Falling shares of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and record buybacks: what you need to know in the morning
Briefly about the main points on international markets.
0 US stock indexes are mostly growing
By the end of yesterday’s trading, the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, the high-tech Nasdaq gained 3.3%, and the Dow Jones lost 0.1%. All thanks to the growth of shares of large American technology companies in the main trading session, as well as the growing confidence of investors regarding the fact that the Fed will be able to move from raising interest rates to lowering them already at the end of this year. Against this background, the Nasdaq has already grown by 16.6% in 2023, demonstrating the best start of the year since 1975.
Shares of Apple, Amazon and Alphabet fall
After the close of trading on Thursday, shares of Apple, Amazon and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) fell more than 3% on the back of disappointing earnings reports for the last quarter of 2022.
Apple, for example, reported a 5% drop in revenue, the biggest quarterly drop in revenue since 2016.
Alphabet reported a sharp drop in profits as the company’s advertising business came under pressure from increased competition and reduced advertiser spending. And Amazon, in turn, although it exceeded analysts’ forecasts for quarterly revenue, still disappointed investors, predicting slower than expected sales growth in the current quarter.
Asian shares are traded in different directions
The broad index of Asian shares (excluding Japan) MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index fell 0.8% today, Japan’s Nikkei added about 0.3%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5%, and China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined by 1.4% and 1.8%, respectively. Disappointing reports from American technology giants also affected investor sentiment in Asia this morning.
Share buyback
According to Birinyi Associates, in the first month of 2023, announced share buybacks increased more than three times compared to last year and amounted to $132 billion, reaching the highest level for January in the entire history of observation.
So, for example, the buyback of shares by the American oil company Chevron in the amount of $75 billion became the largest announced buyback in January and accounted for more than half of the total amount. However, the American authorities have already criticized such plans, and Chevron, like other large American oil companies, has suggested that it use money to increase production, not to reward shareholders. In order to dissuade American companies from buying back shares, this year a law is coming into force in the USA that levies a 1% tax on buybacks.
Buyback — (share buyback) is a company’s purchase of shares in circulation with the aim of reducing their number on the market. A buyback, as a rule, leads to an increase in the market value of shares.
Author: 
News feed editor Anna Nedogybchenko. She writes on the following topics: Finance, banks, economy, investments
- Investments
- Shares (securities)
- Stock market
Source: Ministry of Finance
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