10 Top-Traded US Stocks for Friday (7/9)

Movers and Shakers wrote a column · Jul 12, 2021 11:57

Stock futures opened mostly flat late Sunday as earnings season kicks off this week.

The three major indexes closed at record highs on Friday after a sell-off Thursday as investors worried about a potential slowdown in U.S. economic growth.

Friday's rally brought the averages into the green for the week; the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$added 0.24% week-to-date, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ and $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ each rose about 0.4% in the same period.

10 Top-Traded US Stocks for Friday (7/9)

The major averages' record highs come ahead of the start of quarterly earnings reports. S&P 500 companies' profits are expected to be up 65% from the same quarter a year ago, according to Refinitiv, bouncing back from the worst of the pandemic.

The expected surge in profits would be the strongest earnings growth since the fourth quarter of 2009, as stocks recovered from the financial crisis.

10 top-traded US stocks for Friday

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ is in early talks with the U.S National Football League (NFL) for the streaming rights of its Sunday Ticket games, The Information reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Shares of $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ jumped 7.78% in 30 days from $257.88 to $277.94 on Sunday, following the last session's upward trend. Losing the $10 billion JEDI contract is bad for Microsoft not just because of the money – it's about credibility. According to today’s article on Business Insider, "Now, however, the Department of Defense says Microsoft's offering wasn't going to "meet its needs."

That – combined with the suggestion by $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ that Microsoft only won the contract due to political influence from a President with a grudge against Bezos – further fuels doubts about Microsoft Azure's efficacy."

Shares of $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ jumped by a staggering 13.27% in 30 days from $708.05 to $802.01, after two sequential sessions in a row of losses.

Shares of $Alibaba (BABA.US)$ Alibaba fell 2.87% in 30 days from $212.03 to $205.94, after five consecutive sessions in a row of losses. Alibaba's last close was $199.85, 37.41% below its 52-week high of $319.32. The company's growth estimates for the current quarter is 1.8% and a drop 17.6% for the next.

A historic $Virgin Galactic (SPCE.US)$ flight successfully reached space Sunday morning and is back on the ground.

The VSS Unity crew included founder Richard Branson, giving him bragging rights over $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos will be aboard a July 20 flight from his Blue Origin space company.

Movers & Shakers for Friday