Finances

The Coca-Cola Company (KO) announced its second-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, July 22. Despite the company reporting strong revenue and earnings for the quarter, its shares fell by nearly 1% following the release.

Coca-Cola posted net revenue of $12.54 billion and, after excluding items, reported adjusted first quarter revenue of $12.62 billion. This was up from $12.31 billion in adjusted revenue reported at the same time last year and above Wall Street’s adjusted revenue expectation of $12.54 billion.

“Amid a shifting external landscape in the second quarter, the ability of our system to stay both focused and flexible enabled us to stay on course in the first half of the year,” said Coca-Cola CEO, James Quincey. “We continue to execute with a clear intent on our priorities and are confident in our trajectory to deliver on our updated 2025 guidance and longer-term objectives.”

Coca-Cola reported net income of $3.81 billion or $0.88 per adjusted share for the quarter. This was up from $2.41 billion or $0.56 per adjusted share in the same quarter last year.

The iconic Atlanta-based beverage company reported a decrease of 1% in its consolidated unit case volume for the second quarter attributable to declines in Mexico, India and Thailand that offset growth in Central Asia, Argentina and China. The performance of the Sparkling Soft Drinks segment, which includes the company’s Trademark Coca-Cola segment, also fell by 1% for the quarter. The company’s Water, Sports, Coffee and Tea segment stayed flat. The Coca-Cola Zero Sugar segment grew by 14% for the quarter. For fiscal 2025, the company reaffirmed its earlier guidance and expects to deliver organic revenue growth of 5% to 6%.

The Coca-Cola Company (KO) shares closed at $69.17, down 1% for the week.

General Motors Posts Quarterly Earnings

General Motors Company (GM) posted its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, July 22. The automaker’s stock fell 8% following the release despite reporting better-than-expected revenue for the quarter. 

General Motors announced revenue of $47.12 billion for the quarter, down 2% from $47.97 billion at this time last year. Revenue beat analysts’ expectations of $46.28 billion.

“Today, we reported another quarter of earnings that highlight the appeal of GM’s vehicles, customer loyalty to our brands, the growing value of technologies like OnStar and Super Cruise, as well as the creativity and resiliency of our global team,” said General Motors CEO, Mary Barra, in a letter to shareholders. “I believe everything we are doing strategically and proactively, along with closer alignment of emissions rules with consumer demand, will further differentiate us from our competitors, increase our resilience, and help us emerge from this transition period even stronger and more profitable than before.”

General Motors reported quarterly net income of $1.90 billion or $1.91 per diluted share. This was down from $2.93 billion or $2.55 per diluted share during the same quarter last year.

The automotive manufacturing company’s North America segment saw its second quarter revenue decrease to $39.49 billion, down slightly from $40.73 billion year-over-year. General Motors’ International segment reported revenue of $3.33 billion, up from $3.30 billion in the prior year. The company sold 1.5 million vehicles worldwide in the quarter, an almost 7% increase year-over-year. Despite reporting a $1.1 billion impact due to tariffs, General Motors maintains its full-year guidance for fiscal 2025, expecting adjusted earnings between $10.0 billion to $12.5 billion

General Motors Company (GM) shares ended the week at $53.40, relatively unchanged for the week.

Alphabet Announces Quarterly Results

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) announced its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday, July 23. Although the tech titan beat both revenue and earnings expectations, the company’s stock dipped 1% following the report’s release.

The company reported revenue of $96.43 billion, up 14% from $84.74 billion during the same quarter last year. Revenue surpassed the expected quarterly revenue of $93.98 billion.

“We had a standout quarter, with robust growth across the company. We are leading at the frontier of AI and shipping at an incredible pace,” said Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai. “We continue to see strong performance in YouTube as well as subscriptions offerings. And Cloud had strong growth in revenues, backlog and profitability. With this strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services, we are increasing our investment in capital expenditures in 2025 to approximately $85 billion and are excited by the opportunity ahead.”

Alphabet posted net income of $28.20 billion or $2.31 per adjusted share for the second quarter. This was up from $23.62 billion or $1.89 per adjusted share during the same time last year.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported Google advertising revenue of $71.34 billion for the quarter, up from $64.62 billion during the same quarter last year. YouTube advertising revenue, which is included as part of the Google advertising revenue, increased to $9.80 billion from $8.66 billion at the same time last year. Google Cloud revenue came in at $13.62 billion, up from $10.35 billion one year ago. Operating income for the quarter was $31.27 billion, up 14% from one year ago.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) shares ended the week at $193.18, up 4% for the week.

The Dow started the week at 44,368 and closed at 44,902 on 7/25. The S&P 500 started the week at 6,305 and closed at 6,389. The NASDAQ started the week at 20,960 and closed at 21,108.

U.S. Treasury yields declined early in the week as investors monitored the latest economic reports. Yields rose at the end of the week as the unemployment data report showed a resilient labor market.

On Monday, the Conference Board reported that its Leading Economic index fell 0.3% in June to 98.8. This marked a decline from May’s reading of 99.1 and came in below economists’ forecast of a 0.2% decline. The decline reflected lingering concerns over tariffs, inflation and broader economic uncertainty, which continue to weigh on consumer sentiment.

“At this point, The Conference Board does not forecast a recession, although economic growth is expected to slow substantially in 2025 compared to 2024,” said senior manager for business cycle indicators at the Conference Board, Justyna Zabinska-La Monica. “Real GDP is projected to grow by 1.6% this year, with the impact of tariffs becoming more apparent in H2 as consumer spending slows due to higher prices.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of July 21 at 4.42% and traded as low as 4.33% on Tuesday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.99% and traded as low as 4.89% on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment were 217,000 for the week ending July 19. This was down 4,000 from the prior week and fell below analysts’ expectations of 227,000. Continuing unemployment claims increased by 4,000 to 1.96 million.

“At the moment, the labor market is holding up with financial markets holding their breath,” said chief economist at FWDBONDS, Christopher Rupkey. "The weekly jobless claims give Fed officials no cover whatsoever if they are seriously thinking of cutting interest rates at next week's meeting."

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of 7/21 at 4.40%, while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.93%.

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, July 24. The survey showed mortgage rates falling slightly from the previous week.

This week, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.74%, down from last week’s average of 6.75%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.78%.

The 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 5.87% this week, down from last week’s average of 5.92%. During the same week last year, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.07%.

“This week, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage essentially remained flat at 6.74%,” said chief economist at Freddie Mac, Sam Khater. “Overall, the backdrop for the housing market is positive as the economy continues to perform well with solid employment and income growth.”

Based on published national averages, the savings rate was 0.38% as of 7/21. The one-year CD averaged 1.63%.

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