Friday October 15, 2021
Virgin Galactic break in
Goldman Sachs gives wings to Wall Street
The US stock exchanges continue to rise. Strong business figures give investors access to stocks. Goldman Sachs are up almost four percent. The shareholders of the space company Virgin Galactic, however, experience a pitch-black day.
Strong bank balance sheets and a surprising increase in retail sales are making US equity investors more risk-averse again. Goldman Sachs shone just like the money houses in the days before with a profit boost. The Dow Jones index of standard values rose 1.1 percent to 35,295 points. The broader S&P 500 climbed 0.7 percent. The index of the technology exchange Nasdaq rose by 0.5 percent.
The balance sheet season so far indicates that the large corporations could continue to achieve profit growth despite rising costs, said market strategist Neil Wilson of Markets.Com. Apparently, investors are currently ignoring the high commodity prices and supply chain problems. Goldman Sachs shares rose 3.8 percent.
“The banking system is in great shape and it’s been a great pillar of the economy,” said Josh Wein, portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds. The fact that US retailers increased their sales in September despite bottlenecks also contributed to the good mood. It grew by 0.7 percent compared to the previous month. Economists, on the other hand, had expected a decline of 0.2 percent. According to preliminary data, consumer sentiment was slightly below expectations in October. “Christmas will be the real test of the supply chain,” said Wein.
Moderna gave way to 2.3 percent. According to several sources, the US FDA is postponing a decision to approve Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for adolescents. The agency wants to check beforehand whether the vaccination could lead to an increased risk of a rare inflammatory heart disease, people familiar with the matter said. Johnson & Johnson gained 0.7 percent. FDA advisors unanimously recommend approving an additional dose of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine to bolster protection against the coronavirus.
Virgin Galactic shares fell 16.8 percent. The space flight company has postponed the commercial launch of its own space service planned for mid-2022 by a month. Billionaire Richard Branson’s company lost around a fifth of its market capitalization on the stock exchange.
Crypto sector on the rise
Companies from the crypto sector benefited from a jump in the price of the cyber currency Bitcoin. The shares of the mining company Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital and Bit Digital gained up to six percent. The largest and oldest cyber currency cracked the $ 60,000 mark on the Bitstamp trading platform for the first time since mid-April, as more and more investors are turning to Bitcoin in search of inflation protection.
According to analyst Timo Emden from Emden Research, the drivers of the latest Bitcoin rally are also speculations about the approval of the first US Bitcoin futures ETF. “The approval of an exchange-traded fund on American land would be an accolade for Bitcoin and Co,” said Emden. With oil prices soaring, oil company stocks were also among investors’ favorites. Chevron prices rose by around one percent. US oil WTI temporarily hit a fresh seven-year high at $ 82.30 a barrel.