STOCK MARKET NEWS: S&P, Nasdaq lower, GoodRX soars, Take-Two and Turtle Beach tumble

Turtle Beach is lower in after hours trading. The gaming accessory maker reported second quarter financial results and ended a process that could have ended with the company selling itself.

Turtle Beach held discussions with 109 parties before deciding to “conclude the proactive outreach” to potential buyers.

“Furthermore, while several financial parties submitted preliminary indications of interest to acquire the company, in light of factors including current market dynamics and the challenging financing environment, those parties declined to move forward in the process.”

Turtle Beach said it will continue to evaluate strategic opportunities.

The company reported second quarter revenue of $41.3 million, down 47% year over year.

The net loss was $17.8 million, or $1.08 per diluted share, compared to net income of $1.7 million, or 09 cents, a year earlier.

Turtle Beach also updated its full year 2022 outlook in light of “uncertain macroeconomic conditions and expects revenue to be between the range of $250 million and $275 million."

The company previously said it expected full year revenue to be flat, plus or minus 5%, from its record 2021 revenues.

GoodRX is soaring in after-hours trading after resolving an issue where a grocer chain had stopped accepting the company’s discount card for some prescriptions.

The issue cost GoodRX about $30 million in the second quarter, the company said.

“As communication is rolled out to the grocery chain’s pharmacists, we expect GoodRx discounts to be consistently welcomed at the point of sale,” the company said.

“We expect third quarter revenue to be approximately $185 million. This assumes the grocer issue has an estimated impact of $35 million to $40 million on third quarter prescription transactions revenue. We’re expecting a greater impact quarter over-quarter because the effect on the second quarter gradually increased as the quarter developed, whereas we started the third quarter facing a significant impact.”

The telemedicine platform operator topped Wall Street revenue estimates.

Second quarter revenue rose 9% to $191.8 million. The Refinitiv estimate was $184.7 million.

Subscription revenue grew 82% year-over-year to $26.0 million, due primarily to an increase in the monthly subscription fees charged for our GoodRx Gold program, and an 8% increase in subscription plans.

Profit fell short. The company lost $1.4 million, or 0 cents per share, compared to a year ago profit of $31.1 million, or 8 cents. Analysts were looking for 4 cents.

Take-Two Interactive Software is lower in after-hours trading.

The publisher of “Grand Theft Auto” estimates adjusted earnings for the full year ending March 31, 2023 will come in between $5.73 billion and $5.83 billion. Wall Street was forecasting $6.32 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

“Our new forecast takes into account some movement in our release slate for the year, foreign currency pressures, and macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty,” the video game maker said.

Fiscal first quarter revenue for the three months ended June 30 increased 36% to $1.1 billion.

Net Bookings grew 41% to $1.0 billion.

The net loss was $104 million compared to net income of $152.3 million in the prior year quarter.

Inside the big shake-up at Carlyle Group...

BUSINESS-LEADERS

Carlyle CEO Kewsong Lee steps down before contract end and Bill Conway steps in as interim CEO

Carlyle CEO Kewsong Lee has stepped down from his position as CEO months before his contract was ending. Lee has been part of the company since 2013.

Nvidia now expects to earn as much as $6.7 billion in second quarter revenue down from the initial forecast of $8.10 billion. The shortfall is being blamed on weakness in gaming and is dragging down other chip makers including KLAC, Applied Materials, AMD and Micron.

Nvidia Corp on Monday warned its second-quarter revenue would drop by 19% from the prior quarter on weakness in its gaming business, sending the chip designer's shares down about 5% in early trading.

The gaming industry, largely considered to be recession proof, is beginning to see some weakness as consumers weigh purchases of discretionary items such as laptops and video game consoles.

"As we expect the macroeconomic conditions affecting sell-through to continue, we took actions with our Gaming partners to adjust channel prices and inventory," Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang said in a statement.

The company, which expects second-quarter revenue of about $6.70 billion compared with $8.10 billion forecast earlier, is scheduled to report results on Aug. 24.

Analysts expect revenue of $8.1 billion, with contribution from gaming at $3.12 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Second-quarter results will include charges of $1.32 billion due to excess inventory and future demand, the company said.

Ryan Reynolds attends the premiere of Netflix's "6 Underground" on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Fubo TV is higher in midday trading. The sports-first live TV streaming platform announced a first-look deal with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Productions.

Deal highlights:

• An exclusive first-look for unscripted TV series,

• Maximum Effort will launch Maximum Effort Network, a linear channel on FuboTV, and

• A blind scripted deal with Fubo TV.

Reynolds said, “I genuinely can’t believe Maximum Effort gets to program our own network. I am beyond excited and grateful to Fubo.”Maximum Effort will receive stock of FuboTV.

Reynolds owns the Wrexham soccer club.

