Market Highlights: Here is why these five stocks trended on Wednesday

11 March 2022 By

Rising oil prices could worsen inflation, says Andy Lipow
Amazon announces stock split and the shares repurchase program
Crowdstrike and Deutsche Post AG announce quarterly results

Increasing oil prices could result in a recession

WTI crude is down almost 10% from recent highs following International Energy Agency’s declaration that it would supplement oil markets with additional to meet the Russia-driven oil prices surge. Interestingly US crude is still 60% up YTD.

Sector expert Andy Lipow predicts that prices could increase another $20 to $30 per barrel. Lipow indicates that should the oil prices levels remain elevated, they could push the world into recession.

Amazon announces 20-for-one stock split

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares were up 10% after hours in the previous session after making two big announcements. First, the tech giant announced a 20-for-one stock split meant to lower share price and boost liquidity.

Additionally, the company revealed that its board had approved a $10billion stock repurchase program. The announcement comes barely a month after the company reported the slowest growth rate in Q4 for two decades.

Crowdstrike tops Q4 2021 earnings results

Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWD) shares were up 15% in extended trading after announcing the fiscal Q4 2021 earnings beat. The company also gave upbeat guidance. The company lost $42 million or $0.18 per share on revenue of $431 million in the fourth quarter. Analysts had projected a loss per share of $0.2 and revenue of $411 million.

For the current quarter, the cybersecurity company expects earnings of $0.22 to $0.24 per share and revenue of between $458.9 million and $465.4 million.

Shell apologize for the purchase of Russian crude

Shell has apologized after it bought discounted Russian oil batch despite Western sanctions on Russia for its invasion of a sovereign state. The company had acquired 100,000 metric tonnes of crude at a discount from Russia. Following criticism from the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, the company said that proceeds from the sale of the oil would go into charity.

The oil major has since abandoned its joint venture collaboration with Gazprom and associated organizations.

Deutsche Post announces $2 billion share repurchase program

Deutsche Post AG stock was up 10% after the courier firm announced annu8alized growth in Q4 net profit and disclosed a new stock repurchase program. Net profit was $1.61 billion, increasing 22% to €23.38 billion. The company proposed a €1.8 per share dividend and approved a €2 billion share repurchase program.