What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the morning session after President Trump clarified that he had no intention of removing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a statement that helped calm markets. Earlier remarks had sparked fears of political interference in decision making at the central bank. With Trump walking back his earlier comments, investors likely felt more assured that monetary policy decisions would continue to be guided by data, not drama. That kept the Fed's word credible, and more importantly, gave investors a steadier compass to figure out where rates and the markets were headed next.
Adding to the positive sentiment, the president made constructive comments on US-China trade talks, noting that the tariffs imposed on China were "very high, and it won't be that high. ... No, it won't be anywhere near that high. It'll come down substantially. But it won't be zero."
Also, a key force at the center of the stock market's massive two-day rally was the frantic behavior of short sellers covering their losses. Hedge fund short sellers recently added more bearish wagers in both single stocks and securities tied to macro developments after the whipsaw early April triggered by President Donald Trump's tariff rollout and abrupt 90-day pause, according to Goldman Sachs' prime brokerage data. The increased short position in the market created an environment prone to dramatic upswings due to this artificial buying force.
A short seller borrows an asset and quickly sells it; when the security decreases in price, they buy it back more cheaply to profit from the difference.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, following stocks were impacted:
- Design Software company Procore (NYSE: PCOR) jumped 10.4%. Is now the time to buy Procore? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Media company Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) jumped 9.9%. Is now the time to buy Warner Bros. Discovery? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Real Estate Services company Compass (NYSE: COMP) jumped 6.8%. Is now the time to buy Compass? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Agricultural Machinery company Titan International (NYSE: TWI) jumped 7.1%. Is now the time to buy Titan International? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Automobile Manufacturing company Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) jumped 7.4%. Is now the time to buy Rivian? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Procore (PCOR)
Procore’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 14 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Procore and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock dropped 26.4% on the news that the company reported weak second-quarter 2024 results. Its revenue guidance for the next quarter missed, and its customer growth decelerated.
We noted the company slightly lifted its full-year revenue outlook, but the market seemd to be more focused on the short term.
Overall, this was a mediocre quarter for Procore Technologies. Following the results, Wall Street analysts downgraded the stock's rating. DA Davidson downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral, adding that " the company's Q2 print signaled significant company-wide operating model changes to come."
Procore is down 18.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $61.57 per share, it is trading 30.3% below its 52-week high of $88.33 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Procore’s shares at the IPO in May 2021 would now be looking at an investment worth $699.65.
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