US equity markets advanced after a choppy session, with investors keeping an eye on fresh stimulus measures and digesting some mixed corporate earnings releases – Dow up +164-points or +0.62%. Walmart Inc fell -1.36% in extended trading after it was reported that the company has delayed the launch of Walmart+, a subscription service meant to compete with Amazon Prime, for the second time this year, according to a report by Vox. The broader S&P500 gained +0.36%. with Energy (up +2.46%) the clear outperformer and leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Health Care (down -0.45%) and Financials (-0.44%) were the two primary sectors to close in the red. A late rally saw the technology-centric NASDAQ settle with a +0.35% rise, notching a fifth straight day of gains and a fresh record closing high (10,941.17). The so-called FAANG complex was mixed, with Apple Inc up +0.67%, Amazon.com Inc +0.87% and Netflix Inc +2.21%. However, Facebook Inc fell -0.85% and Google parent Alphabet Inc -0.64%. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc soared to fresh records, carving out a fresh record closing high (up +9.49% US$85.04) and intra-day peak (US$85.81) after another broker upgrade (who described the lead of AMD and its chip fabricator Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co over Intel Corp as “systemic”). The chipmaker’s market capitalisation (US$99.84B) closed in on the US$100B mark. Listed peer Intel Corp settled +1.72% higher at US$49.13 (affording the company a market capitalisation of US$208.95B). In broader stock news, Eastman Kodak Co (down -3.61%) is reportedly under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) around the company’s disclosure about being awarded a US$765M loan from the US government to start producing generic drug ingredients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The company’s share price soared as much as 570% during trading on 29 July.
