but mostly in its digital sales; in-store traffic continues to face challenges.

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