Stock market gains moderate as S&P 500, Nasdaq set for fourth straight weekly losses

Eli Lilly’s Profit Rise Continues

1 hour 40 minutes ago

Eli Lilly (LLY) investors continued to ride the wave created by the pharmaceutical company’s second-quarter earnings report.

Stocks rose for a second straight session Friday after Lilly reported earnings and sales that beat analysts’ forecasts and raised its guidance, fueled by enthusiasm for its Mounjaro and Zepbound weight-loss products.

Mounjaro sales jumped 215% from 2023 to 2026, to $3.09 billion. Its sales were nearly three times those of Lilly’s second-best-selling drug, breast cancer treatment Verzenio, which saw sales jump 44%, surpassing the previous No. 2, diabetes drug Trulicity.

The company’s other weight-loss drug, Zepbound, wasn’t available until November, yet its sales were Lilly’s fourth-best, at $1.24 billion. Together, Mounjaro and Zepbound accounted for nearly 40% of Lilly’s quarterly revenue.

Eli Lilly shares were up about 5.7% in recent trading and have gained nearly 16% since the earnings report was released.

–Bill McColl

Bitcoin’s movements mimic those of stocks

4 hours 2 minutes ago

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) briefly topped $61,000 early Friday, following Thursday’s stock market rally, but the cryptocurrency has given up some of those gains to trade on either side of the $60,000 mark based on where stocks are in afternoon trading.

The latest moves come after the cryptocurrency fell below $50,000 for the first time since February on Monday, in one of the worst days for stocks in recent history.

Just as Monday’s price decline came amid a period of turbulence in broader global markets, Friday’s price rally and eventual reversal mimicked what has happened in traditional stock markets.

It is worth noting that bitcoin’s correlated movements with traditional stock markets have shown that the cryptocurrency can still act as a risk asset at times, despite hopes that it can function as a safe haven in times of economic uncertainty.

According to Pearson correlation data The BlockBitcoin has moved more in tandem with the S&P 500 than gold this week, despite the “digital gold” moniker that has frequently been applied to the asset.

That said, many bitcoin holders were unfazed by the price action this week. “In times of crisis, markets sell what they can, not what they want,” Strike CEO Jack Mallers said on X on Monday. “#Bitcoin is down because it was the only market open for sale Sunday night, not because the only fixed-supply currency we have is now less valuable.”

–Kyle Torpey

S&P 500, Nasdaq try to avoid fourth straight weekly loss

5 hours 33 minutes ago

Despite Friday’s early gains, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 remain on track for their fourth straight week of losses. Over that period (as shown in the chart below), the Nasdaq’s losses have been steeper, with technology stocks suffering the most in the recent slide.

Shares of salad seller Sweetgreen soar

6 hours ago

Shares of Sweetgreen (SG) soared Friday, a day after the salad restaurant chain narrowed losses, boosted sales and raised its forecast as it expanded locations.

Sweetgreen reported a net loss of $14.5 million in the second quarter, nearly half of what it was a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA of $12.4 million was better than expected. Revenue rose 21% from a year earlier to $184.6 million, also above estimates.

The company attributed the revenue increase primarily to the opening of 36 new restaurants compared to the same period in 2023, which contributed $18.2 million. Same-store sales increased 9%, generating $13.9 million.

Sweetgreen shares are up 28% in recent trading, near a 52-week high.

–Bill McColl

Paramount steps up as company announces major staff cuts

7 hours 20 minutes ago

Paramount Global (PARA) wrote down the value of its cable TV networks by nearly $6 billion, a day after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) also took a massive hit as streaming services like Netflix (NFLX) continue to disrupt traditional networks.

Paramount also announced plans to save at least $500 million in annualized costs and cut about 2,000 jobs, or 15% of its U.S. workforce, the owner of CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon said on its earnings call.

Paramount, whose majority shareholder, Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, reached a deal after months of negotiations to merge with Skydance Media last month, also reported an 11% year-over-year decline in second-quarter sales to $6.81 billion.

The company said, however, that it is on track for Paramount+ to reach domestic profitability by 2025.

The company’s shares were up more than 4% in premarket trading.

–Nisha Gopalan

Futures indicate lower opening for major indices

8 hours 5 minutes ago

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.2%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.4%.