Business Finance News USA Edition

2021-08-03 11:29:36 Renewed Hope For The S&P500 as The Week Starts with an Upward Move

For many dedicated traders in North America, observing the movements of the S&P 500 index was quite a white knuckle-inducing experience last week. Open / Comment

2021-08-03 10:35:20 Bitcoin > Cash?

Speaking of Square… the company mentions Bitcoin 120 times in its latest earnings report. That’s because Square’s consumer-facing app Cash App has become an unlikely place to buy and sell crypto.

In its Q2 earnings, Square reported that Cash App users bought $2.72B worth of $BTC.X in Q2 2021. Thanks to those figures, Square’s Bitcoin segment booked $55M in profit—a 3x increase YoY.

Aside from offering crypto purchases, Square has more than $281M in Bitcoin. With that being said, Square’s Bitcoin profits were almost entirely offset by $45M in impairment costs related to its Bitcoin treasury.

Square CEO Jack Dorsey is a Bitcoin permabull, often underscoring the importance of the blockchain. Dorsey’s company is developing a hardware crypto wallet, building a DeFi platform, and plans to offer Bitcoin payments as an option to vendors.

Apart from Bitcoin, Square observed $42.8B in gross payment volume (the total amount all of their vendors booked in transactions.) The company’s total net revenue without Bitcoin was $1.96B. Square beat on analyst EPS estimates, but missed on revenue. Open / Comment

2021-08-03 10:00:54 ​​Eli Lilly Near Record High Ahead of Earnings; Target Price $300 in Best Case

Eli Lilly and Company, a pharmaceutical giant based in Indianapolis, is expected to report earnings of $1.93 per share, representing a year-over-year increase of over 2% from $1.89 per share a year ago. Open / Comment

2021-08-03 08:23:44 ​​Economic Data Puts the Loonie and the Greenback in Focus, with the RBA also in Action

It’s a relatively quiet day ahead on the economic calendar. The RBA delivers its August policy decision later this morning, which will be the main event of the day, however. Open / Comment

2021-08-02 20:22:45 BUY USD/CHF

Entry @ 0.9055
SL @ 0.9005
TP1 @ 0.9105
TP2 @ 0.9155
TP3 @ 0.9205 Open / Comment

2021-08-02 18:07:00 ​​S&P 500 Nears Record High on Stimulus Hopes, Strong Eearnings

The S&P 500 index neared a record high on Monday as a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and strong second-quarter corporate earnings lifted sentiment ahead of a deluge of macroeconomic data this week. Open / Comment

2021-08-02 11:43:38 ​​A Post-Covid Hangover – Should You Worry About Your Portfolio?

Last week Pinterest and Amazon announced that they might soon be suffering from a post-Covid hangover, saying growth won’t be as robust as during Covid. Open / Comment

2021-08-02 11:39:39 ​​How the Bank of England Could Start to Reverse Its Huge Stimulus

The Bank of England could this week shed light on how – and when – it might throw its decade-long stimulus programme into reverse, even as it continues for now to buy bonds as part of its 895-billion-pound quantitative easing programme. Open / Comment

2021-08-02 07:51:20 Big Tech’s Big Week

It might have been a big week for Big Tech stocks reporting earnings, but unfortunately, the results were not nearly as exciting as we’d hoped for.

Five of America’s largest tech companies reported strong earnings this week, then they started tumbling. The reason? Slowing revenue growth forecasts.

The selloff affected Amazon the most, which beat on EPS but fell short on revenue. Analysts expected $115.2B, but ended up with $113B. $AMZN dove 9.4% this week.

Google parent Alphabet brought the strongest performance. The company was expected to report $56.2B in revenue and $19.32/share in EPS. They knocked it out of the park with $61.8B in revenue and $27.26/share. Investors were initially satiated with the results, but the stock pulled back after earnings.

Strong Q2 earnings also came out of Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. However, none of them avoided the post-earnings blues.

Investors aren’t sure what a post-pandemic world looks like for Big Tech, but a lot is riding on its success. The five companies which reported this week are the largest constituents in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100. In other words, most of America is betting on their continued success — whether they like it or not. Open / Comment

2021-08-02 07:28:06 ​​Economic Data Puts the EUR, the Pound, and the Greenback in Focus

It’s a busy day ahead on the economic calendar, with manufacturing sector PMI numbers and German retail sales figures to keep the markets busy. Open / Comment