5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens on Wednesday, July 24

Here are five key things investors should know to start their trading day:

There were some missteps after the bell on Tuesday. Tesla Inc. reported second-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street expectations, as its vehicle sales fell for a second straight quarter. The electric carmaker reported adjusted earnings of 52 cents per share, compared with the 62 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. The company still beat revenue, posting $25.50 billion compared with the consensus estimate of $24.77 billion. Alphabet took a hit in YouTube ad revenue, with the segment bringing in $8.66 billion, below the $8.93 billion analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. Alphabet topped Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations, posting earnings of $1.89 per share compared with the $1.84 per share expected. The company’s revenue came in at $84.74 billion, above the consensus estimate of $84.19 billion.

We appear to be heading into a buyer’s market. Compared to May, sales of previously owned homes fell 5.4% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.89 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were also down 5.4% from a year earlier. That’s the slowest pace of sales since December. On the inventory side, June saw a 23.4% increase from the same time last year, with 1.32 million units available — the highest supply since May 2020. The average time a home was on the market was 22 days, up four days from a year ago. Meanwhile, prices were still higher, with the median price of an existing home sold in June at $426,900. That’s up 4.1% from the same time last year and an all-time high for the second straight month.

The director of the U.S. Secret Service has officially resigned. On Tuesday, Kimberly Shettle resigned following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier in July that left one attendee dead and two others seriously injured. This comes a day after Shettle testified before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing on the Secret Service’s conduct that preceded the Pennsylvania rally. The director refused to answer multiple questions about the Secret Service’s conduct, angering lawmakers on the House committee. In a letter to agency employees, Shettle wrote, “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to resign as your director.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating widespread disruptions to Delta flights and a customer service failure following an IT outage on Friday. The airline saw thousands of flights canceled and the Transportation Department said Delta failed to meet its obligations to its passengers. The agency said the investigation will evolve as it processes a “significant volume” of customer complaints. In response, Delta said in an emailed statement that it is cooperating fully. “Across our operations, Delta teams are working tirelessly to care for customers affected by delays and cancellations and to make things right as we work to restore the reliable, on-time service they expect from Delta,” the airline said.

— Samantha Sobin, Alex Haring, Ece Yildirim, Michael Weiland, Laura Kolodny, Jennifer Elias, Diana Olek, Dan Mangan, and Rebecca Picciotto of CNBC. Justine Fisher and Leslie Joseph contributed to this report.

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