05Feb2020 Market Close: Wall Street Gains After Strong US Data, Waning Virus Fears; Tesla Limits Nasdaq’s Rise, DOW Closes Up 483 Points, Nasdaq Sets New Historic High

Baby Yoda powers Disney streaming subscriptions to fast start

Walt Disney Co’s new streaming service Disney+ reached 28.6 million paying subscribers this week, the company said on Tuesday as it reported quarterly earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts.

Stocks rally on virus vaccine hopes, dollar gains

The dollar gained and a gauge of global equity markets surged for a third day on Wednesday as expectations of more central bank stimulus and reports suggesting scientists were closing in on a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus boosted sentiment.

Oil prices jump 2% as virus vaccine reports spur hope

Oil prices jumped about 2% on Wednesday on media reports that suggested scientists were developing a vaccine for the fast-spreading coronavirus, even as world health experts said treatments have not yet been found.

Uber wins appeal in Brazil, court says drivers are not employees

A higher court for labor in Brasilia ruled on Wednesday that there was no employment relationship between Uber and its drivers, siding with the ride-hailing company against a Sao Paulo driver.

Avianca’s top shareholder says has no knowledge of alleged Airbus bribes

German Efromovich, the majority shareholder in Latin American airline Avianca , said on Wednesday he does not have any knowledge of widespread bribes allegedly paid by European manufacturer Airbus .

Wall Street gains after strong U.S. data, waning virus fears; Tesla limits Nasdaq’s rise

U.S. stocks rallied for a third straight day on Wednesday on encouraging U.S. economic data and waning fears of the financial fallout from a virus out of China but losses in Tesla shares pulled the Nasdaq off its record high.

Texas AG says break-up, all other remedies on the table in Google probe

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading a multistate investigation into Alphabet Inc’s Google unit, said on Wednesday he has not taken any possible punishment off the table, including breaking up the search and advertising giant.

Tesla tumbles as coronavirus weighs on Shanghai factory

Shares of Tesla tumbled 19% on Wednesday, hitting the brakes on a dramatic rally after a senior executive warned the coronavirus outbreak in China would delay deliveries of Model 3 cars made at its Shanghai plant.

With Tesla stock envy, GM hopes to sell investors on its EV, tech future

General Motors Co has watched with frustration and envy as the market value of electric carmaker Tesla Inc has ballooned to about two and a half times GM’s size, but on Wednesday the Detroit automaker made the case that its EV and self-driving technology strategy deserves a higher value.

Record Surge In Global Virus Cases Sparks Panic-Bid For Stocks To All-Time Highs

Record Surge In Global Virus Cases Sparks Panic-Bid For Stocks To All-Time Highs

What better catalyst is there for buying US equities with both hands and feet that the Director-General of The World Health Organization – who has been down-playing the pandemic for days – admitting that the last 24 hours saw the biggest surge in coronavirus cases worldwide since the crisis began? And as far as rumors of a vaccine, how long will that take?

China did not supply liquidity last night, but momentum was still with the small cap tech stocks in ChiNext…

Watch Live: Senate Votes On Trump Impeachment

Watch Live: Senate Votes On Trump Impeachment

Update (4:05 p.m.) Delayed as usual. Tune in below.

* * *

After an afternoon of podium-pounding and bloviating, the US Senate will vote to acquit or convict President Trump at 4 p.m. ET.

Watch live:

Earlier Wednesday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) broke ranks with his party and said he would vote to convict President Trump on one impeachment charge of abuse of power, calling Trump’s conduct with Ukraine an “appalling abuse of public trust.”

Romney’s decision reportedly surprised colleagues, many of whom expected him to vote to acquit after two other fence-sitting Republicans (Collins and Murkowski) announced they would oppose the articles of impeachment.

Tyler Durden Wed, 02/05/2020 – 15:50 Tags

WeSleep? Â Casper Lowers IPO Range Amid No Love For Unicorns

WeSleep? Â Casper Lowers IPO Range Amid No Love For Unicorns

Update (Feb. 05):Â Â Casper Sleep Inc. reminds us of the WeWork implosion late last summer when the shared workspace company failed to IPO, ran out of cash, and was then bailout out.

The unicorn mattress retailer slashed its IPO price in the latest filing, now between $12 and $13 per share, a far cry from $17 to $19 last week. The move in price reduced the company’s valuation to $500 million, down from $768 million last week, and down from $1.1 billion in the latest private funding round. This means the company has lost more than half of its value in about one year.

“Pretty Much Every Client We Talk To Wants To Buy The Dip, And That Is Not Comforting”

“Pretty Much Every Client We Talk To Wants To Buy The Dip, And That Is Not Comforting”

In the past few days there has been much speculation that in light of the violent reversal in stocks following the early Coronavirus scare and subsequent rebound, that investors were positioned extremely bearishly and were caught offside, forced to once again chase stocks higher amid a general short squeeze. While that may indeed be the case, especially considering the violent move higher in most shorted stocks, a note from Citi’s Tobias Levkovich indicates the opposite, namely that far from bearish, “pretty much every clients wants to buy the dip”, which “implies that people are very long the market and are willing to let share prices to go higher.”

We agree, as this clearly suggests that not only are most investors not bearish, but they don’t consider even a potential global pandemic as a reason to sell off stocks, and use any catalyst to chase risk.

Pretty much every client we talk to wants to buy the dip, and that is not comforting. It implies that people are very long the market and are willing to let share prices to go higher. When we are asked what factors made the Panic/Euphoria Model move into euphoric territory, we highlight one of the inputs (though several caused the shift), as it looks at premiums paid for puts versus calls, and the prices have dropped for puts. Fewer deem the need to pay up for insurance, which indicates substantive complacency. Accordingly, the qualitative/anecdotal evidence is supporting the more quantitative approaches.

Source: Scott Barlow

Why a new inflation anchor will help RBI in aiding growth

Why a new inflation anchor will help RBI in aiding growthA combination of core WPI & core CPI inflation may be an improvement over current headline CPI inflation.

Disney’s weapon in India’s streaming wars

Disney’s weapon in India’s streaming warsDisney Plus will be available via Hotstar, the video streaming service of Star India, which is owned by Disney

Russian oil giant Rosneft eyes BPCL

Russian oil giant Rosneft eyes BPCLRussia’s largest oil producer Rosneft is keen to bid for acquisition of BPCL, sources said.

January 2020 ISM and Markit Services Continue To Moderately Improve

Written by Steven Hansen

The ISM non-manufacturing (aka ISM Services) index and the Markit PMI Services Index continued their growth cycle with both indices improving modestly.

Earnings Results: Sonos tops expectations as new products, promotions drive strong holiday sales

Sonos Inc. had a stronger-than-expected holiday quarter fueled by new products like a portable speaker and a partnership with IKEA.

Bond Report: Treasury yields climb on reports of progress toward virus treatment

Treasury yields rise Wednesday amid reports that researchers across the world had made progress in coming up with cures and treatments for the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

Macy’s stores at risk of closing drive an average of 80% less sales than ‘Growth’ stores: JPMorgan

Macy’s announced it would close 125 stores over the next three years, a good start to a turnaround but experts say there’s much more to do.