Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by 480 points. According to JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Russia’s economy is poised to plunge into recession and has begun estimating the economic fallout for Russia. This comes after fresh sanctions were imposed on Russia. On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden extended his country’s measures against Russia. Notably, this would include imposing sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund. Both the U.S. and European Union have also added President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to their sanctions list as well.
Today, BP (NYSE: BP) is down by over 7% after announcing that it would sell its nearly 20% stake in Russia’s state-controlled oil producer Rosneft. BP CEO Bernard Looney and former exec Bob Dudley are also resigning from Rosneft’s board, effective immediately. This comes amidst BP facing pressure from the British government to exit its stake in the company. Chevron (NYSE: CVX) today announced that it will be acquiring Renewable Energy Group (NASDAQ: REGI) for $61.50 per share.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are down 1.09% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also down by 0.39%. Meanwhile, 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading lower on Monday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is down by 1.56% while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is down by 3.14%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up by 3.82% on Monday. Likewise, rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are up by 0.20%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is also trading higher at 2.20%. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) are opened higher today.
Dow Jones Today: 10-year Treasury Yield Hovers Near 1.9% And Oil Prices Are Up
Following the stock market opening on Monday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading lower by 1.30%, 1.27%, and 1.12% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is trading lower at 0.58% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also down by 1.02% today. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped to 1.86% today. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also rose by more than 5% to around $96.30 per barrel on Monday. Europe’s Brent crude benchmark traded up almost 3%, holding above the $100 mark.
Investors Assess The Impact Of Russian Sanctions As Russia-Ukraine Talks Begin
As yet another barrage of sanctions are placed on Russia, investors are following the situation closely. For instance, the Biden administration has also just announced additional sanctions against Russia’s central bank over Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Today’s new sanctions would effectively prohibit Americans from doing any business with the Russian central bank as well as freezing assets within the U.S. On Saturday, world leaders also agreed to cut off key Russian banks from the interbank SWIFT messaging system.
Today, high-level talks between Kyiv and Moscow are also taking place at the Ukraine-Belarus border. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls the next 24 hours crucial for Ukraine. The ceasefire talks come as invading Russian forces are met with determined resistance from Ukrainian troops and civilians on the fifth day of conflict. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest, Russian forces fired on residential areas on Monday, killing dozens and wounding hundreds of people, the Ukraine military said.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today February 28, 2022
First Horizon Bank (FHN) Sees Shares Soar On News Of Acquisition By Toronto-Dominion
Among the top gainers in the stock market today is the First Horizon Corporation (NYSE: FHN). By and large, this is thanks to news of the bank being acquired by the Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD). In essence, TD will be purchasing First Horizon via a $13.4 billion all-cash deal. This puts the acquisition price at about $25.00 per share of FHN. As a result of this, FHN stock is currently up by over 25% at today’s opening bell. Sure, such a response would be normal for companies getting acquired at a premium. However, investors may also want to consider the benefits for TD bank as well.
Namely, the completion of the deal will see TD become a top 6 U.S. bank with $614 billion in assets. Moreover, the acquisition will also see TD expand its network of locations to 1,560, serving over 10.7 million U.S. customers. On a global scale, the TD Group will have assets worth over $1.41 trillion. Commenting on all this is TD Group CEO, Bharat Masrani. He highlights that “First Horizon is a great bank and a terrific strategic fit for TD. It provides TD with immediate presence and scale in highly attractive adjacent markets in the U.S. with significant opportunity for future growth across the Southeast.”
In the long run, the bank sees this expansion into the Southeastern U.S. as a major win. Providing some insight into this is Leo Salom, CEO of TD Bank. Salom states that First Horizon’s “commercial and specialty banking capabilities” can make TD a leading national player in the commercial banking scene. With all this in mind, both FHN stock and TD stock could be worth noting today.
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Teladoc (TDOC) Stock On The Rise Following Partnership With Amazon
In other news, Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC) appears to be turning heads in the stock market now. For the most part, this is likely courtesy of the company’s latest collaboration with e-commerce titan Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). Diving in, the duo are working to integrate Teladoc’s telehealth offerings on Amazon’s Alexa. In theory, this would see the introduction of a first-of-its-kind Alexa experience. The likes of which, in practice, will essentially be a form of “hands-free access at home to general medical care”, according to Teladoc. Thanks to the sheer scale of this team-up, TDOC stock is now gaining by over 6% at today’s opening bell.
By extension, this will see Teladoc’s core services become available across Amazon’s series of Echo devices. This includes devices such as the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show. All of which act as mediums for Alexa to serve consumers. In detail, Alexa users in the U.S. now have access to a Teladoc care provider 24/7 through their Echo devices. Overall, both Amazon and Teladoc stand to benefit from the current arrangement. For Amazon, it adds yet another layer of convenience and intricacy to its artificial intelligence-powered assistant Alexa. Meanwhile, Teladoc is essentially receiving a massive boost in reach towards tens of millions Echo device owners. The real question now is whether Teladoc can make the most out of this in the long run.
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