U.S. stocks paused on Tuesday as investors bided their time before the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and Amazon’s (AMZN) earnings rose to test the prospects for another Big Tech-fueled rally.
Futures on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) slipped about 0.1% after closing with small gains. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fluctuated below the flatline.
Stocks are on track to have their worst month of 2024 as a brutal surge in mid-April means major indexes are expected to end the month with losses. But investors want to continue the upswing that has taken hold over the last week.
So far, anticipation for the Fed’s next move is fighting for attention with better-than-expected quarterly results, with surprises from companies like Paramount (PARA) and Tesla (TSLA) playing their part.
Investors are counting on policymakers to keep interest rates at historically high levels at the Fed’s two-day meeting scheduled to begin on Tuesday. The prospect of interest rate cuts has declined dramatically since the start of the year, helping to push up Treasury yields – a well-known systemic problem for stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note (^TNX) remained near a six-month high of around 4.63% early Tuesday.
Amazon’s results after the bell will be closely watched after stellar earnings from Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) raised hopes of a “Magnificent Seven” rise this season. So far, Big Tech’s results have impressed Wall Street and made clear its impatience with big AI spending.
Highlights of the early earnings list include Coca-Cola (KO) and McDonald’s (MCD), while AMD (AMD) and Starbucks (SBUX) are also added after the market closes.
live4 updates
Here’s another restaurant revenue surprise
You don’t see it too often, but Restaurant Brands’ (QSR) Burger King chain posted a better quarter of sales than arch-rival McDonald’s (MCD).
Burger King this morning announced a 3.9% same-store sales increase in its first quarter, outpacing McDonald’s 2.5% gain.
Restaurant Brands has been very aggressive in marketing BK this year, particularly with its new (and affordable) snack wraps. Perhaps BK has regained market share with a consumer looking for bargains.
Take a detailed look at what Restaurant Brands has in store with Chairman Patrick Doyle and CEO Josh Kobza below.
Quick Analysis: McDonald’s echoes comment on price increase
McDonald’s (MCD) highlights “strategic” menu price increases in the US for the first quarter.
The company’s supplemental press release does not indicate whether the price increases impacted store traffic.
However, the company’s comparable sales in the US only increased by 2.5%, so we can assume that the company was actually gaining some Price drop from guests.
More on the quarter from Brooke DiPalma, senior reporter at Yahoo Finance, here.
Quick analysis: Molson Coors is also advocating price increases
Similar to Coca-Cola (KO) this morning, beverage giant Molson Coors (TAP) also had a strong quarter due to continued price increases.
Molson Coors said prices rose 4.4% in the quarter, no small feat in the highly competitive beer industry.
Interestingly, volume for Coors Light increased by a double-digit percentage.
You read that right… Coors Light.
Quick Analysis: Coca-Cola’s profits reveal a point about inflation
We saw it last week in PepsiCo’s (PEP) earnings, and we see it again this morning in Coca-Cola’s (KO) results: Big food companies are still forcing price increases on consumers (Memo to the Fed).
Coca-Cola noted that “price/mix” rose a whopping 13% in the first quarter.
Keep an eye on Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma on our platform today – she’ll speak with Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey for more on the results.
