Crypto Stocks Swing Wildly as Bitcoin Rises and Retreats
14 hr 10 min ago
Crypto-focused companies’ shares had a volatile Thursday as bitcoin traded above $100,000 and then retreated.
MicroStrategy (MSTR), a business intelligence services provider that is the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, saw its stock rise as much as 10% intraday but finished some 4% lower. Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) rose as much as 6% before ending the day off 3%.
Other stocks that rose early and ended lower included bitcoin mining companies Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Mara Holdings (MARA). Both finished the day down more than 4%.
Wednesday’s news that President-elect Donald Trump picked Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission had helped drive the latest round of gains for bitcoin and other crypto assets.
Atkins, an SEC Commissioner under former President George W. Bush, has worked lately on issues related to digital assets. Atkins would replace crypto critic Gary Gensler, who said he would step down in January.
The promise of a more crypto-friendly administration has propelled bitcoin prices more than 50% higher since the day before Trump’s election win. Bitcoin recently traded around $96,000 after earlier nearing $104,000.
-Andrew Kessel
Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Thursday
14 hr 56 min ago
Decliners
Synopsys (SNPS) shares plunged 12.4%, the steepest loss of any stock in the S&P 500. Although the electronic design automation company topped quarterly revenue and profit estimates, its fiscal 2025 sales outlook came in below expectations, reflecting pressure on its China business as the U.S. implements new restrictions on the export of semiconductor technology. Shares of fellow electronic design software maker Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) fell 6.4%.
Uber Technologies (UBER) shares dropped 9.6% as Waymo, the autonomous driving company owned by Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), announced plans to expand its robotaxi service to Miami, Florida. Waymo said it will begin testing vehicles in the city early next year and plans to launch its Miami taxi fleet in 2026, potentially disrupting the ridesharing business. Shares of Uber competitor Lyft (LYFT) were down 10.1%.
Waymo self-driving car parked in front of Uber headquarters building in San Francisco, California on Aug. 20, 2024.
Smith Collection / Gado / Contributor / Getty Images
Aluminum prices ticked higher this week after China’s Ministry of Finance eliminated export tax rebates on aluminum and copper. Analysts expect the move to constrain global aluminum supplies and support higher prices for the metal. Shares of Ball Corp. (BALL), a provider of beverage cans and other aluminum packaging, lost 5.8% on Thursday.
Advancers
Shares of whiskey maker Brown-Forman (BF.B) turned in a top-shelf performance, leading all S&P 500 constituents with a Thursday surge of 10.7%. The maker of Jack Daniels reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and profits, highlighting the strength of its Woodford Reserve brand and expectations for international sales to help jumpstart organic growth in fiscal 2025.
Tesla (TSLA) shares jumped 3.2% following positive updates from several research analysts. After visiting Tesla’s Giga Austin plant, Bank of America analysts lifted their price target on Tesla stock, pointing to the potential impact of the company’s Optimus humanoid robot, already in use at its energy storage division.
Shares of U.S. air carriers climbed higher after American Airlines (AAL) and Southwest Airlines (LUV) boosted their guidance, citing robust travel demand. American also announced an extension of its card partnership with Citi (C), and the airline’s stock price surged 16.8%. Shares of United Airlines (UAL), Delta Airlines (DAL), and Southwest Airlines were up 3.2%, 2.4%, and 2.0%, respectively.
-Michael Bromberg
GameStop, AMC Jump Following Roaring Kitty Tweet
16 hr 2 min ago
Shares of GameStop (GME) and other meme stocks popped on Thursday after Roaring Kitty, the online alias of meme stock ringleader Keith Gill, posted to X for the first time since September.
Shares of GameStop jumped as much as 14% Thursday afternoon while AMC Entertainment (AMC), another favorite among meme stock traders, surged as much as 13%. Shares of online pet retailer Chewy (CHWY), also a meme stock favorite, were unaffected.
Gill, at 1:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, posted a photo of a fake TIME Magazine cover featuring just a desktop computer monitor and keyboard. As of 4:00 p.m., the post had been viewed 3.1 million times.
Gill has repeatedly sparked meme stock rallies by posting cryptic messages and images to X, where he has 1.6 million followers. The last frenzy came in early September when he posted a photo that was taken by some as a sign that he had sold some of his sizable position in Chewy. That post sent Chewy stock plummeting and GameStop soaring.
