UPDATE

🌤️ Happy Tuesday

We hope you had a restful weekend and hit the ground running yesterday.

Last Thursday was May 4^th —also known as Star Wars Day. Hopefully, you enjoyed some Star Wars-themed posts on various social media platforms. Here’s our favorite from American Airlines:

WEEK IN REVIEW

📈 Market Performance

Secretary Janet Yellen by International Monetary Fund, via flickr

Despite many large-cap companies beating expectations in the last two weeks, last week was a rough one for the S&P. From Tuesday morning until Thursday’s close, the index saw a 2% decline that many believe was triggered by investors’ reaction to the First Republic acquisition by JP Morgan.

• While Friday and Monday’s market performances essentially reversed the drops from last week, investors appear to be worried that this movement is more short-term.

• The long-term trend has yet to be defined as the banking sector recovers, and the Federal Reserve provides insight into future (potential) interest rate hikes. (Source: CNN Business)

🍎 Apple Reports

AAPL (5-Day), via Google Finance

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was the last of the large tech stocks to report earnings for this season. The release came after the market closed on Thursday, May 4. The company beat the earning per share (EPS) estimate of 1.43 by 6.32% and the revenue estimate by 2.15% (reporting 94.84B compared to the expected 92.84B).

• The news appeared to catapult the stock price from $165.79 at Thursday’s close to $174.15 by 3 pm Friday. These gains seem more permanent (in the short term) as the stock price sits at $173.50 as of Monday’s close.

📉 Default Fears

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned President Biden and Congress for weeks about the risks associated with the US defaulting on its debts. The debate between Biden and the Republican-led House is whether to raise the debt ceiling—and on what terms.

• If a deal doesn’t happen to raise the limit, the US government will be unable to pay its bills, meaning the economy could be pushed even closer to a recession.

Given these concerns, Secretary Yellen has reportedly been calling CEOs of major companies to outline potential effects if a solution doesn’t arise. (Source: Reuters)

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Gmail Grammarly Checker, via Grammarly Media

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MARK IT. EXPLAINED

⏱️ What Is After-Hours Trading? Should You Consider It?

New York Stock Exchange by David Blaikie, via flickr

Let’s look at the concept of after-hours trading. This is trading (or investing) done after the conventional trading hours for financial markets. Investors, as well as traders, can still input transactions or close orders during this time. This trading occurs from 4 pm Eastern Standard Time (after the markets close) and ends around 8 pm.

Here are some benefits of after-hours trading for you:

• Convenience

• Opportunity

• Ability to react to aftermarket news

• Flexibility

• Taking advantage of volatility

After-hours trading sounds great with those benefits, but there are drawbacks. Some risks include order restrictions, low liquidity, price premium or volatility, wide bid-ask spreads, and lack of participation.

With both the benefits and risks factored in, after-hours trading can be a chance to get ahead of the news cycle or cut losses quicker than usual. It’s not to be confused with pre-market trading (4 am to 9:25 am). (Source: Investopedia)

ONE MORE THING

🤝 Keep in Touch

This week's issue was edited and published by Abbas Akhtar. Our MARK IT. Explained section was written by contributing editor Rahul Kannam.

• For general announcements or updates on what we're working on, follow Abbas on Twitter 👉 @RealAbbasAkhtar

• Also, we want to hear your feedback! Send any comments or suggestions to [email protected]

Thanks again for reading!

Nothing MARK IT. publishes constitutes professional and/or financial advice, nor does any information published by MARK IT. constitute a comprehensive or complete statement of the matters discussed.