No wonder the US stockmarket hit new highs overnight Wednesday and will continue upwards tonight.
Amazon’s market value topped the half a trillion US dollar mark for the first time overnight Wednesday ahead of its quarterly earnings report tonight, with Facebook poised to follow after another record quarter for users, revenue and earnings.
Amazon’s value closed at $US503 billion this morning, Facebook’s was $US480 billion.
Amazon joined Apple (US800 billion), Alphabet ($US661 billion) and Microsoft (US570 billion) in the US half a trillion club.
Amazon’s market value has surged by $US146.3 billion since the end of 2016, Facebook’s value is up a similar amount – $US143 billion.
In comparison, Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer by revenues, has seen its market capitalisation rise by just $US23 billion in 2017 to $US235.4 billion.
Facebook shares rose another 1.5% (US6 billion) in after hours trading after it beat expectations with soaring earnings and revenue in the three months to June 30.
Facebook reported net income of US$3.89 billion, up more than 70% from $US2.28 billion, in the year-earlier period. Total revenue was $US9.3 billion, up 47% from $US6.4 billion in the june quarter of 2016.
Facebook reported 1.32 billion daily active users, a 17% increase year-over-year and it reported 2.01 billion monthly active users, also a 17% increase year-over-year, and above the FactSet consensus of 1.93 billion.
