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Statements from major companies and CEOs are flooding in after pro-Trump rioters stormed Capitol Hill on Wednesday. One of those included a statement from one of the largest business groups in the United States, the National Association of Manufacturers, calling on Vice President Mike Pence to “seriously consider” invoking the 25th Amendment to “preserve democracy.”
“The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution,” the group said in a statement.
Since President-elect Joe Biden’s win in November, President Trump has refused to concede his loss.
The Dow closed at a fresh all-time high on Wednesday despite a chaotic scene playing out at the US Capitol.
Investors focused on political developments in the nation, starting with the runoff Senate election in Georgia, as well as the breaching of the US Capitol building in Washington.
The prospect of Democrats taking control of the Senate gave the market a boost because it would help President-elect Joe Biden’s economic agenda. The Dow hit the 31,000 mark for the first time in history shortly after midday. But stocks came off their highs in the afternoon as the riots in Washington unfolded.
Go look at CNN.com right now. Go ahead, we’ll wait – we’ll still be here when you get back.
Does that look like the kind of day when the Dow would be up? Yeah, it doesn’t to us, either.
But here’s the deal: Wall Street rose even as millions of Americans were getting infected with Covid-19. Stocks surged as millions of Americans were losing their jobs. Markets have been up while President Trump has refused to concede the election he clearly lost and has tried to overturn the election results.
That’s because Wall Street isn’t looking at what’s happening right now. It’s looking to the future. Stock investors are concerned with whether events will help or hurt the underlying profitability of the companies they’re invested in.
So that’s why, today, despite unbelievable chaos at the Capitol, Wall Street has remained mostly calm. Investors are cheering Democrats’ lead in the Georgia Senate run-off elections, because it means stimulus is more likely, helping to shore up the US economy and keep businesses afloat.
Undemocratic actions of the president and some members of Congress pose a long-term threat. Civil unrest is uneasy, but America has overcome that before and will most likely in this instance, too. Wall Street is betting that this is a lot of bark with no bite.
The Dow and the S&P 500 were still on track to hit a record today, but the indexes trimmed a lot of their gains as a chaotic scene played out at the US Capitol.
Investors view the likely flip of the Senate in favor of the Democrats as a positive for President-elect Joe Biden’s economic agenda and further government stimulus.
But supporters of President Trump breached the US Capitol shortly after 1pm ET as lawmakers attempted to count the Electoral College votes certifying Biden’s win. An armed standoff was taking place outside the House of Representatives.
Washington, DC has been placed on lockdown. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser just announced a citywide curfew from 6 pm Wednesday until 6 am Thursday.
Stocks remain sharply higher, aside from the Nasdaq Composite, which is down 0.3%. The Dow is up 1.4%, or 421 points, and still within 200 points of the historic 31,000 mark it hit earlier in the day. The broader S&P 500 is up 0.8%.
The Dow climbed past 31,000 points for the first time in history in the early afternoon, as the market rallied.
Investors are excited about the prospects of more government aid in the months to come. The runoff election in Georgia, where the votes are still being counted, is leaning towards giving the Senate control to the Democrats, which would make it easier for President-elect Joe Biden to pass legislation.
The Dow traded up 2% or more than 600 points.
The market is on track for new record highs as we await the results of Georgia’s runoff.
“The market basically expects the Democrats will control Congress and there will be more fiscal aid,” said Jason Draho, head of Americas asset allocation at UBS Global Wealth Management.
“If we look at the market reaction today […] we’ve seen equity markets up, interest rates going higher,” Draho said on the CNN Business digital live show Markets Now.
Worries about higher taxes under the Biden Administration aren’t holding the market back, because the risks are offset by hopes for more stimulus, he said.
Moreover, the Democratic party is not a united front when it comes to tax hikes, Draho added. “I think it’s easier to get agreement on spending than on tax increases.”
People are eating out less and staying home more. That was the theme of 2020 and it isn’t stopping as the Covid-19 pandemic continues.
Thats good news for food delivery services like Daily Harvest, which is valued at $230 million, according to Pitchbook.
“Orders have been steadily on the rise,” said Rachel Drori, CEO of Daily Harvest.
Online food shopping has become more habituated during the pandemic, she added, which is great news for Daily Harvest, which is launching its own plant-based milk alternatives today.