Stack of Ether coins with gold background — iStock

The U.S. Treasury is sanctioning virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash. As a result, all U.S. property and interests of Tornado Cash is blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Tornado Cash operates on the Ethereum blockchain.

Officials say Tornado Cash laundered more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019.

The amount includes:

• $455 million stolen by the Lazarus Group, a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) state-sponsored hacking group that was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2019, in the largest known virtual currency heist to date,

• $96 million of malicious cyber actors’ funds derived from the June 24 Harmony Bridge Heist, and

• $7.8 million from the August 2, Nomad Heist.

Tyson Foods is falling after reporting fiscal third quarter financial results that missed Wall Street profit forecasts.

Profit for the three months ended July 2 was little changed at $750 million, or $2.07 per share. Adjusted profit was $1.94. Wall Street was looking for $1.98.

The world’s second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork said revenue rose 8.1% to $13.5 billion, beating the Refinitiv estimate of $13.25 billion.

Sales volume fell 1.9%, led by an 8.5% decline in prepared foods due to the impacts of increased pricing, uneven foodservice recovery, the divestiture of the pet treats business in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 and a challenging supply environment impacting the first half of fiscal 2022.

The company expects full year sales of $52 to $54 billion.

“For fiscal 2022, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates domestic protein production (beef, pork, chicken and turkey) should be relatively flat compared to fiscal 2021 levels,” Tyson said.

Bed, Bath and Beyond is benefiting from meme investors. The stock climbed as much as 60% Monday before cutting gains.

Shares are down more than 25% year to date.

The retailer was the most searched name on the WallStreetBets discussion board, CNBC reported, citing data from Quiver Quantitative. WallStreetBets is a subreddit channel with 12.4 million members that regularly discusses highly speculative stocks.

Wall Street futures

U.S. stock futures are higher on Monday as investors turn their focus to key inflation data that will be released later this week.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday is expected to say the consumer price index rose a slight 0.2% month-over-month in July. That’s down sharply from June’s 1.3% spike. 

A Pfizer sign in New York City

Pfizer Inc. has agreed to buy Global Blood Therapeutics Inc. for $5.4 billion, in a deal that would give the big drugmaker a foothold in the treatment of sickle-cell disease.

Pfizer said Monday it would pay $68.50 a share in cash for Global Blood Therapeutics, which has one of the few approved treatments for sickle-cell disease.

Read more: Pfizer agrees to $5.4B deal for Global Blood Therapeutics

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin were all trading higher early Monday morning.

Cryptocurrency prices turned higher early Monday. 

At approximately 5 a.m. ET, Bitcoin was trading at more than $24,100 (+3.88%), or higher by more than $907. 

For the week, Bitcoin was trading lower by nearly 0.88%. For the month, the cryptocurrency was higher, gaining more than 7.15%. 

Ethereum was trading at approximately $1,769 (+4.13%), or higher by about $70.31. 

For the week, Ethereum was trading higher by nearly 1%. For the month, it was trading higher by more than 37%.

Dogecoin was trading at $0.0711 (+3.66%), or higher by approximately $0.0025.  

For the week, Dogecoin was higher by around 0.16%. However, for the month, the crypto was lower by more than 3.18%.

Iconic toy store, Toys R Us, held a Christmas in July announcement saying the store has opened in Macy's stores in nine states, with more stores "to come" in the future.

Toys R Us, the beloved children's toy store, is officially back inside Macy's locations in nine states, with more "coming soon."

The retailer did a Christmas in July-type announcement, saying all locations will be complete by October 15, just in time for the holiday shopping season. 

Current locations are in California, Georgia, New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada, Louisiana, New York, Maryland and Missouri, according to the Macy's website. The additional locations opening soon across the country are listed as well. 

The in-store shops range from 1,000 square feet up to 10,000 square feet. Larger locations dubbed "flagship locations" will be in Atlanta, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco. 

Macy's said stores could add another 500 to 3,000 square feet during the holiday season to offer "an even wider assortment of products." 

The toy company returned to Macy's after being acquired by WHP Global in March 2021. The deal came after Toys R Us shuttered its last two remaining stores in New Jersey and Texas in January 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Both locations opened in late 2019 and were the only Toys R Us stores in the country following the company’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2017 and its U.S. and U.K. store closures in 2018. 

Since last August, Macy's customers shopped the Toys R Us assortment of products exclusively online prior to the store's openings.

The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $4.059 early Monday, a penny cheaper than Sunday. Meanwhile, a gallon of diesel fell to $5.143, a drop of 1.5 cents overnight.

The average price of a gallon of gasoline nationwide slipped a penny on Monday to $4.059. On Sunday, the price nationwide was $4.069, according to AAA. Gas was $4.084 on Saturday. 

Gas has been on the decline since hitting an all-time high of $5.016 on June 14, nine weeks ago. 

