Stock Market Today: Dow Jones, S&P 500 Open Mixed; BioNTech (BNTX) Up On Strong Vaccine Sales

Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by 10 points. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues today, one day after Moscow promised to reduce its military activity near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. The U.S. and its allies have shown skepticism of Russia’s pledge to scale back its aggression. Furthermore, this comes after Ukraine’s delegation has laid out a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral and its security would be guaranteed by an array of other nations.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) is up by over 3.5% on today’s opening bell. This comes after the company had reported an adjusted quarterly profit of $2.14 per share, $0.17 above consensus estimates. It also reported better-than-expected revenue, driven by strong data center and smartphone chip sales. Micron also issued an upbeat revenue forecast for its current quarter. Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) stock, however, tumbled by over 14% today after it missed top and bottom-line estimates for its latest quarter.

Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are down by 0.03% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also down by 0.82%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading higher on Wednesday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 1.08% while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is also down by 0.40%.

Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are down by 0.42% on Wednesday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are down 2.94%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is also down by 1.24% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) opened higher today.

Dow Jones Today: ADP Employment Report Matches Estimates For Job Additions In March

Following the stock market opening on Wednesday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are trading lower at 0.24% and 0.41% respectively. However, the Dow is trading higher at 0.04%. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is down by 0.38% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is down by 0.22%. 

The 10-year Treasury yield continues to hover around 2.4%, a pandemic-era high. Mortgage rates surged last week, driving total home loan volume down by 6.8%. U.S. oil prices rose 3% on Wednesday after a two-day losing streak. This was driven by tight supply and prospects of new Russian sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude currently trades at $108 per barrel and is on track for a fourth straight monthly gain.

Today, payroll processing firm ADP reported its private jobs numbers for March. It says that private payrolls expanded by 455,000 for the month, in line with estimates of 450,000. However, this was the lowest since August 2021. The report also comes two days before the more closely followed nonfarm payrolls report, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics expected to show jobs growth of 490,000 for the month, according to the Dow Jones consensus estimate. ADP’s March report also indicates that hiring was spread evenly around sectors.

[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today March 30, 2022

BioNTech Jumps Following Stellar Fourth-Quarter Earnings Report

Among the top gainers in the stock market, today would be BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX). As most would know, BioNTech is the biotech firm that is working with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) on vaccines for the coronavirus pandemic. Through its work, the company has and continues to save countless lives worldwide. As such, it would make sense then that investors would be eager to see what this health care giant is doing now. For today, investors appear to be flocking to BNTX stock on account of BioNTech’s attest quarter financial release.

In it, the company posted a total quarterly revenue of $6.16 billion. Year-over-year this makes for colossal gains of over 1,000%. Regarding net profit, the company is seeing gains of over 700% in the same period, totaling $3.53 billion. Accordingly, these results are thanks to strong vaccine sales from across the globe. By the company’s estimates, its total dose sales figure for 2021 is over the 2.6 billion mark. All of which were sent across over 165 countries and regions worldwide throughout the year. So far, the company is currently looking to fulfill orders of up to 2.4 billion additional doses in 2022.

If all that wasn’t enough, BioNTech is also looking to begin a new share buyback program. According to the company, this would see up to $1.5 billion in repurchases through 2024. Also, there are mentions of plans to instate a special cash dividend at its upcoming annual general meeting. With all this in mind, BNTX stock could have more room to run moving forward.

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Lululemon Stock In Focus As Company Posts Earnings Beat And Announces $1 Billion Share Repurchase Program

Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) is also making a splash in the stock market today thanks to its latest quarterly earnings update. Diving in, the Canadian retailer raked in a total profit of $434.5 million for the quarter. This translates to an earnings per share of $3.37. Notably, this marks a sizable lead over Wall Street estimates of $3.27. In terms of revenue, Lululemon is looking at total sales of $2.13 billion. This would put it just barely below consensus forecasts of $2.14 billion.

All in all, the company is arguably, ending the fiscal year on a high. Following its latest performance, its full-year profits are at $975.3 million. This adds up to a whopping year-over-year increase of 65%. Not to mention, Lululemon’s annual revenue is seeing gains of 42% over the same period as well. In fact, the company saw its annual revenue cross the $6 billion mark for the first time at $6.26 billion. With all this in mind, CEO Calvin McDonald notes that the strength of Lululemon’s business is evident from the company’s performance. Ideally, the company aims to continue leveraging this resilience to drive sustained long-term growth across its portfolio.

Looking forward, Lululemon appears keen to keep its current momentum. For the current quarter, the company is guiding for earnings of between $1.38 to $1.43 per share. This would be well above analyst forecasts of $1.28. As a result of all this, LULU stock is now gaining by over 8% at today’s opening bell.

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