Amazon, Apple add $196B in value on resilient results

Amazon.com and Apple added about $196 billion in market value on Friday after they joined technology peers Alphabet and Microsoft in assuaging investor concerns by reporting higher revenue even as consumers curb their spending amid rising inflation.

Amazon shares jumped 10%, their biggest move since February, while Apple advanced 3.3%. The gains helped power a 1.8% rally by the Nasdaq 100 Index, locking in its best monthly performance sine April 2020. Amazon’s 27% surge in July was its biggest October 2009, while Apple’s 19% move was the best in nearly two years.

Amazon expanded both its e-commerce and cloud-computing businesses, with Bloomberg Intelligence analysts noting that the company’s performance proves that “it is better positioned to weather inflationary pressures and benefits from a more-affluent customer contrary to Walmart.”

Meanwhile, Apple beat analysts’ revenue expectations thanks in part to higher iPhone sales at a time when smartphone shipments are falling globally. To be sure, Apple reported an 11% decline in net income, however, the overall results were better than feared.

“Apple appears to be seeing no meaningful impact on its iPhone business in the current macro environment,” Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar wrote in a research note. Amazon also is the latest company to discuss its belt-tightening efforts. During its quarterly earnings call Thursday, the e-commerce giant said it’s been adding jobs at the slowest rate since 2019. After relying on attrition to winnow its staff, Amazon now has about 100,000 fewer employees than in the previous quarter. Here’s a look at the companies tapping the brakes.

Alphabet also has been decelerating its recruiting efforts. CEO Sundar Pichai told employees this month that although the business added 10,000 Googlers in the second quarter, it will be slowing the pace of hiring for the rest of the year and prioritizing engineering and technical talent. “Like all companies, we’re not immune to economic headwinds,” he said. The hiring pause is part of that slowdown, Google said, “to enable teams to prioritize their roles and hiring plans for the rest of the year.” It had nearly 164,000 employees at the end of March.

Exxon, Chevron score record profits on rising oil

Exxon Mobil and Chevron posted their highest-ever profits, reaping the rewards from surging commodity prices amid supply disruptions and rising demand.

Exxon, which surpassed its previous quarterly profit record by more than $3 billion, warned Friday that global energy supplies will remain tight and expensive for the foreseeable future. Chevron, meanwhile, promised investors a massive increase in share buybacks even as it cautioned that the cost of doing business will climb.

The titans of North American oil followed European peers Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE in posting unprecedented second-quarter results four months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threw worldwide commodity markets into disarray, aggravating already rampant inflation.

Chevron shares jumped as much as 9.5% for the day’s second-best performance in the S&P 500 Index. Exxon rose almost 5%, bringing its year-to-date advance to 58%.

With recession fears gathering pace, the second quarter may end up marking the high point for Big Oil this year. International crude prices jumped above $120 a barrel during the April-to-June period — a 14-year high — but have since fallen by about 20%. U.S. refining margins also have deflated somewhat since touching all-time highs, though natural gas prices remain elevated around the world.

Compiled from Bloomberg reports.