Good Evening. Wednesday afternoon, U.S. markets surged as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks projected a 50-basis-point rate rise in December.
The S&P 500 increased by 3.09%, while the Dow Jones increased by 2.18%. The Nasdaq Composite led the way, increasing by 4.41%.
EARNINGS INBOUND
Workday (WDAY) shares increased after the software-as-a-service provider reported better-than-expected third-quarter bottom-line results in its earnings release. In addition, the company boosted its outlook for the year.
- Earnings Per Share: $0.99 vs $0.84 expected
- Revenue: $1.6 Billion vs $1.59 Billion expected
- Subscription Revenue: $1.42 Billion (up 22.3%)
Co-CEO Aneel Bhusri cited an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, but said, “We delivered another solid quarter, demonstrating how our cloud finance and HR solutions are vital for global organizations navigating today’s changing world.”
There’s more! Workday also announced a plan to buy up to $500 million worth of shares, despite the fact that the firm is still losing money on a GAAP basis since it spends more than $1 billion annually on share-based pay.
MUSK ENTERS THE FIGHT
Elon Musk entered the long-simmering conflict against Apple. The CEO of Twitter said Apple threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store and criticized Apple for censorship and its infamous App Store fees. How big is the stake? Apple gets a 30% share of all app purchases and in-app purchases made by large corporations on its devices.
Musk is not the only one who has been complaining about the App Store by laying into Apple:
- The CEO of Fortnite maker Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, has gone to great lengths to avoid paying the fees: Epic Games sued Apple over the 30% fee in 2020, which did not end well, and is now going to court to appeal the ruling this month.
- The CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, said last month that Apple is “choking competition” after the App Store rejected Spotify’s audiobooks app three times for.
Epic Games and Spotify are ecstatic to have Musk join the fight. Both CEOs retweeted postings from Musk regarding the App Store, and Sweeney seized the revived attention to updating everyone on his fight with Apple. Sweeney stated that Apple, “maintain[s] an illegal monopoly on app distribution.”
Going forward… It will be fascinating to watch if Musk takes this battle to new heights. It will also be intriguing to see the result of Epic Games’ attempt to appeal the verdict in the 2020 case.