Good Evening! Markets kicked off the week on a positive note with investors awaiting a huge week of earnings and Federal Reserve Policy Decision.
To start off the week, all three indexes finished up with the Dow Jones up 0.52%, S&P 500 rising by 0.40%, and the Nasdaq Composite eeking out a small increase of 0.19%.
A BUSY WEEKEND
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. (AMC) experienced a significant increase of 33% following a court ruling that rejected AMC’s attempt to convert its preferred equity shares (APE) into common shares. Additionally, the theater chain witnessed its most active day in the past four years during the weekend.
For those who don’t know… According to the company, the opening weekend for the films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” attracted a total of over 7.8 million people to theaters operated by AMC. The theater chain achieved its highest single-day attendance since July 2019 on Saturday, accompanied by the second-highest daily revenue for food and beverage sales.
Sadly, it is still not enough… The reversal of stock conversion is occurring during the theater chain’s ongoing struggle to recover its quarterly revenue, which remains below the levels observed in 2019 due to the negative impact of the pandemic on movie theater attendance. During this period of instability, the company used its meme stock branding as a means to generate capital to try and help.
SO FAR, SO GOOD
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company for California has announced its ability to fulfill the increased electricity demand anticipated for the rest of the summer season. In contrast, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which has a reputation for being less reliable, has not issued any requests for electricity conservation from residents since the previous month, despite the occurrence of a new peak in power demand last week.
But what has changed since last year? There are new factors that help:
- The winter’s exceptional snow pack in California has significantly improved hydro power. According to the California grid operator, the month of May witnessed higher electricity generation from hydro power compared to any other month in the preceding three years.
- In the state of Texas, which is recognized as an important hub for renewable energy, the installed solar capacity has surpassed the quantity recorded in the same period of the previous year by more than two-fold.
More to come… Even though July is about to end, there exists the potential for power demand to impose a strain on power systems as we move into the hot and humid month of August.