With Middle East media coverage slowed to a crawl, Wall Street turns to first quarter earnings reports for trading inspiration, and there's plenty to choose from this week.
Monday, prior to the opening bell, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) and Verizon (VZ) reported, with the bad news coming from the pizza-maker, which saw same store sales well below expectations, citing heavier competition (Pizza Hut, Papa John's), and issued guidance of just 1-2% same store gains the rest of the year. The stock slumped pre-market and the bad attitude carried over into the cash session, with Domino's falling nearly nine percent on the day.
Verizon fared better, though despite beats top and bottom, the stock started the day higher but ended lower. After a big run-up in late January, the stock seems to have stalled out in the mid-40s.
After the close on Monday, the following reported:
Rambus (RMBS) - General investor disappointment at the chip tech company, down 19% pre-market.
Lending Club (LC) - earnings beat, profits record, shares up 10%
Nucor (NUE) - Steel prices lift profits, shares ahead 2%
Tuesday, before the open, more reports hit the wires, including:
Hilton (HLT) - earnings beat, raises REVPAR guidance, stock slips 2%
General Motors (GM) - earnings beat estimates, company raises profit guidance after favorable tariff ruling, shares down 1%
Spotify (SPOT) - company raises prices, misses EPS estimates, shares slip 10%
Coca-Cola (KO) - Beat, raises guidance, shares up 3%
UPS (UPS) - EPS beat, revenue slips, re-affirms guidance, shares down 5%
The companies reporting so far this week have given some indications of where the economy is heading, though there are more heavy hitters up on Wednesday, coinciding with the Fed's FOMC policy announcement.
After the close Tuesday, Starbucks (SBUX), Teradyne (TER), Visa (V), Enphase (ENPH), Robinhood (HOOD), Modelez (MDLZ), and Seagate (STX) report, but after the close Wednesday, four of the Magnificent 7 send vibes, with reports from Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META). The leading tech companies will have much to say about the future of the US and global economy, their weight on the s&P 500 accounting for most of the gains the past two years.
When it comes to getting it right and getting it wrong, two companies that have already reported tell the story. Domino's, which happened to be the first major fast food retailer out of the box this quarter, missed the boat and had their shares sink. On the brighter side, Coca-Cola, with decades of reporting in their arsenal, managed to woo more investors by being street smart with their reporting. The two stocks have moved in opposite directions.
Another lesson for CEOs and CFOs comes from Spotify, which tried to slip in price increases during a period of slow growth and watching the bottom line closely in their niche, which includes thousands of small businesses which haven’t had a favorable break in decades and was treated poorly during the Covid experiment of choosing winners. It hasn’t gone over well and investors are voicing their concern with their feet.
With the open minutes ahead, futures are mixed, gold and silver are taking a beating via the usual, nasty, COMEX method and WTI crude oil popped over $100 in the absense of any movement to resolve the US/Israel-Iran crisis. There's growing concern that the oil shock will be the worst the world has seen, now that shipments have been crimped for nearly two months. Oil that escaped the region before March 1, is still arriving at destinations around the world, but now there will be a gap, with limited flows for the next 40-60 days as supply have been choked off, both by Iran and the U.S. There's a world of hurt coming for countries that rely on the steady flow.
At the Close, Monday, April 27, 2026:
Dow: 49,167.79, -62.92 (-0.13%)
NASDAQ: 24,887.10, +50.50 (+0.20%)
S&P 500: 7,173.91, +8.83 (+0.12%)
NYSE Composite: 22,905.46, -29.09 (-0.13%)
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