Tale of the Tape
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to a new trading week. 📈 🔥
The four major indices bounced back like last week was nbd. The Russell rallied most, the ETF $RUT gained 2.16%.
Bitcoin blasted 9% lower to $32,400 today. Ethereum puked 13.5% to trade below $2K for the first time since mid-May. 🤮 More on this below.
Energy was the strongest sector of the day, followed by financials. These were the hardest-hit sectors last week.
$WISH ripped 18.4% today and rose another 5% after hours. Do we smell another… MemeStock?? 🚀
Crude cruised 3% to levels not seen since October 2018. 😎 🛢️
Here are the closing prints:
| S&P 500 | 4,224 | 1.40% |
| Nasdaq | 14,141 | 0.79% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,286 | 2.16% |
| Dow Jones | 33,876 | 1.76% |
Buying the Dip Pays Off
Last year’s battered travel and leisure stocks are finally bringing their investors major gains. 💪
That’s probably no surprise to most of you. 💁♀️ Retail investors bought the drip when airlines, cruise lines, casinos, and rental car companies started slipping.
Bloomberg has a lot to say on gains made by “social distance losers.” Since April 1, 2020, companies like Carnival, CineMark, MGM Resorts, Royal Caribbean, Wyndham Hotels, and Darden Restaurants have more than doubled.
The biggest gainer was SeaWorld, which has risen over 427%. 🐬 🐳 🚀 Check it out:
Growth like this has priced in earnings and post-COVID industry performance. But now that the economy is reopening, “social distance losers” will have to retain their monolithic gains.
We’ll keep an eye out to see if they actually do. 🤔
Crypto’s “Death Cross” 🐻 💀
Crypto drama is far from over. Today, the crypto market crashed nearly 7%; all major currencies turned red. 💔 And yes, it’s because of China. Again.
After the crypto mining crackdown, China’s urging big banks to halt crypto transactions. That means a full-stop to services like trading, clearing, and settlement for virtual currency transactions. 🚫
The news pushed the market to a two-week low. 📉 Bitcoin fell to ~$31K, and altcoins like Ether also tumbled 13%. Elon’s Dogecoin lost almost 9%.
Coinbase Cofounder Fred Ehrsam’s comment on crypto price warnings raised even more concern as traders worry about a looming “death cross,” or shift to bearish price trends. In the event of a death cross, Bitcoin could enter bear market territory— similar to 2018.
Yeah, we’re on the edge of our seats. 😭 😬
Airlines Struggle To Take Flight
Two of America’s biggest airlines struggle to keep up with growing demand for post-COVID travel.
Last week, Southwest experienced three days of technical difficulties, prompting them to cancel hundreds of flights. Yikes.
This week, American Airlines followed suit, but not for technical difficulties. The company will cancel 950 flights between now and mid-July due to “labor shortages.”
Staffing problems aren’t unique to airlines, either— most service industries are seeing this problem.
Hopefully, major airlines will get it together soon. 🙏 Otherwise, they (might) keep shaving points off their stock. $LUV is down 7.22% this month. $AAL is down 2.35%.
Pay The Athletes!! ⚖️
The Supreme Court finally called out the NCAA for being “anti competitive…”
Today, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled out the NCAA’s restrictions on paying college athletes. Now, the NCAA must allow athletes to choose colleges based on compensation and benefits— otherwise, the NCAA breaches antitrust law. 🤭
Okay, no, that doesn’t mean college athletes can sign huge contracts yet. But it does mean schools can offer scholarships for grad school, supplies, and even limited cash rewards (max $6K) to student athletes. Eventually, student athletes could earn salaries.
Just because restrictions “happen to fall at the intersection of higher education, sports, and money,” doesn’t mean the NCAA is exempt from antitrust law, according to Justice Gorsuch. Justice Kavanaugh shared:
Traditions alone cannot justify the NCAA’s decision to build a massive money-raising enterprise on the backs of student athletes who are not fairly compensated.
Looks like we have some sports fans in the judicial branch. ⚖️ 🏈 Read the court’s full decision here.
Links That Don’t Suck
🎥 Netflix Strikes Deal with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners
🤖 Where Will You Go When a Robot Takes Your Job?
📦 The Tokyo Olympics Aim To Be Greenest Ever: A Look Inside Olympic Village
🍽️ SoHo House Owner Planning IPO for Club Group
💼 Nvidia, Arm CEOs Talk Troubled Merger
🥩 The Multi-Billion Dollar Meatpacking Industry Might Get A Makeover
🛰️ Astronauts Complete a Spacewalk to Install More Solar on ISS
