Good Evening. U.S. equities rose on Wednesday, driven by gains in the technology sector, as positive sentiment on Wall Street returned following two straight days of losses thanks to solid earnings and economic data.
The Dow Jones increased by 1.29%, while the S&P 500 increased by 1.56%. The heavily tech-focused Nasdaq Composite rose 2.59%.
COULD BE WORSE
A day after the commission-free brokerage announced job cuts and reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss in an earnings statement that was made a day earlier than intended, shares of Robinhood Markets (HOOD) increased by more than 13% on Wednesday.
- Earnings Per Share: ($0.32) vs ($0.37) expected
Revenue for the Menlo Park, California-based business dropped by 44% in the second quarter that ended on June 30, as trade volumes decreased from last year’s frenzied pace when individual investors used the app to pour money into so-called “meme stocks.”
Investors, however, applauded Robinhood’s decision to slash costs with a second round of layoffs, which will result in a 23% workforce reduction in addition to the 9% of full-time employees fired off earlier this year. In order to encourage better cost discipline, the corporation has announced changes to its organizational structure.
Along with the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc., the buy-now-pay-later business Klarna, and the NFT platform OpenSea, Robinhood is one of many fintech startups that have started cutting staff in front of an anticipated recession.
CREDIT CARD DEBT
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York revealed that Americans are shielding themselves from inflation by racking up credit card debt. Inflation hit 9.1% in June, its fastest pace in four decades. The study found that credit card balances grew 13% year-over-year, the largest jump since 2002.
US credit card balances increased by $46 billion in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, bringing the total amount of credit card debt outstanding to $890 billion. In the second quarter, consumers opened around 233 million new credit card accounts collectively. However… the bill isn’t being divided equally. VantageScore data show that younger consumers and those with poor credit already have the highest increases in card usage. Americans aged 25 and under had an increase in their balances of 30% in Q2, while those with credit scores under 660 experienced an increase of roughly 25%.
Conclusion: Although household finances are still healthy, delinquency rates increased somewhat and are already approaching pre-pandemic levels, according to the NY Fed.