Investors continue to buy into the tech rally, lifting global markets

Good morning.

Global stocks are on autopilot, edging higher in Europe and much of Asia. U.S. Futures are rising too, led again by tech. The Nasdaq closed yesterday above 15,000, and it looks to add to those gains today.

In the past week, the tech-heavy index has climbed 3.5%, coinciding, perversely, with worsening COVID data out of the world’s major economies. In the United States, the average daily death tally has climbed again above 1,100.

Delta, it’s a killer.

Elsewhere, crypto is in retreat for a second straight day.

Let’s see what else is moving the markets.

Markets update

Asia

• The major Asia indexes are mixed with the Shanghai Composite up 0.7% in afternoon trading.
• Hong Kong-listed tech stocks were the darlings of the trading world on Tuesday. They’re faltering today, however, as investors look to cash in on yesterday’s gains.
• Watch U.S.-listed Chinese stocks at the open today. SEC chief Gary Gensler wants to subject roughly 250 such firms to tighter scrutiny, and not just IPO candidates.

Europe

• The European bourses were as flat as a wiener schnitzel at the open, with the Stoxx Europe 600 up nearly 0.1% in mid-morning trading. Travel and leisure was the top sector at the start.
• Puma and cross-town rival Adidas—from the lovely Bavarian town, Herzogenaurach—are both up 1.5% in early trading after Deutsche Bank slapped a “buy” rating on both companies.
• Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi is putting the brakes on its European launch, numerous press outlets report.

U.S.

• The U.S. Futures  are back in the green, off earlier lows. That’s after the Nasdaq closed at 15,019.80 yesterday, a new all-time-high, and a new milestone.
• Best Buy soared 8.3% yesterday, the top performer on the S&P 500, after the retailer reported a huge top-line beat.
• Another high flier was CrowdStrike Holdings—yes, that Crowdstrike. Tomorrow, the cybersecurity specialist will be included in the Nasdaq 100. Investors pushed its shares higher by 8.1% yesterday.

Elsewhere

• Safe-haven gold is down, trading below $1,800/ounce.
• The dollar is ticking higher.
• Oil’s impressive two-day rally is on pause. Brent trades around $71/barrel.
• Bitcoin continues to slide. It’s trading below $48,500.

***

Buzzworthy

The 15K club

I remember, way back in 2000, thinking, wow, the Nasdaq just topped 5,000.

🚀🚀🚀

You call that a rally?

🙄🙄🙄

Questioning the rally

El-Erian’s column (referenced above) was published on August 16. The S&P 500 dropped precipitously the following two trading sessions, only to fully recover (and then some).

🤔🤔🤔

Psst, homebuyers. Look over there.

🏘️🏘️🏘️

Programming note: in this spot tomorrow, I will run “by the numbers.” On Friday, I’ll have a special edition of reader feedback, which I hope will include some thoughts from my nephew. He’s game, he tells me.

***

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 reads

Even Europe’s anti-vaxxers have to admit: Vaccine mandates really work—Coins2Day

Investors are borrowing less to buy stocks—and that could be a bad sign—Coins2Day

Why the end of Katerra doesn’t mean the end of construction tech investing—Coins2Day

If You Bought Municipal Bonds a Long Time Ago, This Is a Great Time—Wall Street Journal

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Market candy

$707 million

When Bitcoin hit $50,000 in recent days, Tesla's finance department was probably doing some kind of victory dance. At that price, Tesla would be looking at a crypto profit of about $707 million, calculates Coins2Day's Shawn Tully. Alas, Bitcoin has been in retreat since then, so subtract a few million from that tally. But still, that's a pretty good return.