“I’m confident that people will continue to shop for food online as part of their routine,” Drori said.
The runoff election in Georgia could deliver a blue wave and hand over Senate control to Democrats. This would be good news for President-elect Joe Biden and his economic agenda.
“It certainly increases the probability that we see more leftist policy pushed through,” Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel, told Alison Kosik on the CNN Business digital live show Markets Now.
But it’s unlikely that Washington will see fringe or far-left policies, she added.
More fiscal aid is likely, which is boosting the market today. And lawmakers have to do more to supplement and artificially support the economy.
“Additional fiscal aid is needed, but it has to be done in a very methodical, very careful manner,” Piegza said. “We can’t continue to rely on indefinite government support. At some point we have to get back to organic growth.”
It’s already lunchtime and stocks are still on track for a record-breaking day.
Even though the major indexes have come back a bit from their morning peaks, the Dow and the S&P 500 are still on pace to end the session at fresh all-time highs.
And all this while economists have updated their forecasts for this Friday’s jobs report for the worse! Experts now predict the unemployment rate will rise to 6.8%, the first increase since April. Clearly, the reaction to the Georgia runoff election is outweighing worries about the job market today. This may be in part because a single party controlling the Senate, the House and the White House could mean the incoming Biden Administration will have more leeway in getting the country out of the current crisis.
Elon Musk is already richer than Mark Zuckerberg – and now Musk’s electric car company is poised to become worth more than Zuck’s social media giant as well.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) rose 4.5% Wednesday morning to hit a new all-time high. Tesla, which was just added to the S&P 500 last month, now has a market value just above $725 billion. Meanwhile Facebook (FB) dipped nearly 1.5%, a move that dropped its market value to a little more than $760 billion.
That $35 billion or so gap isn’t too big in the grand scheme of things: Tesla is worth only about 4% less than Facebook.
But if Tesla passes Facebook, it would become the fifth most valuable company in the S&P 500 – trailing only Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL).
Still, Tesla still has a fairly long way to go before it’s in the same league as this Fab Four. Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are each worth more than $1 trillion, while Apple’s market value is a stunning $2.2 trillion.
The only way seems to be up for stocks today, and we’re squarely in record territory.
If the market closed now, both the Dow and the S&P 500 would be at an all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite still has a few more points to go to make the day historic.
An hour into the trading session, stocks have turned around and are now pointing higher.
Investors have changed their minds, apparently, about Wall Street’s fortunes with what looks to be a Democrat-controlled Senate (CNN has not yet called the second runoff race in Georgia). With Democrats in control, higher taxes and increased regulation of businesses are more likely.
But a so-called blue wave could also mean more stimulus – much-needed to help the flailing US economy.
The Dow is leading the pack, surging 1.3% higher, up 410 points. If it closes at its current level, it would set a new record.
The broader S&P 500 wasn’t far behind, rising 0.9%.
The Nasdaq, which started the day looking like it was going to tank, is now 0.1% higher.
Roku (ROKU) now has 51.2 million active accounts, a “significant milestone” for the streaming company.
In a release Wednesday, Roku said the number of accounts grew by 14 million last year, with users streaming a total of 58.7 billion hours in 2020.
The pandemic and shifting consumer habits are helping spur growth in streaming services. Roku also reached a highly anticipated deal in December to carry HBO Max, which is owned by CNN parent company AT&T.
Roku shares fell in early trading, shadowing a broader sell off in tech stocks.
US stocks opened lower on Wednesday as investors are keeping a close eye on the results of the runoff election in Georgia that will decide the balance in the Senate.
Tech stocks are faring the worst, as the sector could face more crackdowns under a Democrat-controlled Senate.
Economic data was not so peachy Wednesday morning, with the ADP employment report showing a surprise loss of 123,000 private-sector jobs in December. The government’s jobs report is due on Friday.
It’s jobs week and that means a bunch of employment data is coming ahead of the government’s official look at the labor market on Friday.
Well, the first data point doesn’t look so hot: The ADP employment report shows 123,000 private-sector jobs were lost in December on a seasonally adjusted basis. It was the first negative ADP report since April. Ouch.
Economists had predicted an increase of 88,000 jobs, so this was an epic underperformance.
Large companies and the businesses in the leisure and hospitality industry shed the most jobs. The on-going pandemic and rising infection rates have led various states to bring back lockdown restrictions.
