AXS Investments CEO and President Greg Bassuk explains why he likes the shares of Cleveland-Cliffs and Hannon Armstrong by going to the Biden administration.
US stock markets were modestly up on Wednesday morning, as investors awaited the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 37 points, or 0.12%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures were up 0.22% and 0.77%, respectively.
The initial advance has the main averages on the way to gains on the first day of Biden’s presidency, after a strong four years under President Trump.
The S&P 500 rose 67% over Trump’s mandate. The annualized 13.73% gain was the third best during a presidency, behind the index’s performance during only the Clinton (+ 15.18%) and Obama (+ 13.84%) presidencies. The Nasdaq, in turn, soared 138%, showing the best percentage gain under any president.
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Inauguration Day ceremonies are scheduled to begin at about 10:45 am Eastern Time, with Biden expected to take the oath of office an hour later.
In stocks, Netflix Inc. added 8.5 million paid subscribers in the last three months of the year, bringing its total subscriber count to over 200 million for the first time. The streaming giant reported revenue that exceeded Wall Street estimates, while profits fell short.
Morgan Stanley reported earnings and revenues that exceeded analysts’ forecasts, reinforced by strength in investment banking, trading and asset management.
UnitedHealth Group said quarterly profit fell 38% from the previous year, as costs related to COVID-19 tests and treatments affected its financial results.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was found to be effective against the rapidly spreading variant of the disease discovered in the UK during the final months of last year.
Elsewhere, AMC Entertainment received $ 100 million in guaranteed debt through an agreement with Mudrick Capital, giving the movie chain more money to find out if the pandemic. Mudrick already had $ 100 million in debt from AMC.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude rose 71 cents to $ 53.69 a barrel and gold added $ 7.20 to $ 1,847.40 an ounce.
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European markets were mixed with 225 in Britain falling 0.05%, while France’s CAC 40 gained 0.32% and Germany’s DAX 30 rose 0.51%.
In Asia, markets ended up mixed with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.38%, while China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.47% and 1.08%, respectively.