Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 242 points as global markets aimed to extend its two-day rebound. This comes after the third-quarter U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) was revised to higher than expected estimates. In detail, the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed a 2.3% annualized increase in economic activity. This is more than the 2.1% rise previously reported.
Furthermore, consumer confidence jumped more than expected this month. The Conference Board’s latest report mentioned that expectations about short-term growth prospects are improving among Americans. Major indexes ticked up on Thursday, building on back-to-back gains. This would be the case as fears that the Omicron variant would derail economic growth resided among investors who sold off risky assets at the start of the week on reports of increasing coronavirus cases.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose 0.18%, while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up 1% in the stock market today. Both stocks are looking to extend their gains from Wednesday’s intraday trading. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) continues to build back-to-back gains from yesterday.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) were trading lower by 0.71% on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) and Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) were also both down by around 1% and 2% respectively. Chinese EV leaders like Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are also trading on the red this morning.
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Dow Jones Today: Economic Data Pointing To Further Recovery
Following the stock market open on Thursday, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite are trading higher by 0.68%, 0.55%, and 0.17% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) edged higher 0.24% Thursday, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) rose by 0.52%.
The bullish moves came following the positive economic data released earlier this morning. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims totaled 205,000, sustaining a downward trend from the highs of its pandemic peak. Meanwhile, consumer spending met estimates, rising 0.6% month over month, slower than October’s 1.3% increase.
Overall, the labor market seems to be holding strong and consumer spending is mostly remaining in check. Accordingly, this would add to investor confidence in the economy, ideally quelling fears of Omicron-related effects to the reopening trade. Thus explaining the positive movement in stocks today.
TSLA Stock Still In Focus As Elon Musk Sells Additional $928 Million Shares; Clarifies Earlier Statements
Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to make headlines in the stock market today with his stock selling spree. As a result of the sales, TSLA stock mostly declined over the past month. This is understandable as investors are likely reacting to the CEO reducing his position in the company. However, it bounced back by over 7% during yesterday’s trading session thanks to comments from Musk.
As part of his plan to sell 10% of his shares in the company, Musk sold $928.6 million worth of TSLA stock yesterday. This adds up to 934,091 shares. By and large, Musk has already sold 14.7 million shares equalling $15.4 billion. As it stands, TSLA stock currently trades at $1,008.14, placing Tesla at a market cap of over $1 trillion.
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JD Stock Tanks After Tencent Divests $16.4 Billion Stake To Shareholders
JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) seems to be on the decline in the stock market today on fellow Chinese tech giant Tencent’s (OTCMKTS: TCEHY) latest announcement. Diving right into it, Tencent declared a special interim dividend earlier today. In detail, this will see the distribution of 457 million Class A shares of JD.com to Tencent shareholders. All of which adds up to a total payout of $16.4 billion. Because of the move, it is currently looking at losses of over 9% since today’s opening bell.
Blue Lotus Capital Advisor’s Shawn Yang said Tencent’s move may have stemmed from a desire to deflect attention away from itself rather than JD’s fundamentals. He explained JD’s e-commerce business has been “very resilient” this year compared with competitors Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD) and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA).
From its filing on Thursday, Tencent said part of its strategy includes investing in companies early. This is to support development and to exit when they become “consistently capable of self-financing their future initiatives”. Tencent said JD.com has reached that stage and that now is an “appropriate time” to distribute its stake among its shareholders.
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