Stock market news today August 2

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IT’S OFFICIAL: Apple is the first US company worth $1
trillion

Apple on Thursday
become the first US company to be worth more than $1 trillion on
a public stock market.

The company on Tuesday reported second-quarter
earnings that topped Wall Street expectations, sending shares
surging by more than 5% into Wednesday. The rally continued on
Thursday, propelling shares to the magic number of $207.05
apiece.

That price translates to a $1 trillion market
cap based on the current estimated number of outstanding shares.

The stock market is seeing abnormally large moves this
earnings season — Goldman Sachs explains why, and how traders can
capitalize

Single-stock price fluctuations
have been more extreme this earnings season than at any other
point in the past eight quarters, Goldman Sachs says.

The firm attributes this to poor forecasting from Wall Street
analysts that has been driven by unpredictable macro
developments.

Goldman also offers four single-stock trades for the remainder of
earnings season.

Kroger’s battle with Visa is escalating

Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the US,
is ending Visa credit card acceptance at 21 of its Foods Co
supermarket subsidiaries and five gas stations in California,
effective August 14, according to The Wall Street
Journal . The stores will still accept
Visa debit cards.

Kroger and Visa have been in an ongoing dispute. The
companies have been battling over interchange fees, which are
charged to merchants each time a customer makes transactions
using a credit card. Kroger sued Visa in 2016 over
debit card transactions, after Visa said that the retailer’s
EMV-enabled terminals didn’t comply with Visa regulations.

Tesla’s surging stock has cost short sellers $1.1 billion
in a single day

Score one for Elon Musk .

The Tesla CEO, who has
long been an outspoken critic of stock traders betting against
his company, struck a blow on Thursday after second-quarter
earnings sent shares
soaring by as much as 11%.

That resulted in a mark-to-market loss of more than $1.1 billion
for short
sellers , according to data compiled by
financial technology and analytics
firm S3
Partners .

More here. 

In markets news