A week ago, a gallon of gasoline cost $4.212, AAA reported, while a month ago, that same gallon cost nearly 51 cents more, at $4.721. A year ago, a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. cost $3.188.

Diesel slipped as well to $5.143 on Monday, down from $5.158 Sunday and $5.169 on Saturday.

A week ago, a gallon of diesel cost $5.279, according to AAA. A month ago, a gallon of diesel was $5.675. One year ago, a gallon of diesel sold for $3.297.

U.S. stocks were moving higher Monday despite a fairly strong jobs report and markets finishing close to flat on Friday.

U.S. stocks turned higher early Monday morning after finishing close to flat Friday following a surprisingly strong jobs report which cast doubt on if the Federal Reserve will be able to shift away from interest-rate increases anytime soon. 

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have now risen for three straight weeks, chipping away at a substantial portion of their losses from the rest of the year. The S&P 500 dropped 6.75 points, or 0.2%, to 4,145.19 on Friday, making up most of its losses from early in the trading day. For the week, it rose 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 76.65 points, or 0.2%, to 32,803.47 and fell 0.1% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite declined 63.03 points, or 0.5%, to 12,657.55 and rose 2.2% for the week. 

Investors had come to widely believe that the Fed could pivot to cutting interest rates as early as the first half of 2023, given signs of cooling activity across the economy. That would have been a balm for markets, which have tumbled this year as the Fed has swiftly raised interest rates to combat stubbornly high inflation. 

However, Friday's data showed the labor market was doing anything but cooling. The labor market added 528,000 jobs in July -- more than doubling what analysts had estimated and returning payrolls to their pre-pandemic level. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, near historic lows.

That left investors with a mixed picture: A key pillar of the economy remains strong, which should be good news for markets. But strong data means the rate increases that have sent stock and bond prices lower this year aren't likely to go away anytime soon.

It also raises questions about whether stocks can continue their recent comeback. Markets also have been rattled by Russia’s war on Ukraine, which caused a spike in prices of oil, wheat and other commodities, and by uncertainty about Chinese anti-virus curbs that have disrupted manufacturing and shipping.

Higher interest rates are meant to dampen inflation by cooling business activity, but that also raises the risk of recession and job losses. The latest inflation spike is unusual because forecasters blame shortages of goods due to the coronavirus pandemic, rather than rapid economic growth. 

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mixed Monday after strong U.S. jobs data cleared the way for more interest rate hikes and Chinese exports rose by double digits. 

Shanghai and Tokyo advanced while Hong Kong and Seoul retreated. 

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2% to 3,233.07 after China's July exports beat forecasts. Exports in July surged 18% compared with a year earlier while imports rose just 2.3%, reflecting weak global demand, Chinese customs data showed Sunday. The country’s global trade surplus swelled to a record $101 billion. 

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.8% to 20,040.21 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 0.2% to 26.230.90. The Kospi in Seoul gained less than 0.1% to 2,491.91 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 shed less than 0.1% to 7,009.80. India's Sensex opened up 0.4% at 58,613.39. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets retreated.

Weak demand in U.S. inventories last week encouraged trades based on a weakening outlook.

Oil prices bounced higher from multi-month lows on Monday as investors' appetite improved following data on U.S. jobs and Chinese exports data that eased recession concerns. 

Brent crude futures had risen 81 cents, or 0.9%, to $95.73 a barrel by 0638 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $89.76 a barrel, up 75 cents, or 0.8%. 

Both contracts settled higher on Friday after jobs growth in the United States, the world's top oil consumer, unexpectedly accelerated in July. On Sunday, China also surprised markets with faster-than-expected growth in exports.

Signs of weak demand in U.S. inventories last week had encouraged trades based on a weakening outlook, said Stephen Innes, managing director of SPI Asset Management. But the jobs and exports data had somewhat reversed that view, he added. 

Front-month Brent prices last week hit the lowest levels since February, tumbling 13.7% and posting their largest weekly drop since April 2020, while WTI lost 9.7%, as concerns about a recession hitting oil demand weighed on prices. 

China, the world's top crude importer, imported 8.79 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in July, up from a four-year low in June, but still 9.5% less than a year earlier, customs data showed. 

Chinese refiners drew down stocks amid high crude prices and weak domestic margins even as the country's overall exports gained momentum. 

Reflecting lower U.S. gasoline demand, and as China's zero-COVID strategy pushes recovery further out, ANZ lowered its oil demand forecasts for 2022 and 2023 by 300,000 bpd and 500,000 bpd, respectively. 

Oil demand for 2022 is now estimated to rise by 1.8 million bpd year-on-year and settle at 99.7 million bpd, just short of pre-pandemic highs, the bank said. 

Russian crude and oil products exports continued to flow despite an impending embargo from the European Union that will take effect on Dec. 5. 

In the United States, energy firms last week cut the number of oil rigs by the most since September. It was the first drop in 10 weeks.