PepsiCo missed earnings estimates. North American consumers stopped buying as much soda and chips. The company blamed tightening budgets. International sales stayed strong because people in other countries apparently still have money for carbonated sugar water.
The stock moved on this information. Retail traders checked their portfolios and wondered if this meant anything. It did not. A beverage company sold fewer beverages in one region during one quarter. This changes nothing about the long-term trajectory of anything. But someone wrote a headline about it so now we're all supposed to care.
Technical analysts looked at the chart. The chart looked exactly like it did yesterday. Support held at a level. Resistance existed at another level. The 50-day moving average continued its job of being a line that moved. None of this information told you whether PepsiCo would beat or miss next quarter. None of it ever does.
Some guy named Derek saw the news and sold his three shares at a loss. He texted his brother-in-law about how he knew this was coming because of inflation. Derek did not know this was coming. Derek has never correctly predicted a single earnings report in his life. Derek will buy back in at a higher price in six weeks and tell people he's playing the long game.
International demand stayed strong. This means the exact same products sold well in different places with different economic conditions. Weird how consumer behavior varies by region and quarter. Almost like quarterly earnings are just random snapshots of business cyclicality that tell you nothing actionable about future performance.
The chart still looks exactly the same as it did before the news dropped.
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