Tesla, AMC, Coinbase, COVID, Fed Tapering: 5 Things You Must Know

Here are five things you must know for Tuesday, Aug. 10:

1. — Stock Futures Point Mostly Lower

Stock futures pointed to a mostly lower start for Wall Street Tuesday as traders navigated the uncertainty over what impact the fast-spreading delta virus variant will have on the economy and comments from Federal Reserve officials about scaling back support.

Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27 points, S&P 500 futures declined 2 points and Nasdaq futures rose 11 points. Increasing bets that the Fed would begin pulling back on stimulus following a strong jobs report led to a mixed finish for Wall Street on Monday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose slightly Tuesday to 1.327%.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said the central bank’s tapering of bond purchases could begin in the fourth quarter. He added that if employment gains maintain their strong pace he was open to an even earlier start for pulling back on stimulus.

Bostic’s comments echoed those of Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, who said the Fed should begin gradually tapering asset purchases sooner rather than later.

Bostic also noted that inflation, by his estimates, was at the Fed’s goal of 2%, one of the central bank’s main criteria for boosting interest rates.

Investors will be closely watching data on consumer prices and producer prices later this week.

Meanwhile, new coronavirus cases in the U.S. have reached their highest weekly level since February, while deaths have increased the most since December, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. Nearly 617,000 Americans have died from the virus.

2. — Tuesday’s Calendar: Coinbase and Poshmark Earnings

The economic calendar in the U.S. Tuesday include the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for July at 6 a.m. ET and Productivity and Costs for the second quarter at 8:30 a.m.

Earnings reports are expected Tuesday from Coinbase Global (COIN) , Unity Software (U) – Get Report, fuboTV (FUBO) – Get Report, Full Truck Alliance (YMM) – Get Report, Transdigm (TDG) – Get Report and Poshmark (POSH) – Get Report.

Top Earnings to Watch: Disney, eBay, Dish

3. — AMC Jumps After Narrower-Than-Expected Loss

AMC Entertainment (AMC) – Get Report posted a narrower-than-expected second-quarter loss as the world’s biggest movie theater chain capitalized on big blockbuster films and a rebound in traffic in the waning months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Shares of AMC jumped 10.65% to $37.40 in premarket trading Tuesday.

The company’s second-quarter loss on an adjusted basis was 71 cents a share, narrower than analysts’ estimates of a loss of 94 cents. Revenue of $444.7
topped forecasts of about $382 million.

“The second quarter of 2021 was transformational for AMC. We raised yet another $1.25 billion of new equity capital (before commissions and fees) in the quarter, boosting our quarter ending liquidity to more than $2 billion (including cash and undrawn revolving lines of credit) which is about double the previous highest ever such mark in AMC’s 101-year history,” said CEO Adam Aron. “We believe this gives AMC financial staying power to navigate boldly amidst coronavirus waters.”

AMC said attendance at its theaters was more than 22 million during the second quarter vs. about 100,000 in the same period a year earlier.

“We’re well ahead of our own and consensus third-party
expectations,” Aron said on the company’s earnings call. “In short, we crushed it.”

Aron also announced that AMC could begin accepting Bitcoin payments at U.S. theaters by the end of the year.

4. — Tesla Deliveries of China-Made Cars to the Local Market Plunge in July

Tesla (TSLA) – Get Report delivered only 8,621 China-made cars to the local market in July, down 69% from June.

The sales declines come amid a string of bad publicity, ranging from a high-profile consumer rant atop one of its models at the Shanghai Auto Show to Tesla cars being banned from some military complexes over concern built-in cameras may be collecting data.

In addition, the Chinese government in June ordered that almost all the cars Tesla has sold in China – more than 285,000 of them – be recalled to address a software glitch in which the autopilot system reportedly could be activated automatically.

Tesla also is facing increased competition in China from electric-vehicle startups such as NIO (NIO) – Get Report and Xpeng (XPEV) – Get Report.

The stock fell 0.7% to $708.78 in premarket trading Tuesday. Shares of the electric vehicle company rose 2% on Monday after analysts at Jefferies boosted their rating on the stock to buy and predicted shares will rally 22% over the next 12 months.

5. — 3D Systems Soars on Earnings Beat

3D Systems (DDD) – Get Report shares soared more than 11% in premarket trading after the 3D printing company posted second-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ forecasts.