Jobless Claims Increased in Line With Expectations

Ahead of the opening bell this Thursday morning, Initial Jobless Claims came in at 222K for last week, slightly above estimates but certainly within range that demonstrates a continued healthy labor market. The previous week’s print of 216K was ratcheted up just slightly on revision. Since the first of March, we’ve not seen new claims go higher than 225K nor lower than 215K.

Continuing Claims performed even better in today’s release: 1.841 million longer-term jobless claims was nicely lower than the downwardly revised 1.878 million the prior week. In recent weeks, we’d been coming right up to 1.9 million longer-term claims before backing up the following week. These days, we’re not even coming near 1.9 million. More good news for employment.

Durable Goods Orders Strong in March

Also ahead of today’s open is the latest Durable Goods Orders report for last month. Headline came in at an unexpectedly strong +9.2%, more than 4 1/2 times the +1.6% anticipated, the best read since July of last year, and another orbit entirely from the prior month’s +0.6%. Perhaps we’re seeing some “pull-forward” ahead of expected tariff activity?

If so, we think we’ve found where: ex-Transportation, this lofty durable goods headline falls all the way to 0.0%, below the +0.3% analysts were looking for. We haven’t seen this metric this low since the start of 2024. Non-Defense, ex-aircraft — a proxy for “normal” enterprise spending — was in-line with expectations at +0.1%. Shipments, meanwhile, outperformed expectations to +0.3%.

Q1 Earnings Roundup: PEP, PG, AAL & More

PepsiCo (PEP) posted mixed results in its Q1 earnings report out ahead of today’s open: earnings of $1.48 per share missed the Zacks consensus by 2 cents, on revenues of $17.92 billion, which came in ahead of estimates by +0.94%. Shares are down slightly in early trading, and still outperforming the S&P 500 year to date: -6.4% versus -8.6%. 

Procter & Gamble (PG) met estimates on its bottom line with earnings of $1.54 per share (2 cents better than what was reported in the year-ago quarter), while revenues of $19.78 billion missed expectations by -2.75%, and lower than the $20.2 billion reported as year ago. Shares had been flat year to date, but are down -1.1% at this hour. 

American Airlines (AAL) outperformed bottom-line estimates by a solid dime: from an expected loss of -$0.69 per share to -$0.59 reported. This is the fourth-straight earnings beat for the airline. Revenues were slightly lower than projected to $12.52 billion in the quarter, and shares are down another -1%, adding to the deep -46% losses year to date.

Bristol Myers-Squibb (BMY) posted an eyebrow-raisingly strong quarter this morning, bringing earnings of $1.80 per share +19% ahead of the $1.51 anticipated. Revenues of $11.2 billion outpaced estimates by +4.3%. Still, the stock is trading lower in today’s pre-market, adding to losses incurred year to date of -14%. For more on BMY’s earnings, click here.

Comcast (CMCSA) put up beats on both top and bottom lines this morning, ahead of the bell. Earnings of $1.09 per share outperformed the $0.98 expected by +11.2%. Revenues of $29.89 billion topped estimates by +0.69%, though still below the $30.06 billion reported in its Q1 a year ago. Shares are down another -5% in early trading, adding to the -8% performance year to date.

What to Expect from Today’s Stock Market

Once regular trading is underway, Existing Home Sales will be out. Yesterday’s New Home Sales report surprised to the upside, although housing market experts expect this will have been a short-term respite. Expectations are for 4.13 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units, down from the 4.26 million reported for February.

After today’s close, we have another important crop of Q1 earnings coming out. Included will be Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Intel (INTC), railway major United Pacific (UNP) and metals miner Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), just to name a few. So far, Q1 earnings season has not been disastrous, but we do see companies facing challenges, especially in their forward guidance.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research