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Good morning, Bull Sheeters. My, how the mood has changed in the markets. Two days ago, investors were selling bonds andstocks. Now, they’re selling bonds and buying stocks. That’s about as risk-on as it gets.
What are they buying this morning? Crude oil futures, mining stocks—remember this term: “commodities supercycle“—and of course the favorite meme stonks of the Reddit brigade. GameStop shares traded as high as $189 in the pre-market. That’s after a 104% gain yesterday. It’s going 🚀 again. And, as we remember from last month, when meme stonks rise…which stocks fall?
Bueller, Bueller?
Yes, big cap tech stocks. The answer is the B-I-G caps. On cue, Nasdaq futures are down.
Let’s see what else is moving markets.
Markets update
Asia
- The major Asia indexes are rebounding in afternoon trading, with the Hang Seng up 1.2% after a rough Wednesday.
- Shares in Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing were down 1.6% as investors continue to worry about a possible stamp duty on trading. The dark cloud has all but wiped out the shine on record profits for the operator of the Asian financial hub’s only bourse.
- Airlines are still trying to figure out when they can start banking on international long-haul flights again. Not before Oct. 31, says Qantas. Shares jumped as much as 5.2% in Sydney on the pronouncement.
Europe
- The European bourses were higher with the Stoxx Europe 600 up nearly 0.3% at the open.
- Unlike in the U.S., lawmakers in the EU are not talking about a third round of stimulus goodies. And that relative stinginess will crimp economic growth in the Eurozone this year, a new forecast shows.
- Why are public health officials so bullish on the COVID vaccine? A study that followed nearly 1.2 million people in Israel found the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID jabwas so effective that “with broad enough use it may be possible to halt the pandemic.” Alas, we’re humans. There will be enough skeptics among us to sabotage that “broad enough use” target. I hope I’m wrong.
U.S.
- U.S. Futures are trading sideways this morning ahead of today’s jobless claims numbers. That’s after the Dow closed in record territory on Wednesday following a ferocious late-date rally.
- Shares in Johnson & Johnson were up 1% in pre-market trading after the drugmaker after the FDAdeclared its single-jab COVID vaccine is “safe and effective,” clearing the way for authorization.
- It’s Thursday, so we get jobless data before the bell. The forecast is for a 825,000 new unemployment claims. Not great, in other words.
Elsewhere
- Gold is falling, trading below $1,800/ounce.
- The dollar is down.
- Crude is cruising again. Brent is trading above $66/barrel.
- At 11 a.m. Rome time, Bitcoin was trading down, below $50,000.
***
Buzzworthy
“What are your moves” today?
I check in on the WallStreetBets Reddit forum fairly often these days. It’s teeming with giddy retail traders again. What are they saying? It’s game on for GameStop—”HOLDING TO THE MOON,” as one GME fan blares.
How to read G-D-P
That’s the take ^^ of UBS chief economist Paul Donovan in an investor note this morning on what to expect from today’s year-end 2020 GDP reading. It comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET. You can find it here.
Promised (and delivered) land
***
Have a nice day, everyone. I’ll see you here tomorrow… Until then, there’s more news below.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
[email protected]
As always, you can write to [email protected] or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's read
WeWork, we pay. WeWork founder Adam Neuman is set to collect $500 million in a bruising settlement agreement with majority owner SoftBank, the Wall Street Journalreports, in a scoop. That sum is about half of what he was initially expecting, but, all things considered, not a bad pay day.
Embrace the fear. Traders have a name for the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX. It's the "fear gauge." And it's climbing again. But fear not. Here's why.
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Market candy
Quote of the day
Back for round 2...30k YOLO, up 309k at the close.
That (apparently) is a day trader who goes by the "jbro12345" handle. On the popular retail investor forum WallStreetBets yesterday, this trader was boasting about his "diamond hands" options bet on GameStop. To translate: jbro has converted a $30,000 options call into a $309,000 return. My colleague Jen Wieczner explains why such chatter is telling us the GameStop rally is making a comeback.