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What to Watch Today: Tech Pressures Wall Street Premarket; Data Shows Inflation Still High

Traders on the floor of the NYSE, April 28, 2022.
Source: NYSE

BY THE NUMBERS

U.S. stock futures fell Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq set to open down 1% as Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) sank in the premarket, the morning after reporting rough quarterly results. The Nasdaq led a recovery rally Thursday on Wall Street, soaring more than 3%. The S&P 500 jumped 2.5%. The Dow rose nearly 2%. All three stock benchmarks were slightly higher for the week. But heading into the final trading day of April, stocks were still sharply lower oh.for the month. (CNBC)

The 10-year Treasury yield ticked higher Friday, trading at around 2.9%, but below its recent late 2018 high. The Fed's favorite inflation gauge was out before the bell. March's core PCE price index increased 5.2% year over year, a slightly lower than expected advance. But that's still really strong, and likely cementing the central bank's intention to raise interest rates by half a percentage point in May. (CNBC)

IN THE NEWS TODAY

Amazon dropped 10% in the premarket, following its late Thursday announcement of weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings and lower forward guidance. Revenue for the quarter increased 7% year over year to $116.4 billion, basically matching expectations. That was the slowest sales rise for any quarter since the dot-com bust in 2001 and the second straight quarter of single-digit percentage growth. (CNBC)

* Investing Club: Amazon's booming cloud business wasn’t able to save weak quarter
* Amazon's cloud business grows almost 37%, but slows from last quarter (CNBC)
* Amazon takes $7.6 billion loss on Rivian stake after the EV stock plunges (CNBC)

Apple fell 1% in Friday's premarket, the morning after warning that supply constraints related to Covid could hurt sales by between $4 billion and $8 billion in its fiscal third quarter. The guidance overshadowed strong fiscal second-quarter results, including earnings, revenue and gross margin beats. While analysts were looking for a little bit more out of the Services segment, it nonetheless reported record revenue. Products sales saw a March-quarter record. (CNBC)

* Investing Club: Apple’s supply-constraint warning doesn’t take the shine off a strong quarter
* Cramer: Bet against ‘superstar’ executives like Tim Cook at your own peril (CNBC)

Elon Musk sold roughly $4 billion worth of Tesla (TSLA) shares in the days following his $44 billion bid to take Twitter (TWTR) private, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bulk of the CEO's sales were made on Tuesday, the filings showed. Tesla shares fell 12% that day, but edged higher on Wednesday by less than 1 percentage point. (CNBC)

As the filings became public Thursday evening, Musk wrote on Twitter, "No further TSLA sales planned after today." Tesla's stock rose more than 1.5% in Friday's premarket. Twitter shares climbed nearly 1% to more than $49 each, below the $54.20 per-share cash offer from Musk.

Shares of Chevron (CVX) fell 1% in Friday's premarket, after the oil giant reported that profit more than quadrupled during the first quarter on higher oil and gasoline prices. Chevron's revenue rose nearly 70% to $54.37 billion. West Texas Intermediate crude futures spiked to $130.50 in early March, a price last seen in 2008 as Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked supply fears. Prices have since cooled, but are still sitting above $100, boosting energy companies' operations. (CNBC)

Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) dropped 1% in the premarket following the company's Friday announcement that it took a $3.4 billion after-tax charge in the first quarter related to its Sakhalin-1 operation in Russia. Earnings doubled to $5.5 billion in the quarter. However, profit was down from $8.87 billion in the fourth quarter. Revenue rose more than 50% to $90.5 billion, though that was short of expectations. (CNBC)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to humiliate the United Nations by raining missiles on Kyiv during a visit by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, an attack that shattered the capital city's tentative return to normality as Russia's focus in its unprovoked the war moved east. (AP)

* Russia cuts key interest rate to 14%, says inflation could hit 23% this year (CNBC)

Airbnb (ABNB) plans to let its employees live and work wherever they want. CEO Brian Chesky announced it Thursday on Twitter, saying staff compensation won't change. In a separate email to staff, Chesky said employees will still need a permanent address for tax and payroll purposes. (CNBC)

Nicknamed "Woodstock for Capitalists," the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting is on Saturday, and it will be livestreamed on CNBC.com. Presided over by Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, the event in Omaha, Nebraska gives shareholders a chance to hear from the two legendary investors and ask them questions.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Roku (ROKU) popped more than 4% after the digital media player manufacturer on Thursday reported sales that exceeded expectations in its recent quarter. Roku posted a revenue of $733.7 million. Analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting $718 million.

Intel (INTC) fell more than 3% after Intel issued weak guidance for its fiscal second quarter, overshadowing stronger-than-expected earnings for the previous quarter.

Robinhood (HOOD) dropped nearly 10% following a first-quarter report that showed declining revenue and monthly active users. CEO Vlad Tenev said that the company saw its customers with smaller accounts trade less when the market fell.

Chinese technology stocks, including Alibaba (BABA), Pinduoduo (PDD) and Baidu (BIDU), surged after policymakers in China signaled an easing of the crackdown on tech companies.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) dipped 1.5% despite an earnings report that topped expectations. On Friday, Bristol-Myers Squibb disclosed it earned $1.96 per share on revenues of $11.65 billion. The company was forecasted to earn $1.91 per share on revenues of $11.36 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Honeywell International (HON) jumped 2% after Honeywell reported earnings that surpassed expectations. Honeywell posted earnings of $1.91 per share on revenues of $8.38 billion. Meanwhile, analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were forecasting $1.86 earnings per share on revenues of $8.29 billion.

WATERCOOLER

James Corden said he will be bowing out of his late-night CBS show next year, calling it a "good time to move on and see what else might be out there." Corden announced his decision during the taping of Thursday's "The Late Late Show," which he began hosting in 2015. (AP)

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