The stock market climbed on Thursday, propelled by fresh economic data and quarterly earnings.
In June, retail sales rebounded which showed that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have yet to impact consumer spending. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor reported 221,000 initial jobless claims in the week ending July 12, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week.
Overall, S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 6,297, while NASDAQ was up 0.8% to 20,887.
Tweet of the Day
Wow @dominos knocked it out of the park with its $9.99 any toppings deal. Got hooked up with these three beauties tonight. I bet the company beats the street this qtr. $DPZ pic.twitter.com/4N66WyONBM
— David Sharek (@GrowthStockGuy) July 18, 2025
Chart of the Day
Here is the one-year chart of Waste Management (WM) as of June 23, 2025, when the stock was at $235.
The company delivered solid revenue growth of 17%, but profit growth was -5% year-over-year. Sales got a boost from the recent acquisition of Stericycle. The dip in profits was due to higher interest from the Stericycle acquisition. Interest expense ballooned to $232 million last qtr from $130 million in the year ago period.
It was a good quarter overall as revenue grew across all divisions. The core collection and disposal segment grew nearly 5%, supported by strong pricing and steady volume.
WM is part of our Conservative Growth Portfolio. It is a buy-and-hold Blue Chip stock.