The ADP report and the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report aren’t correlated, but such a bad ADP number doesn’t bode well for Friday’s data.
Economists expect 100,000 jobs were added, with a stable unemployment rate of 6.7% in December. The jobs report is due Friday at 8:30 am ET.
Bitcoin’s alarming hot streak shows no signs of stopping as the cryptocurrency’s price grew to as much as $35,580 on Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning, bitcoin was trading at $34,615. It was less than $20,000 a month ago.
Bitcoin grew steadily even as the stock market plunged in the early days of the pandemic. Investors have been drawn to it, as well as other cryptocurrencies, as the US dollar has weakened.
With the Federal Reserve expected to leave interest rates near zero for several more years, bitcoin may continue to win new fans.
On Monday, Anthony Scaramucci’s firm, SkyBridge Capital, officially launched the SkyBridge Bitcoin Fund. It’s a fund geared toward wealthy investors looking for exposure to the high-flying crypto. The fund currently holds about $310 million worth of bitcoin.
Democrats hold leads in both Georgia Senate races, putting them on the brink of holding power of Congress and the White House. But that doesn’t mean Democrats will be able to pass sweeping legislation over the next several years.
Investors must also consider the surging pandemic. Dealing with the economic fallout from coronavirus and accelerating the US vaccine rollout is likely to occupy the Biden administration for months, and other legislative priorities may be set aside for the time being.
“It’s worth bearing in mind that Janet Yellen will be running the Treasury,” said Stephen Innes, the chief global market strategist at Axi.”She is not desperate to raise taxes and President-elect Biden’s focus this year will be Covid.”
The Nasdaq (COMP) shed roughly 2.1% in premarket trading, and tech shares are likely to remain in focus on Wednesday.
If Democrats do capture both Senate seats, the chance of Congress producing aggressive legislation to regulate tech companies may have increased because the party also controls the House of Representatives and the White House.
“For markets, ‘blue’ is the operative word,” wrote analysts at Rabobank. “They had — like the GOP — presumed the two Georgia seats were in the bag, and only now enter a world where presumptions of US political gridlock go out the window and the government might actually be in the position to do something.”
The yield on benchmark 10-year US government bonds topped 1% for the first time since March as investors prepared for a scenario where Democrats wield more power in Washington.
That could mean more stimulus and, therefore, more borrowing by the government. Increased spending could also boost the economy, leading to higher interest rates.
US stock futures dropped and bond yields spiked on Wednesday as Democrats moved closer to taking control of the US Senate.
Georgia voters have elected Rev. Raphael Warnock to the Senate, CNN projected. If Democrats also win a second runoff in the state held Tuesday, they will gain control of the upper house of Congress. The Democratic candidate in that race, Jon Ossoff, held a narrow lead over his Republican opponent.
US stock futures moved lower, led by the Nasdaq (COMP), which shed roughly 2.1% in premarket trading. Dow (INDU) futures gained about 0.2%, while S&P 500 (INX) futures lost 0.4%.
“Markets seem to be fussing that a Democratic sweep in the Georgia Senate election runoffs will lead to higher taxes, tech regulation, a sharper environmental focus, and bigger moves towards wealth redistribution,” said Stephen Innes, the chief global market strategist at Axi.
The reaction on global markets was mixed. Stocks advanced in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and London, but lost ground in Tokyo and Paris.
President Donald Trump is continuing to pile the pressure on Chinese tech companies in the closing days of his administration.
Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group’s Alipay. The order will also hit Tencent’s (TCTZF) QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay, as well as the apps CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate and WPS Office.
The “continuing activity” of China and the ruling Chinese Communist Party “to steal or otherwise obtain United States persons’ data makes clear that there is an intent to use bulk data collection to advance China’s economic and national security agenda,” the order reads in part.
Antitrust scrutiny of Apple and other big tech giants ratcheted up over the past year. And for the first time, Apple has noted in its annual proxy statement that antitrust issues are an area of focus for its board of director’s audit committee.
The company notes “antitrust” as one among several specific areas of oversight for the committee in its 2021 proxy statement, which was released Tuesday ahead of Apple’s (AAPL) annual shareholder meeting on February 23. It says the committee and the board “regularly review and discuss” antitrust risks with Apple’s management.