WBD - Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Earnings Season Kicks Off

2023-07-14 06:31:09 ET

Summary

• Major banks including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, and Citigroup are set to release their latest financial figures.
• The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists voted in favor of a strike, joining the Writers Guild of America in seeking better contracts.
• A federal judge rejected the Federal Trade Commission's request to block Microsoft's planned $69 billion acquisition of Activision.

Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Bank Q2 earnings set to kick off with the bar set low as rates stay high. (00:25) Hollywood actors go on strike , setting up historic entertainment shutdown. (01:45) Judge denies FTC request to temporarily block Activision ( ATVI ) sale to Microsoft (MSFT). (03:04)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

The banking sector kicks off a flood of earnings releases today, with names like JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM ), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC ), BlackRock (NYSE: BLK ) and Citigroup (NYSE: C ) set to headline the list of financial powerhouses announcing their quarterly results .

All four of these large-scale financial institutions will disclose their latest financial figures before the market opens.

Out of those four, let’s discuss two, JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ), and Citigroup.

Citigroup ( C ) has beat EPS consensus estimates in all but two of the last 12 quarters, the most recent miss being in Q4 2022. Revenue, though, has beat in all but one quarter during that same period, having missed only in Q4 2022.

JPM has trailed the EPS consensus estimate three times in the past 12 quarters, most recently in Q2 2022. Revenue has missed only twice during that period, missing in Q2 2022 and Q4 2021.

Out of the four reporting today, only one of them falls in the top 10 in terms of year-to-date returns within the diversified banking sector.

I’ve got a list of the top 10 diversified bank stocks that have the highest year-to-date returns on Wall Street.

You’ll find a link in the show notes section on our podcast player.

Now an update to a story Kim Khan brought you Thursday on Wall Street Lunch.

Hollywood actors officially went on strike Thursday at midday, queuing up a double strike among creatives that threatens to effectively shut down entertainment production until it's resolved.

The national board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists unanimously voted in favor of a strike late Thursday morning in California, after receiving a unanimous recommendation to strike from the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee.

That means the actors union joins writers in the Writers Guild of America as they all seek better contracts from producers, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The key sticking points include streaming residuals, shortened seasons and the future effect of artificial intelligence on writing shows and movies.

It's the first actors strike against the industry since 1980. And it's the first time writers and actors have been on strike together in 63 years -- since the Screen Actors Guild was led by Ronald Reagan in 1960.

AMPTP represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon ( AMZN ), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ), Disney (NYSE: DIS ), NBCUniversal ( CMCSA ), Netflix ( NFLX ), Paramount ( PARA ) ( PARAA ), Sony ( SONY ) and Warner Bros. Discovery ( WBD ).

Now an update to a story we’ve been following at Seeking Alpha.

A federal judge rejected the Federal Trade Commission's request to temporarily block Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT ) planned $69 billion acquisition of Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI ).

The judge rejected the FTC's request to have the deal delayed as it appeals the judge's original decision of denying a preliminary injunction on Tuesday.

The FTC needs an emergency stay to extend the current temporary restraining order past midnight tonight.

Microsoft's $69 billion deal currently has a termination date of next Tuesday, when the parties can decide to walk away, extend, or renegotiate the $95 a share purchase of Activision ( ATVI ).

Other headlines to look out for on Seeking Alpha:

Roivant reportedly could sell colitis drug to Roche for over $7B

Workers building Taiwan Semi Arizona plant reportedly hit with pay cut

U.S. federal budget deficit narrows less than expected in June

Nikola soars 62% after disclosing hydrogen truck sale

On our catalyst watch for the day, Rocket Lab ( RKLB ) is scheduled to launch its Electron rocket for NASA's Starling mission out of Launch Complex 1, in New Zealand.

U.S. stocks settled higher on Thursday, as sentiment was boosted by further data on inflation that showed more moderation.

The Nasdaq ( COMP.IND ) advanced 1.58% to close above the 14,100 mark for the first time since April 5, 2022.

The S&P 500 ( SP500 ) rose 0.85% while the Dow ( DJI ) underperformed the other two averages with a 0.14% gain.

Of the 11 S&P sectors, nine ended trading in the green, led by Communication Services and Tech. Energy and Health Care were the two losers.

Treasury yields continued to fall following the PPI report. The 10-year yield ( US10Y ) was down 10 basis points to 3.76%, while the 2-year yield ( US2Y ) retreated 12 basis points to 4.62%.

Thursday's economic calendar also showed a decrease in the number of Americans filing for initial jobless claims the past week, pointing to continued resilience in the labor market.

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