Stock Market News for Dec 22, 2022 – Yahoo Finance

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Wednesday ending in positive territory for two successive days. Strong earnings results of several corporate behemoth boosted market participants’ sentiment that a recession may not be imminent. Solid data of a key economic metric also supported this view. All the three major stock indexes finished in positive territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) jumped 1.6% or 526.74 points to close at 33,376.48. Notably, 28 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory while 2 in negative zone. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 10,709.37, climbing 1.5% or  162.26  points due to strong performance of large-cap technology stocks.
The S&P 500 rallied 1.5% to end at 3,878.44. All 11 broad sectors of the benchmark index closed in positive territory. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) and the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) advanced 1.9% each.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 6.6% to 20.07. A total of 9.81 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 11.16 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 3.43-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.10-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
NIKE Inc. NKE reported second-quarter fiscal 2023 results, wherein revenues and earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company’s earnings per share of $0.85 rose 2% from $0.83 reported in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.65.
Revenues of the Swoosh brand owner grew 17% year over year to $13,315 million and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $12,606 million. On a currency-neutral basis, revenues advanced 27% year over year, driven by growth in the NIKE Direct business.
FedEx Corp.'s FDX second-quarter fiscal 2023 (ended Nov 30, 2022) earnings (excluding $0.11 from non-recurring items) of $3.18 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.77 but declined 34.2% year over year. The downfall was due to persistent demand weakness, especially at FedEx Express.
Quarterly revenues of $22,814 million fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $23,662.9 million and decreased 2.8% from the year-ago fiscal quarter’s reported figure. The reported figure came below the guided range of $23.5-$24 billion.
Following earnings results, shares of Nike and FedEx appreciated 12.2% and 3.4%, respectively. Both stocks currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Conference Board reported that Consumer Confidence in December came in at 108.3, marking its highest reading since April. The consensus estimate was 101.2. November’s data was revised upward to 101.4 from 100.2 reported earlier. A similar type of metric, the preliminary data of consumer sentiment  for December reported by the University of Michigan also showed same type of results.
Consumers' 12-month inflation expectations fell to 6.7% in December from 7.1% in last month, marking the lowest level since September. The present situation index, based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, rose to 147.2 in December from 138.3 in last month. The expectations index, based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, increased to 82.4 in December from 76.7 in November.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales plummeted 7.7% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, marking the lowest level since May 2020. The consensus estimate was 4.21 million units. The data for October was 4.43 million units. Year over year, existing home sales plunged 35.4% in November.
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