Good Evening. Despite fresh statistics showing that economic activity shrank for the second consecutive quarter in Q2, U.S. stocks surged Thursday.
The S&P 500 increased by 1.21%, the Dow was up 1.03%, and Nasdaq went up by 1.08%.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER EARNINGS REPORT
Amazon (AMZN) exceeded analysts’ sales predictions when it released its financial results after the bell on Thursday. After-market trading saw a 12.24% increase in the stock price. According to Bloomberg, these are the key figures from Amazon’s earnings today:
Revenue: $121.2 billion vs $119.53 billion expected
Loss per share: $0.20
Amazon Web Services (AWS) net sales: $19.74 billion vs $19.4 billion expected
However, Amazon also disclosed a net loss of $2 billion, which it attributes to its investment in Rivian, a manufacturer of electric vehicles.
The CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, said in a statement following the release of financial results that “despite continued inflationary pressures in fuel, energy, and transportation costs, we’re making progress on the more controllable costs we referenced last quarter, particularly improving the productivity of our fulfillment network.”
Amazon has been going through a significant internal transformation in the midst of the tech crash. Just appointed CEO Andy Jassy replaced longtime consumer chief Dave Clark, who recently left the company to join logistics firm Flexport.
NOW DEPARTING FRONTIER AIRLINES
Spirit shareholders finally met yesterday to formally revoke the airline’s $2.7 billion merger agreement with Frontier after a vote was postponed four times.
Since Frontier is no longer an option, Spirit and JetBlue will continue discussing a possible acquisition that would revolutionize the US low-cost airline market.
Before JetBlue entered the conversation with a higher offer and the promise of free wi-fi, budget airlines Frontier and Spirit declared their intention to merge back in February. However, while everything seemed to be going according to plan for the M&A., both companies had a hard time seeing eye-to-eye.
What is the reward? The top four positions in the US airline sector are currently held by American, United, Delta, and Southwest, but the fifth spot is up for grabs. JetBlue believes that by adding Spirit’s routes and assets, it will be able to maintain its position at No. 5 and eventually challenge for the top slot.
Looking forward… Spirit’s agreement with JetBlue is still uncertain, and even if it did, antitrust authorities would probably review it.