Tale of the Tape
Good evening, folks. It was a quiet day in the markets, but hey— we might get ears on Mars!! 🚀
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high. Every other major index closed lower.
Energy was the strongest sector for the second straight day. Consumer discretionary and financials both gained more than 0.50%. Tech lagged— $XLK lost 0.88%.
The cryptos cranked higher. Ethereum is roughly 150 away from 2K, while Bitcoin bopped above 52,500.
Emerging markets squeaked out an all-time high. $EEM managed to gain $0.02 and closed green for its 12th consecutive day. iShares Turkey ETF $TUR closed at its highest price since July 2018. 🇹🇷
The social stocks snapped the streak. 💔 Twitter tumbled 2.93% after a new all-time high yesterday.
$CCIV carried on another 6%. The SPAC is up 460% since January 11, 2021.
Tractor Supply surged 5.13% to close at a new all-time high. $TSCO is up 21% in 2021. 👀 🚜
Tesla kissed its 50-day moving average 💋 — the stock hasn’t closed below the average since November 16, 2020. Here’s its daily chart with the 50-day in black:
Can the 50-day act as support? Time will tell.. ⏳
Here are the closing prints:
| S&P 500 | 3,931 | -0.03% |
| Nasdaq | 13,965 | -0.58% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,256 | -0.74% |
| Dow Jones | 31,613 | +0.29% |
Tornadoes and Ice Storms and Chip Shortages, Oh My
As if there wasn’t already enough semiconductor drama…
Due to the absolutely insane weather in Texas, Austin Energy has asked large industrial energy users to halt operations— NXP Semiconductors and Infineon will both temporarily shut down. 😬
Even if there wasn’t a massive global chip shortage going on, this shutdown would still have an impact on semiconductor markets. After all, Samsung’s 30-minute outage in 2018 knocked out 3% of the world’s NAND supply.
In the meantime, though, millions are still without power or heat, and apparently there are giant tornadoes in the Southeast now. Stay safe out there, ya’ll. 🙏 😷
Semiconductors struggled today. The Vaneck Vectors Semiconductor ETF $SMH stumbled 2%, easing back from the all-time highs set on Tuesday.
Here’s how a few notable semis performed today:
$NVDA ▼ 2.8%
$AMD ▼ 1.7%
$TSM ▼ 2.7%
$NXPI ▼ 3%
Wells Could Rise Again??
Will the Feds revoke the cap on Wells Fargo’s assets? We’ll see, but investors certainly seem to think so…
$WFC flew 5.17% following news of the Federal Reserve’s nod to Wells Fargo and its plan to overcome its 2018 sanction. The regulatory action currently caps the bank’s assets.
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf has a plan to showcase his bank’s effective board leadership and risk management— if Scharf’s plan (which is thousands of pages long 😴) is officially approved, he will restore the bank’s natural asset growth and shake the sanction that cost $WFC billions.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson commented:
The Federal Reserve will determine when the work to fulfill the requirements of the consent order is done to their satisfaction. We are focused on doing the work. We maintain strong levels of liquidity and capital, and we are committed to using our financial strength to help support the U.S. economy and our clients while operating in compliance with the asset cap.
Will Scharf shake the sanction? Or will the scandal-ridden Wells Fargo keep its murky reputation… time will tell. 🤷♀️
$WFC closed at its highest price since March 6, 2020. Here’s a daily chart:
MicroStrategy with a Macro- Move
Today, Microstrategy made yet another foray into cryptocurrency after announcing its increased convertible note offering of $900M… to buy more bitcoin. 😅
The notes have a 0% coupon rate and will net roughly $879.3M. At today’s price, Microstrategy could purchase 16,769 bitcoins, adding to its current stash of about 72,000.
Bold moves by big companies in the crypto space appear to be contagious— even BlackRock, with $9,000,000,000,000 in assets, is looking to “dabble.”
Peer pressure is quite the drug. If your friends all bought bitcoin, would you?
Testing 1, 2, 3… Is This Thing On?
Do you ever wonder what Mars sounds like? Yeah, we don’t either, but researchers have apparently been curious since 1999.
After previously failing in two separate missions, the new aptly-named Perseverance rover will attempt to land on the red planet tomorrow to collect the first ever ‘Martian audio.’
Here’s Perseverance:
We just hope this won’t be like the time we found out what a mummy sounds like. 🙄
Earnings Round-Up
Shopify’s e-commerce business continues to boom through the coronavirus pandemic. $SHOP beat on earnings, revenue, and gross merchandise volume estimates. 🎉
Here are the stats:
EPS: $1.58 vs $1.28 est.
Revenue: $977.7M, +94% YoY
$SHOP fell 3.3%. It’s just 3.5% away from new highs.
Baidu closed 2020 on a solid note with strength in advertising and AI.
Here are the numbers:
EPS: $3.08 vs $2.62 est.
Revenue: $4.7B, +5% YoY
Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, said:
As we enter 2021, Baidu is well positioned as a leading AI company with strong Internet foundation to seize the huge market opportunities in cloud services, autonomous driving, smart transportation, and other AI opportunities. We also hope to capitalize on our huge Internet reach with more non-marketing services.
$BIDU gained 2.25% after hours.
Boston Beer Co. Alcohol is back in popular demand as revenue grew 53% in Q4. 🍺 The company also achieved double-digit volume growth for the eleventh consecutive quarter.
Here are the details:
EPS: $2.64 vs $2.62 est.
Revenue: $460.9M, +53% YoY
Jim Koch, CEO of $SAM, said:
We remain positive about the future growth of our diversified brand portfolio and we believe that our depletions growth is attributable to our key innovations, the quality of our products and our strong brands. We see significant distribution and volume growth opportunities in 2021 for our Truly, Twisted Tea and Dogfish Head brands, which remain our top priorities for 2021.
$SAM slumped 5% after hours.
Twilio easily topped expectations thanks to an increased demand for its communications software during the pandemic. Revenue grew 65% YoY.
Here are the numbers:
EPS: $0.04 vs ($0.08) est.
Revenue: $548.1M, +65% YoY
$TWLO spiked 11% after hours to new all-time highs.
Earnings This Week
Be sure to know when your stocks report earnings. Here’s the earnings calendar.
Links That Don’t Suck
🌌 Stocktwits After Hours: GameStop Poster Boy Slapped with a Lawsuit
📚 Why Kehinde Wiley Listens to Audiobooks When He Paints
❄️ Sweden Shows Texas How to Keep Turbines Going in Icy Weather
🛰️ How to Watch NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Landing Live
🤫 Amazon Documents Reveal Company’s Secret Strategy to Dodge India’s Regulators
🏀 Old LeBron James Tweet Going Viral on Michael Jordan’s Birthday
🏊♀️ Aristides Dallas Architects Inserts ‘Lap Pool House’ into the Rugged Landscape of Tinos Island
🏎️ McLaren’s $258,000 Hybrid Boasts Blazing Speed Without the Guilt
