The Nasdaq 100 is up 12% over the last nine sessions, so it’s safe to say the market has found its groove again. Better-than-expected data about the U.S. consumer added more pep to the bulls’ step. Let’s see what else you missed. 👀

Today's issue covers strong retail sales and Walmart earnings, price and sentiment diverging in two popular stocks, and why Alibaba earnings were $BABA-boring📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 9 of 11 sectors closed green, with consumer discretionary (+3.19%) leading and real estate (-0.29%) lagging.

And here are the closing prices: 

Most bullish/bearish symbols on Stocktwits at the close: 📈 $FIHL, $BSLK, $ARAY, $AMAT, $COHR 📉 $HRB, $FOUR, $ASTS, $SEDG, $AFRM*

*If you’re a business and want to access this data via our API, email us.

With two-thirds of U.S. GDP attributed to consumer spending, it makes sense that the market cares so much about households' financial health, especially as it assesses whether the Fed’s “soft landing” is still in play. 🤔

Luckily for investors, July retail sales jumped 1% compared to the 0.30% estimate, led by strength in automobiles, electronics/appliances, and food and beverage outlets.

Additionally, initial jobless claims hit a five-week low and helped ease some concerns that the labor market could be headed for a major uptick in unemployment. 💼

We also heard from Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer and a barometer for consumption trends. A stronger-than-expected first half caused management to raise its full-year revenue and earnings outlook, but still, it cautioned that the second half of the year would likely be slower. ⚠️

CFO John David Rainey said, “We see, among our members and customers, that they remain choiceful, discerning, value-seeking, focusing on things like essentials rather than discretionary items, but importantly, we don’t see any additional fraying of consumer health…”

However, pockets of strength are worth noting, such as positive sales growth in general merchandise for the first time in eleven quarters. The company’s focus on groceries remains another strong point, as customers look for cheaper alternatives to fast food.

Lastly, Walmart’s e-commerce push continues to pay off, with sales jumping 22% YoY in the U.S. and 21% globally. Total in-store and online transactions rose 3.60% YoY, and the average ticket rose 0.60% YoY. 🛍️

Walmart shares gapped up 7% and maintained those levels, closing at a new all-time high amid ‘extremely bullish’ sentiment readings on Stocktwits.

Overall, the positive data was great for Walmart and the broader market. It helped give bulls the confidence to continue their recent buying spree and to set their sights on new all-time highs. 👀

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When there’s a major divergence in sentiment and price among the most active symbols on our site, it’s worth taking a look at. Below are two names that stuck out to us as worth further investigation. 🕵️

The first is AST SpaceMobile Inc., a mid-cap satellite designer whose run has accelerated following its second-quarter earnings report.

Yet despite prices rising 50% to new all-time highs today after several analyst upgrades, Stocktwits sentiment is stuck in ‘extremely bearish’ territory. 🐻

Meanwhile, a small-cap pharmaceutical company focused on infectious diseases, SIGA Technologies, dropped 20% today after reporting disappointing trial results for its Mpox treatment. 👎

Still, the stock is among the top newly-watched symbols on the platform, and sentiment remains ‘extremely bullish.’

With the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring Africa’s Mpox outbreak a global health emergency, retail appears to be looking past the short-term setback and ahead to the drug’s longer-term potential. 💉

These two stocks remain among Stocktwits’ ‘most active’ list and will likely remain in play as their situations develop. Time will tell how the divergences between their price action and sentiment eventually resolve. 👀

Those hoping shares of the Chinese e-commerce giant would go ba-ba-boom (in either direction) after earnings were left sorely disappointed.

Alibaba shares saw an initial pop fade by noon ET and then the stock traded near the flatline for the rest of the day, closing up 0.09%. The culprit was once again its core -e-commerce business, which is dealing with increased competition and a sluggish Chinese economy. 😩

Revenue was up 4% YoY, but net income fell 29% due to lower income from operations and higher impairment to its investments. Taobao and Tmall Group, representing its China e-commerce business, saw sales fall by 1% YoY.

Clearly, the long-term vision of new CEO Eddie Wu, which focuses less on direct sales and more on third-party merchants selling via its platforms, is taking time to pan out. He said new monetization features for the platforms should help drive the business back to growth toward the latter half of 2025. 🗓️

In the meantime, the company is relying on its cloud division to keep investors interested in the stock. The division saw 6% YoY growth, its fastest since June 2022, with management saying, “AI-related product revenue continued to grow at triple-digits YoY.”

Stocktwits users don’t seem to mind waiting for the company’s plans and China’s economy to gain traction, as sentiment remains in ‘bullish’ territory. 🐂

On a related note, competitor JD.com also reported today that its quarterly profit nearly doubled YoY despite revenue falling short of estimates. Shares were up 4% but have struggled with Alibaba and others in the space. 🔺

Economic data: Building Permits & Housing Starts (8:30 am ET), Michigan Consumer Sentiment (10:00 am ET), and Fed Goolsbee speech (1:25 pm ET).

Pre-Market Earnings: Kandi Technologies ($KNDI), Siyata Mobile ($SYTA), RLX Technology ($RLX), Sunlands Technology ($STG), Madison Square Garden Entertainment ($MSGE), and OneConnect Financial Technology ($OCFT). 🛏️

After-Hour Earnings: Flower Foods ($FLO). 🎧

P.S. You can listen to all of these earnings calls and more straight from the Stocktwits app or website. You’ll find them on the calendar page and individual symbol pages once they’re set to begin! We’ll see you there. 👍

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🤖 Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt sees Nvidia as big AI winner: ‘You know what to do in the stock market’

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

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