Traders also reacted to data that showed Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine was only 66% effective
4 pm: Short sellers maintain their positions
The Dow Jones closed Friday down 623 points, 2%, to 29,981. The Nasdaq fell 266 points, 2%, to 13,071, and the S&P 500 fell 73 points, 1.9%, to 3,714.
GameStop Corp () rose, gaining almost 70% to $ 328.24 after the brokerage app Robinhood allowed investors to buy shares in the video game retailer and other highly volatile stocks once again.
Short sellers are still maintaining their bearish positions on GameStop, despite $ 19.75 billion in total mark-to-market losses, according to CNBC and data from S3 Partners.
Jim Cramer asked retail investors to sell the shares on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” program
“Do the home run. Don’t go for the grand slam. Do the home run. You have already won. You won the game. You are finished, ”said Cramer.
12:15 pm: GME short sellers drop nearly $ 20 billion
The Dow fell 422 points, 1.4%, to 30,215 at noon. The Nasdaq Composite fell 136 points, 1%, to 13,200, and the S&P 500 fell 47 points, 1.2%, to 3,740.
Institutional and individual investors are tied to every move by GameStop Corp () and others. Incredibly, GME short sales have fallen by nearly $ 20 billion in the year to date, according to data from S3 Partners.
“Fear is running through the stock markets again, as some trading apps have relaxed restrictions on certain stocks that have experienced colossal volatility recently, like Gamestop,” wrote David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets UK. “There are concerns that we might see frantic negotiations again by retail participants in selected stocks and this could renew fears that some hedge funds will adopt a cut and execute policy, which is why stock markets are down across the board. the line. “
GameStop, the stock every trader is looking at, rose 88% to $ 370.50. The video game retailer saw its shares reach $ 483 on Thursday afternoon, before closing at $ 193.60 the same day.
Inc (), another favorite of reddit-inspired retail merchants, rose 81% to $ 15.64.
() ‘S shares fell nearly 4% to $ 162.62 after the company’ s COVID – 19 vaccine was found to be 66% effective in overall protection against the virus.
10:05: Proactive headlines from North America
Inc.’s ORYX division (TSX: BRAG) (OTCMKTS: BRGGF) enters the Czech and Slovak markets through the SYNOT Group partnership
NexTech AR Solutions Corp () () (CSE: NTAR) virtual experience platform to transform the Canadian Society of Physician Leaders online conference
Blackrock Gold Corp () signs agreement with Red Cloud Securities for a “business bought” placement to raise gross revenues of C $ 7,020,000
Inc () (OTCQB: TBPMF) (FRA: JAM1) receives US FDA authorization at IND for QIXLEEF, setting the stage for clinical trial
Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp () () (FRA: 2UE) receives the first order from the Ontario Cannabis Store for its Purefarma and Pura Vida products
() () (FRA: 20Q) identifies potential porphyry target in Yawi in its Ecuador project
Victory Resources Corporation () (OTCMKTS: VRCFF) (FRA: VR62) prepared for the Loner short well drilling program once the license is received
Great Panther Mining Ltd (TSE: GPR) (NYSEAMERICAN: GPL) (FRA: G3U) describes $ 13 million in exploration plans for 2021
Esports Entertainment Group Inc () claims that VIE and SportNation brands are now approved in 150 global jurisdictions
Corp () will host the first annual Future of Healthcare Summit in Florida for key health leaders
9:44 am: Wall Street starts lower
The main Wall Street indices started off slower on Friday morning, after some bleak macro data from the US.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.84% to 30,344, while the S&P 500 fell 0.67% to 3,762 and the Nasdaq fell 0.46% to 13,276.
The fall in the markets followed data that showed that US consumer spending fell in December by 0.2%; for the second consecutive month, the number fell, as the restrictions related to the pandemic continued to weigh on consumer buying activity.
Despite this, the drop was less than the analysts’ forecast of 0.4% and better than the 0.7% drop suffered in November.
Meanwhile, GameStop Corp’s stock () fell to another blind man, opening at $ 345 compared to its previous close of $ 193.60, as the Reddit-inspired high showed no signs of slowing.
7:52 am: Wall Street will go down
After recovering yesterday, US markets are expected to return a portion of those gains today.
Spread betting quotes indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will lose 153 points to open at around 30,450. The broader base S&P 500 is expected to dip 24 points to 3,763 and the Nasdaq Composite to drop 258 points to 13,079.
No American market report seems complete today without a mention of GameStop Corp (), the stock that has become a football in the stock market.
The shares rose 60% in the pre-market, after falling 44% yesterday, after the trading app Robinhood placed restrictions on stock trading. Today’s movement is obviously based on the company’s zero-flow corporate news.
However, there have been some earnings updates from big names like Colgate Palmolive and Eli Lilly.
Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $ 2.07 exceeded the consensus forecast by seven cents.
Colgate-Palmolive’s shares sagged in the pre-market reading after it said it expects high levels of uncertainty in 2021 and volatile raw material prices.
Eli Lilly rose in screen-based trading, before the bell, after its sales and profit figures exceeded analysts’ forecasts.
The pharmaceutical company delivered 950,000 doses of bamlanivimab, its treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19), to the United States government, and agreed to deliver another 500,000 doses before the end of the quarter.
Speaking of which, the Johns Hopkins database reported 165,000 new US COVID-19 cases yesterday, down 14.5% from last week’s Thursday.
“This is the fourth consecutive drop below 20%, after a week in which cases have dropped 22%. The cases are still falling very quickly, but if the change observed in the last few days continues, the new daily cases will stabilize in mid-February at around 135K per day, down about 45% from the peak, but still well above of the peak seen in the second wave last summer, ”said Inah Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
“We have argued for some time that the current restrictions in the U.S. are not strong enough to keep cases suspended indefinitely. The squeeze in many states and cities between October and December was significant, but no part of the US is under a UK-style block, so it is unrealistic to expect US cases to continue to fall, ”said Shepherdson.
Turning to macroeconomic issues, the US economic daily is very busy today, according to Daiwa Capital Markets.
“The December personal income and expenditure report will shed light on the monthly profile of consumer spending that supports the weaker-than-expected increase in private consumption in the fourth quarter, reported in yesterday’s national accounts (spending will certainly have decreased in the Month of September). The central PCE deflator for December will also be of interest, with the 1.4% AR increase in the fourth quarter slightly firmer than expected (explaining part of the negative surprise for real consumer spending), ”said Daiwa.
“Today it will also bring the Employment Cost Index for the fourth quarter (likely to show modest growth due to slack in the labor market) and pending home sales for December (of interest in light of the modest decline reported in the previous three months) . In addition, we will also receive the Chicago PMI for January and the final result of the University of Michigan consumer survey for January, ”he added.
Three things to note on Friday:
- Big names in Friday’s earnings diary include oil giant Chevron Corp (), while investors will also be looking at the shares of pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly & Co () and excavator maker Caterpillar Inc () after their profits exceeded expectations
- In the macro calendar, US personal income for December will be considered, as well as Chicago PMI data for January and Michigan consumer confidence numbers for the first month of 2021
- Bitcoin is also expected to draw attention after an endorsement by Elon Musk on Twitter pushed the price up 16.4% to about $ 36,824 on Friday morning