Plus, GameStop said it raised $1.13 billion through the sale of 5 million additional shares, McDonald’s said it is launching its loyalty program on July 8, and Splunk announced a $1 billion investment from Silver Lake.
Stocks were slightly lower at the open on Tuesday with the Dow and S&P 500 trading just below the flatline. The Nasdaq dropped less than 0.1%.
Bitcoin’s sell-off intensified this morning, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency falling as low as $28,814.75 at the time of writing and wiping out all the coin’s gains for the year. “Any meaningful break below $30,000 is going to make a lot of momentum players to throw in the towel,” said Miller Tabak’s Matt Maley. “Therefore, even if Bitcoin is going to change the world over the long-term, it does not mean it cannot fall back into the teens over the short-term.” Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz noted that Bitcoin could still rebound after today’s move but there’s still significant downside to the next support level. “$30,000, we’ll see if it holds on the day,” Novogratz said. “We might plunge below it for a while and close above it. If it’s really breached, $25,000 is the next big level of support.”
GameStop shares are up more than 6% at the time of writing after the videogame retailer said it sold five million additional shares, raising $1.13 billion in capital to accelerate growth. This was the second stock sale that the company has conducted since the company became a star on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum earlier this year when retail traders aimed to push the stock price higher to squeeze out short-selling hedge funds. GameStop said it will use the net proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes “as well as for investing in growth initiatives and maintaining a strong balance sheet.”
McDonald’s said it will launch its first-ever loyalty program nationwide on July 8 after months of testing. The program is meant to help the Big Mac purveyor hold on to the digital customers it gained amid the pandemic, and will allow customers to earn 100 points for every dollar they spend and put those points towards free items including cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, and hash browns, among other menu items. The MyMcDonald’s Rewards program will be available to customers via the fast food chain’s app, and customers who sign-up will automatically get 1,500 points with their first order using the program.
Splunk shares are up more than 13% this morning after the company announced that Silver Lake will make a $1 billion investment in convertible senior notes to support the continued transformation of its business. “We’ve significantly evolved our business since we began our transformation to become a cloud-first company over two years ago, and today’s announcement reaffirms the strength of our business fundamentals, cloud strategy and high-growth trajectory,” Doug Merritt, President and CEO of Splunk, said in a press release. “Silver Lake has a strong reputation and track record of investing in innovative technology companies, and with their support, we are accelerating toward our goals as we deliver the most scalable and powerful data platform in the cloud.”
And Target pledged today to make all of its private label products more environmentally sustainable, designing items that are more durable and eliminating waste and encouraging reuse by 2040. Within that time frame, Target also said it plans to become a net-zero enterprise, creating zero waste for landfills at its U.S. operations. “As a company and a member of the global community, it’s imperative for the health of both our business and our planet that we embrace new ways to move forward,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and chief executive officer of Target. “We know sustainability is tied to business resiliency and growth, and that our size and scale can drive change that is good for all. Target Forward influences every corner of our business, deepens our collaboration with our partners and builds on our past efforts to ensure a better future for generations to come.”
Stocks We’re Watching
Auris Medical (NASDAQ: EARS): Auris Medical shares gained as much as 24% yesterday after the company announced positive results from an in vivo study demonstrating significant inhibition of tumor growth by siRNA knock-down of NF-κB employing its OligoPhoreTM technology in Adult T-cell Leukemia Lymphoma (ATLL). “We are very excited about the very encouraging results from the study in ATLL mice”, Samuel Wickline, MD, Auris Medical’s Chief Scientific Officer said in a press release. “ATLL is a very challenging condition with high mortality rate. Although NF-κB has been known for some time as a promising target, it has remained elusive to specific and effective treatment so far. With the use of OligoPhore technology, siRNA targeting NF-κB can be delivered intravenously and track the tumor very effectively with profound suppression of aggressive tumor proliferation. Since ATLL is a highly malignant tumor with no targeted molecular therapy at present, this outcome is not only very encouraging for drug discovery and development in this therapeutic indication, but also for other tumors and inflammatory pathological conditions involving the NF-κB molecular target.”