Plus, Bitcoin surged pass $19,000 and is within striking distance of its all-time high, Dick’s Sporting Goods delivered an earnings beat, and Tesla surpassed $500 billion market cap.
Stocks were higher to start Tuesday with the Dow gaining 352 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 rose 1%, while the Nasdaq added 0.3%.
The Dow just hit 30,000 with the formal start of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition. The General Services Administration acknowledged Biden as the apparent winner of the presidential election yesterday afternoon following Michigan’s certification of Biden’s win in the state, giving Biden and his team access to $6 million in funding and other resources, access to briefings and current agency officials. Markets also cheered Biden’s plan to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, as it signals his administration plans to go big on stimulus. “Markets love certainty and the move by Trump overnight partially removes ambiguity over the presidential succession,” said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst with Oanda Asia Pacific Pte. “A Biden administration is expected to be much less isolationist, with hopes that the U.S. will reengage on global trade and improve relations with China.”
Bitcoin rose past $19,000, nearing its all-time high set back in 2017. As of this writing, the digital currency has risen 6.38% today to $19,421, putting it just 1.2% below its record high of $19,665 from December 2017. Bitcoin has risen more than 160% in 2020 as crypto enthusiasts have accredited to unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as wider institutional acceptance and greater interest among mainstream firms, including PayPal and Square. “Momentum is clearly with the bulls as Bitcoin surges past $19,000,” said Denis Vinokourov, head of research at Bequant, a London-based digital asset firm. “Given how prone to volatility digital assets can be, and the ever-increasing amount of liquidity from what is clearly becoming a FOMO trade on all sides, we can almost be certain there will not be an immediate selloff like back in 2017.”
New coroanvirus cases in the U.S. are showing a slight improvement, as the national seven-day average of daily new infections hits 172,118. While the level sets a new record, it is only 11% higher than the prior week, marking an improvement from the 30%+ weekly growth from previous weeks. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams pled with Americans to grasp “the severity of the moment” and to stay vigilant against COVID-19 as record hospitalizations continues to push health-care workers to the brink. “We are almost to a vaccine. …We’ve got new remedies out there. We just need you, the American people, to hold on a little bit longer,” Adams said to Fox News. As cases continue to rise, prominent health officials have been strongly recommending Americans avoid travel for the holiday. New York City’s Department of Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said at a press conference this morning, “it is not too late to cancel your travel plans” for Thanksgiving, adding that “now is the moment to make a difference in this next wave of the pandemic.”
Dick’s Sporting Goods delivered an earnings beat. The sporting goods retailer reported fiscal third quarter earnings per share of $2.01 on revenue of $2.41 billion, compared to estimates for earnings per share of $1.01 on revenue of $2.23 billion, as same-store sales rose 23.2%. Dick’s also announced president Lauren Hobart will succeed CEO Ed Stack on February 1. “This is the perfect time for this transition,” Stack said in a statement. “We have the best management team in the company’s history, and the investments we have made in our people, our stores, and our communities are paying off.” Best Buy also delivered a beat, reporting earnings of $2.06 per share on revenue of $11.85 billion, versus estimates for earnings of $1.70 per share on revenue of $11 billion. “The current environment has underscored our purpose to enrich lives through technology, and the capabilities we are flexing and strengthening now will benefit us going forward as we execute our strategy,” said CEO Corie Barry in a press release.
And Tesla shares have risen roughly 4% this morning, pushing the electric carmaker’s market cap to more than $500 billion for the first time. The stock has risen more than 523% year-to-date, and has risen nearly 28% over the last week following the announcement that it will soon be added to the S&P 500. With the move higher, Tesla co-founder Elon Musk is now the world’s second richest person, overtaking Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates for the spot. Musk’s net worth soared $7.2 billion to $127.9 billion as the stock has soared higher. Around three-quarters of his net worth is comprised of Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times as much as his stake in SpaceX.
Stocks We’re Watching
Kopin Cp (NASDAQ: KOPN): Kopin shares are up more than 16% since last Thursday after the company announced that its White Pearl Optical Module and A230 Driver IC are delivering vital hands-free AR imagery to frontline remote workers who wear Iristick smart glasses. “The Iristick smart glasses have received a lot of positive attention, especially during this pandemic when remote assistance is helping businesses to not only operate but thrive,” said Greg Truman, head of Kopin’s Industrial and Enterprise Displays, in a press release. “It is incredible to see the vast number of use cases that rely on our Pearl optical modules. We offer our enterprise, industrial, consumer and medical customers a full product line of Pearl optical modules. Customers appreciate the range of different sizes and resolutions of our products, which include WQVGA, nHD and WVGA LCDs. Every application and product is different and we believe we have suitable options for all types of enterprise wearables.”