Bullish sentiment returned to the markets yesterday after last week's drop. News that vaccines will probably work against the Omicron variant was enough to reassure investors.
Oil is slightly lower, consolidating overnight gains. Gold is inching higher. Industrial metals are mixed. Iron ore prices surge. Bitcoin is down.
According to Bloomberg, companies repurchased $3.4bn worth of shares during last week's selloff, which is double the previous week. Meanwhile, the New York Times said each consecutive bout of COVID-related market volatility is shorter than before.
Nevertheless, cracks in confidence are evident as the Fed's stance that inflation may be here to stay is a headwind for growth.
Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions continue to heat up. The United States is pushing for Germany to block the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. And the Biden administration is considering evacuating US citizens from Ukraine if Russia invades. Both the US and the EU vow increased sanctions against Russia if it invades.
| NASDAQ | S&P 500 | BITCOIN |
|---|---|---|
| 15,686.92 (+3.03%) | 4,686.75 (+2.07%) | 49,673.51 (-3.16%) |
Here are some trending stocks:
The Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) share price rose nearly 3% yesterday despite the firm seeing outages across its services. The outages caused downtime across many of its major AWS customers, including Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Disney+ (NYSE: DIS), IMDb, iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT), Chime banking app and Tinder.
The main Amazon shopping site, Prime Video and Ring security cameras were also affected. The outage means Amazon delivery drivers' are unable to get routes or packages, and company-driver communications are shut down.
EPAM Systems (NYSE: EPAM) will replace Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) in the S&P 500. This will be effective prior to the opening of trading on 14 December. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (NYSE: CP) is acquiring Kansas City Southern.
Comcast (NYSE: CCZ) fell yesterday after the CEO disclosed disappointing broadband subscriber numbers.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) declares $0.62 dividend
HelloFresh (OTCPK: HLFFF) holds its Capital Market Day today. Deutsche Bank this could present a potential share price catalyst.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN) has had NICE recommend its Dupixent (dupilumab) drug as an add-on maintenance therapy to treat severe asthma.
According to one lab study, Pfizer's (NYSE: PFE) COVID-19 vaccine provides less immunity against the Omicron variant. However, it does give partial protection. Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) announced Sotrovimab is effective against Omicron in lab tests.
Merck (NYSE: MRK) prices $8bn debt offering.
Merck is also partnering with Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) to form a joint venture to improve efficiency in the global chip shortage.
Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) share price slips as it initiates a secondary share offering of nearly 87m common units. Meanwhile, it's been ordered to dredge a contaminated lake and pay more than $4m for spilling thousands of gallons of drilling fluids at a popular state park outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corp III (NASDAQ: DCRC) is set to close its combination with Solid Power to trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker SLDP.
Earnings are due after hours from Torrid Holdings (NYSE: CURV), Rent The Runway (NASDAQ: RENT) and GameStop (NYSE: GME).
The House Financial Services Committee is holding a session titled: "Digital Assets and the Future of Finance." Witnesses include CEOs from Circle, FTX, Bitfury, Paxos, Stellar and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN).
Private equity-backed Sval Energi is buying the majority of the Spirit Energy business in Norway for $1bn.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) and McKesson (NYSE: MCK) hold investor days today.
Context Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CNTX) is due to present its Onapristone Phase 1 results at a conference today. Shares were up 3% in after-hours trading.
Supply-chain disruption is still affecting Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which will miss its goal of manufacturing 95m iPhone 13s in 2021. Instead, it expects to make between 83m and 95m.
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) CEO Kevin Johnson told Jim Cramer the company remains committed to improving and putting its employees first.
The CEO of SentinelOne (NYSE: S) also met with Cramer and stated the company's strong growth shows an increasing demand for cybersecurity products.
Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) is set to divest its security business to Securitas (STO: SECU-B) for $3.2bn.
HealthEquity (NYSE: HQY) extends losses as its share price falls on an earnings miss.
Equity news from Asia:
Japanese manufacturers' sentiment index rises to a 4-month high of 22 in December, up from 13 in November. There appears to be evidence of easing supply constraints combined with support from easing coronavirus restrictions.
Property developer Kaisa Group (HKG: 1638) had its shares halted in Hong Kong as concerns grew over its ability to repay a $400M note due 7-Dec.
Evergrande (HKG: 3333) heads towards restructuring, and Aoyuan (HKG: 3883) is among several Chinese developers warning they may also not be able to make interest repayments.
In Crypto:
Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) rose on Tuesday but are dipping again at the time of writing.
BitTorrent (BTT) tokens soar 65% as the mainnet launch date is confirmed for 12 December, there will be a redenomination of all circulating tokens.
The Australian government Treasurer has said it will launch the biggest payments reform in 25 years. This is expected to include the regulation of crypto and BNPL.