Good Evening. Monday’s advance came as investors prepared for another week of potentially market-moving events, including the midterm elections on November 8 and October consumer pricing data.
The S&P 500 increased by 0.96%, while the Dow Jones increased by 1.31%. The Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.85% after posting its lowest weekly fall since January.
AFTER THE BELL EARNINGS
Lyft (LYFT) disclosed poor third-quarter earnings results, with both earnings and sales missing analyst projections. Additionally, the ridesharing business reported 20.3 million active riders, which is less than the anticipated 21.1 million. However, revenue per active rider exceeded projections.
- Earnings Per Share: $(1.18) vs. $0.09 expected
- Revenue: $1.05 Billion vs. $1.06 Billion
- Revenue Per Active Rider: $51.88 vs. $49.94 expected
This is not great for Lyft, which Wall Street has sometimes considered as the younger brother of Uber (UBER). Lyft has had its own struggles leading up to the current earnings cycle. The company stated last week that 13% of its employees would be laid off, continuing the trend of tech corporations that are laying off people in droves.
How is Lyft holding up? Lyft’s stock was down more than 69% year-to-date. During the same time span, the Nasdaq has been down more than 8.50%, while Uber’s stock has fallen around 30%.
MID-TERM DONATIONS
As of last week according to Americans for Tax Fairness, which analyzed data compiled by the campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets, American billionaires had contributed $880 million to the elections. This accounts for 7.4% of all money raised by federal candidates, political parties, and political action committees (PACs).
The majority of these contributions have come from Republican billionaires. These ultra-wealthy Republicans have outspent Democrats by $200 million. (However, Democrat George Soros is the election cycle’s leading donor.)
- The NYT reports that cosmetics heir and philanthropist Ronald Lauder has practically single-handedly helped Republican Lee Zeldin shrink the gap between him and Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul in the contest for New York governor.
- Oregon: The endorsement of Nike co-founder Phil Knight for an independent governor candidate in Oregon might spark a historic Republican victory by collecting a portion of Democratic votes. Since 1968, Oregon has not had a non-Democratic governor.
Did you know… The wealthiest 1% of donors, as measured by income, have contributed 38% of the total amount spent on federal elections during this election cycle.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Midterm elections: Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States. According to FiveThirtyEight’s most recent analysis, the Republicans are likely to regain control of the House, while the Senate is up for grabs.
CPI and income: The consumer price index (CPI), the inflation figure we dread each month, will be released on Thursday, and it is anticipated that price increase slowed in October (but is still far higher than where the Fed wants it). The earnings season continues with reports from Disney, AMC, Palantir, and Beyond Meat, among others.