foxex: Top Ranking

The Market Sum | Insight after the bell

By Caleb Silver, Editor in Chief

Monday's Headlines

1. Markets Rise as Earnings Show Optimism

2. Top Dow Performers so Far

3. Fortune 500 Rankings Released

4. Happy Birthday Bretton Woods

Markets Closed

Dow
27,171.90 +0.07%

S&P
2,985.03 +0.28%

Nasdaq
8,204.14 +0.71%

VIX
13.61 -5.81%

Bitcoin
$10,354.03 -1.73%

US 10-Yr Yield
2.043 -0.24%

Markets Today

Markets Rise on Optimism
Top Performers
Fortune 500

U.S. markets bounced in and out of negative territory all day, but closed slightly higher, as investors took in another batch of earnings reports.

Halliburton, the oil services giant, led off the earnings parade this morning by handily beating forecasts due to cost cutting and some international growth. The company said it is idling equipment in North America, where it is the biggest supplier of fracking equipment, because of oversupply. It also said that the third quarter will be challenging as its customers cut back on production. Honesty pays, as shares of HAL had their best day in three years.

All Earnings, All Week

31% of the S&P 500 will report quarterly results this week, including big names like Amazon and Alphabet. Here are the themes we have been hearing so far:

Industrial companies are warning of a further global slowdown that is being exacerbated by the trade war.
U.S. banks are saying that the strong consumer is keeping them afloat while they battle with declining net interest margins as rates head lower.
More companies are "optimistic" than not, based on the words they use in their earning reports and conference calls.

As we have mentioned, investors care about the future outlook for companies since the last quarter is in the rear-view mirror. Using words like "optimistic," "better," or "improving" have a way of taking the sting out of less than stellar results.

Bank of America's research team actually tracks the use of positive and negative words in earnings reports and matches it against how companies do the day they report their results.

Top Ranking Stocks this Year

While U.S. (and some global markets) flirt with record highs again, it's worth noting that individual stock performance among large caps has been very strong. The Dow 30 is a great case in point where all but three of the 30 are positive for the year (as of this AM). Even though the industrial, health care, and financial sectors have been under pressure, individual stocks are posting very healthy returns year-to-date.

Market researcher Charlie Bilello keeps the scorecard, and it's a pretty one for the bulls.

Fortune 500

Fortune Magazine is out with its list of the top 500 companies in the world by revenue today. It's an annual tradition in the business and investing world, and Fortune does a great job with the list. This year they have also broken up their list by the most profitable companies and the biggest employers.

For the last several years Walmart has claimed the number one spot—and this year is no different. At a half trillion dollars in revenue last year it is a tough company to beat.

Here's the top 10 by sales, per Fortune:

Walmart
Exxon Mobil
Apple
Berkshire Hathaway
Amazon.com
United Health Group
McKesson
CVS
AT&T
Amerisource Bergen

Note that four of these companies are in the health care and pharmaceuticals industry.

More News:

Quest Diagnostics Reports Earnings Consolidating a Bear Market Decline

What is China's STAR Market?

ETF Giants BlackRock and State Street Falter as Stocks Soar

chart courtesy www.koyfin.com

Halliburton beat its Q2 earnings estimates as well as took steps to cut costs by reorganizing its North American business, resulting in an over 9% boost to the oil field services company's stock. Shares of Applied Materials rose by more than 6% after a Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded the manufacturing company from neutral to buy.

Kroger's stock fell by almost 4% amid concerns that the supermarket chain won't be able to withstand competition in a post-Amazon/Whole Foods market. The information technology company Hewlett-Packard's shares decreased by nearly 4% today as well.

Word of the Day

Debt Ceiling

Given the news that Congress and the White House have agreed to raise the U.S. debt ceiling for two more years to fund government operations, we thought this was the right word today.

The debt ceiling is the maximum amount of monies the United States can borrow by issuing bonds. The debt ceiling was created under the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917 and is also known as the "debt limit" or "statutory debt limit." The current debt ceiling is $20.46 trillion.

Before the debt ceiling was created, the President had free reign on the country's finances. In 1917, the debt ceiling was created during World War I to hold the President fiscally responsible. Over time, the debt ceiling has been raised whenever the United States had approached the limit. By hitting the limit and failing to pay interest payments to bondholders, the United States would be in default, lowering its credit rating and increasing the cost of its debt.

Today in Financial History

July 22, 1946:

The Bretton Woods Agreement is signed in Mount Washington, N.H., pegging major foreign currencies to the U.S. dollar, fixing the gold price at $35 per ounce, and laying the groundwork for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.