The Big Apple

Even as stocks sagged due to gloomy Fed Meeting Minutes, Apple broke the $2 trillion mark.

Read in Browser   The Market Sum | Insight after the bell By Gabe Alpert Wednesday, August 19, 2020 Headlines 1. Fed meeting minutes dampen market exuberance 2. Apple breaks $2 trillion in market cap 3. Nvidia, Target, and L Brands report earnings 4. Airbnb files IPO draft Markets Closed Dow 27,692.88 −85.19 (-0.31%) S&P 3,374.85 −14.93 (-0.44%) Nasdaq 11,146.46 −64.38 (-0.57%) VIX 22.5 +0.99 (+4.60%) Bitcoin $11,705.01 −$277.64 (-2.32%) US 10-Yr Yield 0.675 +0.006 (+0.90%)     Photo courtesy GettyImages/artpartner-images   [Gabe Alpert will be guest writing Market Sum, because Caleb is taking some much-deserved time off]   Markets Today The release of minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting cast a pall over markets today as all three major indexes closed down. One of the more ominous quotes from the meeting was that the Fed officials "agreed that the ongoing public health crisis would weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term and was posing considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term." There was also a consensus among meeting attendees that more fiscal stimulus was needed, something that doesn't look like it's happening any time soon with Congress in recess until Labor Day. These things together put a damper on the excitement generated from yesterday's first new record high for the S&P 500 since the COVID-19 crisis began.   One company flying high despite the gloom is Apple, whose market cap surpassed $2 trillion today, though it ended the day very slightly below that milestone. The only other company to have ever hit $2 trillion in market cap is Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state-oil company which produces approximately 12% of the world's oil, and even it has now fallen below Apple's market cap due to the low price of oil. $2 trillion is such a large number I've tried to contextualize it in a couple ways.   First, looking at the chart below, Apple is now worth roughly as much as social media giant Facebook, Warren Buffet's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and the four biggest banks in the U.S. combined. Another comparison is that the total value of all the real estate on the island of Manhattan in 2018 was roughly $1.74 trillion, so Apple is now worth more than the Big Apple. In the words of Oprah: "They're in a billion pockets, ya'll."     Chart courtesy YCharts   [NEW READER SURVEY: We are running another two-week survey of our U.S.-based readers to gauge your sentiment and see what moves, if any, you have been making with your money given the market recovery and current economic conditions. We'll share the results, as always, and we thank you for your time and participation.]   Headlines: Chipmaker Nvidia beat sales and earnings estimates as its data center revenue surpassed its gaming revenue for the first time. This represents a shift in the company's business as it moves toward providing graphics processing chips that power enterprise uses, rather than ones that let PCs play advanced video games. Target posted its strongest quarterly sales growth ever as digital sales nearly tripled. Target benefited from selling groceries, unlike other discount stores like T.J. Maxx. The stimulus and unemployment benefits seem to have also played a part, allowing people to continue purchasing essentials through the pandemic. Owner of Victoria Secret, L Brands, reported better-than expected sales for its latest quarter. Sales still dropped 20% as the pandemic kept many of its stores closed, but analysts had expected an even larger drop. Online vacation rental company Airbnb announced it had submitted a draft IPO registration to the SEC. The registration is still confidential, and the company has not released details on how many shares it will offer or its financial information. It was valued at $18 billion during its last funding round in April. The Democratic party in the U.S. has formally nominated Joe Biden for president in the November elections. Biden, 78, served two terms as VP in the Obama Administration. Read about his policies here. Swiss healthcare giant Roche and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will develop, manufacture, and distribute the latter's COVID-19 antibody cocktail. The drug is currently in late-stage clinical trials and is meant to treat and prevent the disease. This collaboration is expected to increase supply to at least three and a half times the current capacity. Maersk, the world's largest shipping firm, beat second-quarter EBITDA expectations and lifted its profit outlook. The Danish group transports 15% of all seaborne freight and is seen as a bellwether for global trade. Q3 volumes are expected to progressively recover with a current expectation of a mid-single digit contraction.  Elon Musk's SpaceX has raised $1.9 billion in its largest funding round yet. Bloomberg reported the private rocket company will have a valuation of $46 billion after the transaction. SpaceX is currently the largest unicorn in the U.S. and the third-largest in the world after China's ByteDance and Didi Chuxing. Shares in Sorrento Therapeutics (SRNE) are down 10% in pre-market trading after the firing of its CFO Jiong Shao. Sorrento is working on a COVID-19 vaccine and has licensed a saliva test for the virus that may produce accurate results in half an hour. The stock is up 263.02% so far this year. More News: US Steel Below Death Cross, but Weekly Chart Is Positive ViacomCBS (VIAC) Could Offer Profitable Short Sales US Wine Stocks Rally as China Eyes Australian Vino Tariffs SPONSORED BY INVESCO BulletShares® ETFs: What to Know Should you sell BulletShares® ETFs before they reach full maturity? The answer depends on a series of factors. Check out some potential options for your particular situation. Learn More  > (chart courtesy YCHARTS)     Shares of Target are up by 13% following the retailer reporting a Q2 profit increase of 80%. CenturyLink's stock price rose by nearly 4.5% after the telecommunication company announced a new partnership with the cloud solution provider Intact.     Shares of Jack Henry & Associates are down by nearly 13% after the payment processing company reported Q4 revenue results that fell short of analyst expectations, in addition to disappointing 2021 guidance. T.J. Maxx's stock price fell by over 5% amid the department store chain posting a $214 million loss in the second quarter. Word of the Day Mega Cap Mega cap is a designation for the largest companies in the investment universe as measured by market capitalization. While the exact thresholds change with market conditions, mega cap generally refers to companies with a market capitalization above $200 billion. Many of the companies boast strong brand recognition and operate in major markets around the world, such as Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Facebook (FB).      Image courtesy GettyImages/Kim Kulish/Contributor   Today in History Aug. 19, 2004: In the most eagerly anticipated initial public offering in years, Google Inc.'s stock began trading. After refusing to let Wall Street underwriters pull their usual stunt of charging fat fees to price the stock too cheap, Google conducted a rare "Dutch auction" in which bidders (including individual investors) competed to create the price at which all shares could be sold. Initially priced at $85, the stock opens for trading at $100 a share and closes at $100.335 on volume of 22.4 million shares. Although most investment bankers jeered, the IPO was a success.   The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19 and 20, 2004, pp. A1, C1; The New York Times, Aug. 19 and 20, 2004, pp. A1, C1; The Financial Times, Aug. 20, 2004, p. 1; http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/ipo.html How can we improve the Market Sum? Tell us at marketsum@investopedia.com CONNECT WITH INVESTOPEDIA Email sent to:  mondemand.forex@blogger.com To update your newsletter preferences or unsubscribe, click here.   114 West 41st St, floor 8 New York NY 10036 © 2020, Investopedia, LLC. All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy