Stocks mixed as Beyond Meat gets a patty on the back

Markets ended the day mixed as earnings season continued with blowout numbers from Beyond Meat, whilst oil was negative for its first day in 5

Wednesday by the numbers

S&P 500: -0.7%

Dow: -0.9%

Nasdaq: +0.5%

Another day goes by and it’s yet another day in which we see truly horrifying economic data shrugged off by the stock market. The ADP report which was released just before the market open, showed that private payrolls were slashed by 20.2 million in April - the worst number in the survey’s history which dates back to 2002. It was however slightly better than the estimates of 22 million.

As the market keeps an eye on the re-opening efforts, focus was largely back on what will be known as one of the most bizarre and arguably irrelevant earnings seasons ever. A plethora of companies, quite understandably, refuse to give guidance as to what the rest of their year will look like, whilst investors meanwhile try and work out quite whether companies have performed better or worse than expected in the last quarter.

One company that investors did order themselves a large helping of today was that of Beyond Meat (+26%), as the vegan recorded profits that beat expectations and means the company is now up 32% this year. The company has also been helped by beef prices soaring as coronavirus reduces production.

General Motors (+3.06%) also managed to produce a positive earnings report despite the stock being down 42% in 2020 before the market opened. This comes as strong demand for its profitable new pickups offset the severe impact of their factory shutdowns. Tesla aside, coronavirus has had an awful impact on the autos sector which have comfortably underperformed the broader market since the pandemic.

Meanwhile Pinterest (-15%) cratered as it’s advertising revenues dropped significantly despite significant user growth, and Disney (-0.28%) ended the day much where it started as investors were left frustrated by a lack of clarity for the business going forward, as Wells Fargo noted they left the earnings call “with more uncertainty than we entered it”.

The Nasdaq again led the way helped by the technology giants and will be looking to reach its highs for 2020. Words I didn’t imagine I would be writing at the end of March…