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Today's markets: Amazon completes week of big tech blowouts, AstraZeneca, Darktrace & more

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April 30, 2021

Good morning and welcome to the IC’s live blog, where our writers roundup the biggest business stories of the day. 

Amazon smashes expectations, Twitter's wings clipped

America is “ready for take-off”, Joe Biden promised earlier this week, in a first speech to a joint Congress that was essentially a pitch for his huge spending agenda. The President enacted a $1.9trn stimulus plan back in March, and now is gathering support for a $2.3trn infrastructure spending bill and a $1.8trn boost to the social safety net. 

It looks like the US recovery is already accelerating. Gross domestic product grew by  6.4 per cent on an annualised basis in the first three months of the year. Some economists anticipate that overall activity could return to pre-pandemic levels as soon as this quarter.  

Consumer spending grew 2.6 per cent. And Amazon’s (US:AMZN) results last night work as a promising economic bellwether, too. The tech giant’s e-commerce related businesses (online stores, third-party and subscription segments) logged a combined 49 per cent jump in revenue, at a higher rate than the seasonally important final quarter of last year. Overall, Amazon’s net income more than tripled year-on-year to $8.1bn, with revenues of $108bn  again far exceeding consensus expectations. 

It’s not so sunny everywhere in the Valley. Twitter (US:TWTR) disappointed last night, after user growth missed expectations for the third quarter in a row. The social media platform said that it expects revenues for the current quarter to land between $980m and $1.08bn, towards the lower end of Wall Street’s estimates. That is despite a huge rebound in digital ad sales at both Google and Facebook. Shares are down 11.5 per cent in after-hours trading. 

What is a tech company?

Our cover feature this week is a special deep dive into technology companies which is aimed at helping investors differentiate between a proper technology company and the many companies who are trying to wrap themselves in the blanket of 'tech' and ride on the coat tails of the demand for exposure to this sector. Click here for more.  

 

 

Darktrace prices its IPO

Closer to home, shares in Darktrace (DARK) have jumped by a third on its debut on the London Stock Exchange this morning. The cybsercurity software business’ shares were priced at 250p, giving it a starting valuation of around £1.7bn, £1bn lower than its original target. The company looks more like a traditional tech company than some other businesses that have recently come to market - but does that mean it is a safer bet? Here’s what you should know about Darktrace.

Astra tops FTSE

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca (AZN) is topping the FTSE100 leaderboard after issuing numbers showing a 15 per cent rise in revenues. The high profile Covid vaccine has so far generated revenues of £275m but is loss making at the moment, although the company never planned to make a profit on the vaccine at this stage of the pandemic. 

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