Tale of the Tape
Good evening fine people and congratulations – we made it to another Friday night without the Milky Way Galaxy imploding. Pour yourself a glass of your favorite spirits – you’ve earned it.
Stocks closed higher today. The S&P 500 finished up 1.39% but was still down 1.32% for the week, though we pared losses considerably after Tuesday’s rout.
You gotta give credit to the Semiconductors. As we pointed out yesterday, the industry is at a critical spot rallying back to resistance at its former uptrend line. Then, last night Intel reported earnings and declined to provide full year guidance.
The stock got clocked for 5% in the after hours and opened around there this AM. But then, $INTC and the Semis ETF $SMH battled back all damn day closing up .37% and 2% respectively.
Semiconductors were a leader during the bull market and if you want higher prices then you’ll want to see them find their footing here and re-enter that uptrend channel. Big day for those guys.
DraftKings began trading as a public company today, so you can now bet on a company that allows you to make bets. Whatever, see more below…
| S&P 500 | 2,836 | +1.39% |
| Nasdaq | 8,634 | +1.65% |
| Russell 2000 | 1,233 | +1.56% |
| Dow Jones | 23,775 | +1.11% |
Zoom vs Microsoft Steel Cage Death Match
Yesterday, Nasdaq announced that Zoom ($ZM not $ZOOM 😉) would be added to the Nasdaq 100. This comes as the service has grown exponentially while quarantining has become universal.
Zoom recently announced reaching 300 million users and it did so faster than even Instagram, which would be mind-boggling if the whole world hadn’t become mind-boggling as of late.
Easy to use video-conferencing is a killer app in the age of corona.
The stock went public a year ago at around $62/share and traded at that level as recently as December. However, as the quarantine took hold and growth accelerated, $ZM stock skyrocketed, reaching an intraday high of $181/share just earlier this afternoon.
Then, today at around 2PM ET, Facebook announced a new service called Messenger Rooms that looks a heck of a lot like Zoom’s video-conferencing service.
$ZM tanked 10% on the news and closed at $158.80.
$FB has a history of throwing a ton of resources at developing products which mimic successful competitors. It added features to its Instagram App to copy Snapchat, and while it has not killed Snapchat, it has certainly stolen share and slowed $SNAP’s growth.
The 2 questions now become – 1) can $FB effectively leverage its massive user base, and 2) is the Messenger Rooms product awesome?
Also, don’t think for a second that Microsoft (which owns Skype and Teams), Cisco (which owns Webex), or Slack are just going to sit around and watch Zoom capture the remote conferencing trend.
Below is the $ZM chart since its IPO and today’s intraday with $ZM vs. $FB…
Fake Meat > No Meat?
Beyond Meat has been ripping. The stock is up 63% in April. Could the recent rally be attributed to the recent scarcity of meat? Probably not, stil…
We’re hearing rumblings that real meat supplies may be threatened to a degree by the consequences of COVID-19. A small number of very large producers control an outsized portion of the livestock markets. Here’s a good piece from Bloomberg on the matter. Carnivores take note.
Below is the $BYND chart. Nothing fake about recent gains. 💪
DraftKings Out The Gate 🚩
DraftKings started trading under ticker $DKNG today. Shares were up as much as 8%. Not a bad debut in a shaky market.
Ultimately, these guys are dependent upon the world opening up again and sports coming back to the forefront of entertainment. They’ll be psyched if the NFL starts its season on time. Unless of course we start betting on marble races 🤣
Here’s more from CNBC.
Check out this wild reflection of a trader’s experience trading $SHAK’s IPO.
Stocktwits Social Sentiment Update
Here’s the updated Stocktwits Social Sentiment Index. You can see sentiment has been following price and maintained a tight range since early April. A breakout feels imminent. But in which direction? Place your bets…
Peloton Grabs the Yellow Jersey
Coronavirus darling $PTON smashed its record for the largest live workout count today. Led by marathoner Robin Arzon, the class attracted over 23,000 viewers. The stock closed up 6% plus today and is up 11.76% YTD… Not bad.
Links That Don’t Suck
CeeDee Lamb Drafted From Jerry Jones’ $250 million Yacht
Travis Scott’s First Fortnite Concert
Photos Show the World’s Essential Workers Serving on the Front Lines
Crossing Wall Street Market Review
NBA Power Rankings: Looking Five Years Into the Future
Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos
Letting States Default is Very Dangerous Thinking
Classic Skyscrapers Define New York. Take A Virtual Tour.
