US OPEN: Wall Street Rise for 3rd Day

• Dismal ADP report
• General Motors earnings beat forecasts
• PayPal stock on track for new all-time high ahead of earnings

US indices opened higher on Wednesday, extending gains for a 3rd straight session as investors digest a 20.2 million drop in private payrolls in April, according to ADP data. Market hopes of a pickup in business activity as some states are lifting  coronavirus-related restrictions. President Trump said on Tuesday that “we have to get our country open and we have to get it open soon” although some people will still be affected badly by the coronavirus.
Also President Trump announced today that the coronavirus task force will keep working "indefinitely". This statement came only a day after he and other officials suggested that the task force would be disolved in the coming weeks.

S&P500 (US500) opened higher today and is heading towards local resistance level at 2904.6 pts. If a break above occur then next resistance at 2992.8 pts may come into play. Local support can be found at 2727.7 pts. Source: xStation5

PayPal (PYPL.US) will release quarterly earnings report today after market close. The analysts expects Paypal to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on higher revenues . The consensus EPS Estimate is $0.75 which represents a year-over-year change of -2.6% and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $4.72B, up 14.4% from the year-ago quarter. In the previous quarter company showed high increases in sales and customer engagement, with 18% currency-neutral revenue growth and a 10% increase in transactions per active customer accounts.  Transactions rose by double-digits and Non-GAAP earnings per share increased 24% to $0.86. However increases were partly due to the acquisitions of Venmo and Braintree (which offer similar services to PayPal). The company is building out different revenue streams that hedge the company's risks during different and difficult times. In November 2019 the company acquired Honey application that scours the internet for coupon codes and applies them at checkout. This adds value for PayPal customers, encouraging them to complete checkouts and giving them an incentive to complete the transactions using PayPal instead of another pathway, like a credit card. By purchasing GoPay, a Chinese online payment company , PayPal is also trying to expand its position on the Chinese market.  The impact of a coronavirus on PayPal should not be as severe as it is in the case of other companies, as most customers do their shopping online. PayPal PE Ratio for today is 60.59 which make the company fairly pricy. It also does not pay a dividend.

PayPal (PYPL.US)  share prices recorded a significant decline in March, and then the company was recovering losses throughout April. Currently, the company's shares are at their records highs. If today's results for the first quarter turn out to be poor and the $ 124.51 level breaks, it could pave the way for a bigger decline towards support at $116.11 per share. Source: xStation5

One of the world's largest car manufacturers - General Motors (GM.US) published its quarter results. The market consensus of Reuters assumed revenue of $ 31.12 billion (10.8% lower than last year) and an EPS ratio of USD 0.33 per share (compared to USD 1.41 a year earlier).
Published results proved to be better than analysts' predictions. Net sales revenues were $32.71 billion, and the EPS ratio is USD 0.62. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached $247 million in Q1, a decrease of over 88% compared to the same period in 2019.
Although the results are obviously much worse than last year, the General Motors shares price rose in pre-market trading by over 6%. It is important that the results are positive compared to market expectations and other competitors like Ford.  General Motors is planning to resume production in US factories on May 18.

General Motors (GM.US) stock price plunged over 50 % in the second half of February. Although the stock recorded a rebound dictated by general market sentiment, the stock price has already tested strong resistance around $24 per share twice. Source: xStation5

Walt Disney (DIS.US) - reported quarterly earnings of 60 cents per share, below markets expectations of 89 cents a share. Revenue came in above analyst's forecasts. The company said the Covid-19 pandemic had a $ 1.4 billion impact on its profits, and that the fallout would impact all aspects of its entertainment business for the foreseeable future. Disney also announced it will not pay out dividends in the first-half of the year.

Activision Blizzard (ATVI.US) - reported earnings of 76 cents per share for Q1 2020, well above analysts expectations of 38 cents a share. The video game maker’s revenue also surprised on the upside. The company also provided positive outlook for this year, as it benefits from the virus-related sheltering at home.

CVS Health (CVS.US) – reported earnings of $1.91 per share for its latest quarter, well above the consensus estimate of $1.63 a share. Revenue also beat market expectations. The company upheld its prior 2020 earnings per share guidance, however cannot provide more detailed guidance due to uncertainty related to cornovirus pandemic. Company benefited from consumer stockpiling of medications amid the virus outbreak.

New York Times (NYT.US) – earned 7 cents a share above of estimates, with quarterly earnings of 17 cents per share. The newspaper publisher revenue also came in better than expected, however the company assumes that ad revenue will fall 50% to 55% during the second quarter.

Uber (UBER.US) - announced that it will lay off 3,700 employees. The cuts to its customer support and recruiting teams represent about 14% of its 26,900 employees, based on Uber’s most recent headcount as global gross bookings plunged 80%, according to a report from The Information last month. Company will post its quarterly results on Thursday.