Stock market news for Nov 19, 2021

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished higher after a choppy session. The Dow fell behind, led by a drop in Cisco stock (CSCO). Meanwhile, Alibaba’s sharply frustrating quarterly report and slashed full-year guidance raised concerns about the pace of growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, as company executives pointed to slowing consumption trends.

On the other hand, Nvidia (NVDA) shares jumped after the semiconductor company reported record quarterly revenues and full-year solid guidance. According to the report, it was successfully navigating a lingering global shortage while meeting increased demand.

The recent volatility in the equity market has coincided with a mixed set of economic data. A new print Thursday shows that jobless claims fell only marginally last week. A report Wednesday shows a surprise drop in new-home construction the previous month. Commentary on inflation has also increased, adding to investors’ concerns about rising price pressures.

Investors should consider rising inflation and improving economic growth when considering investments in the current macro environment, according to Jason Draho, UBS head of asset allocation Americas, on Thursday on Yahoo Finance Live.

The Fed’s current still-accommodative stance has aided equity markets and capped Treasury yields. It has kept investors focused on riskier assets such as stocks rather than bonds.

Big Tech stocks outperformed on Thursday, helping lift the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, and Microsoft and Amazon set new highs.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares reached a new intraday high, pushing the company’s market capitalization above $2.5 trillion. Since July, Amazon shares have risen to their highest level. 

Macy’s shares jump more than 18%

This week, Macy’s (M) became the latest retailer to outperform quarterly estimates, indicating that consumer spending in the United States was holding steady and department store foot traffic was rebounding faster than expected.

Macy’s own plus licensed comparable same-store sales increased by 35.6 percent, exceeding the 33.5 percent growth rate expected. The company also returned to profitability, with adjusted earnings of $1.23 per share, up from a loss of 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Alibaba shares slide after missing earnings estimates

Alibaba reported September quarter results and guidance that fell far short of expectations, owing to a slowing Chinese economy and efforts to contain the coronavirus in the region, which weighed on consumer spending on the e-commerce platform. Sales for Alibaba’s most recent reported quarter increased by a smaller-than-expected 29 percent to 200.7 billion yuan ($31.4 billion), compared to analysts’ expectations of 206.2 billion yuan. Earnings per American depository share adjusted were 11.20 yuan, falling short of the 12.37 expected. The weakness was mostly limited to Alibaba’s core retail business, while its newer cloud computing business increased revenue by 33% during the quarter. Last week, first-time unemployment claims narrowly reached a new pandemic-era low. This indicates steady progress in the labor market’s recovery as the number of those newly unemployed approached pre-pandemic levels.

During the week ending Nov. 13, there were 268,000 new unemployment claims. It was a tad slower than the upwardly revised 269,000 reported the previous week. Economists predicted that new claims would total 260,000 in the most recent period. Continuing shares for regular state programs also fell to their lowest level since March 2020, totaling 2.080 million for the week ending Nov. 6. It was a more significant improvement than expected, as economists predicted that continuing claims would total 2.120 million.