On the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, Accenture Plc (ACN) was up 6.88% to $264.47. The stock soared to historical highs as the outsourcing giant, with solid guidance, released higher-than-expected earnings and revenues for the fiscal first quarter. The group posted net income of $1.5 billion and $2.32 per share over the three months ended November 2020, compared to an income of $1.36 billion a year earlier. Except goods, the adjusted EPS was $2.17, compared to $2.01 a year ago and the FactSet consensus of $2.02. Quarterly sales rose 4% year-on-year to $11.76 billion compared to $11.3 billion by consensus.
Facebook Inc (FB) fell -0.43 percent to $274.48 while Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) dropped -0.95 percent to $1740.51 on the day. The state of Texas and nine other U.S. states accuse the Google search engine of unfairly agreeing to an unethical deal to fund its online advertisement company with the Menlo Park-based social networking giant Facebook, thus breaching competition law. The states are asking Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to compensate them for the damage. They need structural repair, typically requiring an organization to divest assets. Therefore, Texas claims that Google has breached antitrust laws and accuses the firm of exploiting its online advertising monopoly. It says Facebook operates with Google.
JP Morgan Chase & Co (JPM) was also down -0.83% to $119.67 while and Morgan Stanley (MS) rose 0.69% to $64.67. Before Morgan Stanley emerged victorious, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley reportedly disagreed over Eaton Vance. After the offer of $56.5 per MS stock, JP Morgan tried unsuccessfully to outbid stocks and cash, according to the Financial Times, which was declined by Eaton Vance CEO Thomas Faust.
Airline sector showed mixed dynamics on Thursday as American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) dropped 0.36 percent to $16.80, Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL) was stable adding 0.07 percent to $41.11, and United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL) fell -0.26 percent to $45.88 while Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) jumped 1.44 percent to $46.39. U.S. parliamentary assistants told Reuters that these airlines could benefit from a possible new $17 billion government assistance package to support employment in the industry for four months.
Roku Inc (ROKU) surged by 1.12% to $329.48 while AT&T Inc (T) plummeted -2.21% to $29.62 at close of the trading on Thursday. In order to incorporate the HBO Max streaming service into the network, Roku entered into an agreement with AT&T’s subsidiary WarnerMedia.
