Markets largely performed well on Thursday as investors' Omicron fears cooled once again, though premarket data indicates stocks could fall after the opening bell on Friday.
Investors appear to have been reassured by reports that vaccines should provide protection against more severe cases of the Omicron variant. However, sentiment may have been dimmed by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) asserting that the variant has "substantial" abilities to evade COVID immunity.
Another reason for markets to be muted on Friday is the November jobs report, which analysts expect to show solid growth of 581,000 new jobs. This comes after yesterday saw the release of jobless claims data, which was lower than Wall Street had anticipated.
Solid job growth could potentially validate arguments for the Fed to accelerate its bond taper. Tapering could eventually push interest rates higher causing speculative stock market bubbles to pop.
| NASDAQ | S&P500 | Bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| 15,381.32 (+0.83%) | 4,577.10 (+1.42%) | 57,112.28 (+1.07%) |
These are some of Friday’s trending stocks:
Docusign (NASDAQ: DOCU) shares were down by more than 30% in premarket trading after the digital signature specialist disappointed with its fourth-quarter guidance. Its revenue guidance for the period was over $10m lower than analysts had expected.
Asian ride-hailing and delivery app Grab Holdings (NASDAQ: GRAB) also dropped sharply. The company’s shares fell by over 20% on Thursday after the company completed its merger with Altimeter Growth Corp, a special purpose acquisition company.
DiDi Global (NYSE: DIDI) has announced it will delist from the New York Stock Exchange and instead pursue a listing in Hong Kong.
Chipmaker Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) was on the rise after it beat analysts’ expectations in its third-quarter earnings, with revenue rising by 61% to $1.21bn. The company’s strong performance was largely driven by a strong performance from its data centre segment.
Novavax (NASDAQ; NVAX) stock fell back on Thursday amid concerns that its vaccine is ineffective against the Omicron COVID variant, though the company’s shares rallied somewhat in premarket trading after it claimed it might start producing an Omicron jab as soon as January.
Chinese EV specialist Nio (NYSE: NIO) has begun its European expansion, opening its first showroom in Norway.
Asana (NYSE: ASAN) fell by over 10% in premarket trading despite its newly released third-quarter results topping expectations. The work management app saw revenue jump by 70% to just over $100m as its average customer spend leapt.
Here are some of the top stories about cryptocurrencies:
Cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) have performed well over the last day, boosted by the news that Meta (NASDAQ: FB) has decided to end the ban on crypto advertising on Facebook.
Luna (LUNA) has become the world’s 12th largest cryptocurrency, passing memecoin favorite Shiba Inu (SHIB).
The contents stolen from crypto wallets in a raid on Wednesday was worth $120m, according to blockchain security firm Peckshield. The wallets on the BadgerDAO platform were drained overnight. Both BadgerDAO and North American law enforcement are believed to be investigating the theft.