Good Evening. On Wednesday, U.S. stocks rose as investors digested a series of closely anticipated earnings reports and a scorching print on inflation in the United States.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones gained more than 1%, snapping a three-day losing trend. The Nasdaq outperformed, rising 2.03% as technology stocks soared.
EARNINGS
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) stock rose intraday on Wednesday, reversing early losses of up to 12% after the company reported an unexpected loss for the fiscal fourth quarter and failed sales targets.
During the holiday shopping season, adjusted losses were $0.92/share. Not good, considering Wall Street analysts expected earnings of $0.13/share. According to Bloomberg, comparable sales were also down 12%, which was more than the 8.3% loss expected.
“We are disappointed that our sales and gross margin performance does not reflect our team’s hard work and execution against both strategic and transformation efforts in 2021,” the company’s CEO Mark Tritton said in the quarterly report’s press release.
“Macroeconomic factors, such as the disruption of the global supply chain, the Omicron variant, as well as the geopolitical turbulence weighing on consumer confidence, have uncovered more vulnerabilities than we could have foreseen at this stage of our transformation, as we completely rebuild the foundation of our business,” he added.
At closing, BBBY finished 1.17% under at $17.16 per share.
CARGO
When the Ever Given, a cargo ship that inspired a million jokes, became trapped in the Suez Canal last year, it gave birth to a new type of entertainment. All eyes are now on the Ever Forward, the ship’s sister, which has been moored in the Chesapeake Bay for exactly one month as of today.
The most recent attempt to dislodge the 1,095-foot ship has failed twice, with a third attempt underway. To lower the ship’s load for refloating, tug boats are now removing 500 of the 4,900 freight containers placed on board.
However, until the Ever Forward is back on the road (err, seas), Maryland locals have turned it into a tourist attraction.
It’s okay to laugh a bit. The Ever Forward, unlike the Ever Given, isn’t upsetting anyone (except for maybe the company and all those folks waiting on the cargo). The Maryland Port Administration stated the stopped ship isn’t disrupting traffic (unlike the Suez Canal, the Chesapeake Bay is large enough for other ships to travel around), and Coast Guard Captain David O’Connell said it isn’t polluting the waterways.