After becoming one of the faces of the 2021 meme stock craze, Gill took a long hiatus from public life. He returned to X with a torrent of posts in May and has since sporadically posted, each time setting off a flurry of speculation.
GameStop and AMC pared their gains later in Thursday’s session, both closing up 6%.
-Colin Laidley
Synopsys Shares Slide on Weak Outlook
16 hr 55 min ago
Synopsys (SNPS) shares tumbled Thursday after the chip design software maker posted a disappointing forecast for its coming fiscal year.
The company last Thursday full-year revenue of $6.75 billion to $6.81 billion, below the analyst consensus of roughly $6.9 billion from Visible Alpha. Its earnings per share (EPS) projection of $10.42 to $10.63 was well short of the roughly $11.20 consensus.
For its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter, Synopsys reported revenue of $1.64 billion, up 11% year-over-year and slightly above expectations. EPS was $7.14, up from $2.26 a year earlier and above the analysts consensus.
The company said its planned $35 billion acquisition of simulation software company Ansys (ANSS) is expected to close in the first half of 2025. Shares of Ansys were recently down about 5%.
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Synopsys shares were down 12% in late trading Thursday, leading S&P decliners. The stock is near unchanged since the start of the year.
-Andrew Kessel
Another $400 Price Target is Lifting Tesla Today
18 hr 7 min ago
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) rose Thursday after another Wall Street analyst issued a bullish outlook for the EV maker.
Bank of America analysts were part of the reason for today’s gains. While they maintained a “buy” rating on the shares, they lifted their price target by $50 to $400, well above the Visible Alpha average around $280 and 12% above Wednesday’s close. The target is among the highest tracked by Visible Alpha, matching another posted last month by Wedbush.
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Tesla’s stock was recently ahead some 3% around $370, leaving it up roughly 50% for the year, far outpacing the S&P 500’s gains.
Tesla “is well-positioned to grow in 2025” and beyond, the Bank of America analysts wrote, citing opportunities ranging from its core EV business to robotaxis, robotics, software, and charging. The company might look to raise money to fund some of those businesses, the analysts wrote.
“We expect (Tesla) to efficiently and effectively deploy capital, as the company has demonstrated with its focus on organic cash generation,” Bank of America wrote. “That said, there could be a point at which it may make sense for it to raise capital to accelerate the development of these technologies.”
-David Marino-Nachison
These Small Stocks Got a Big Boost From Trump Jr. Tie-Ups
19 hr 3 min ago
Call it the junior Trump Bump—the stocks of several obscure companies have soared in recent weeks after announcing tie-ups with Donald Trump Jr., the President-elect’s eldest son.
Donald Trump Jr. at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Nov. 5, 2024.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Shares of PSQ Holdings (PSQH), the operator of “anti-woke” marketplace PublicSquare, nearly tripled in value on Tuesday when it named Trump Jr. to its board of directors. He’s expected to hold the position until at least the company’s 2026 annual shareholder meeting.
The announcement came just a week after Unusual Machines (UMAC), a drone parts supplier, announced it had appointed Trump Jr. to its advisory board, igniting a flurry of speculative buying. Investors traded 56 million shares the day of the announcement, more than twice the stock’s total volume since it began trading in February. As of mid-November, Unusual Machines had just 8.3 million outstanding shares to trade.
Read the full story here.
-Colin Laidley
Fiserv Slides as Trump Taps CEO to Head Social Security
20 hr 41 min ago
Fiserv (FI) shares fell Thursday morning after president-elect Donald Trump named the financial services company’s CEO Frank Bisignano as his nominee to lead the Social Security Administration.
Trump called Bisignano a “business leader, with a tremendous track record of transforming large corporations” in a Truth Social post announcing the nomination.
Frank Bisignano speaking at an event in New York City on May 20, 2019.
Owen Hoffmann / Patrick McMullan / Getty Images
In a statement Thursday, Fiserv said Bisignano will continue as CEO until an eventual confirmation hearing takes place. Lead Director Doyle Simons said succession planning has “always been a priority” for the company’s board, and said it will follow a previously existing succession plan to name a new CEO assuming he is confirmed.
The Fiserv CEO has previously served in executive roles at Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan (JPM) before a tenure at another financial tech company, First Data. He joined Fiserv through its merger with First Data, serving as COO of the combined company following the 2019 merger and becoming CEO in 2020.
Fiserv shares were down more than 4% Thursday morning, but still more than 50% above where they started the year.
-Aaron McDade
American Airlines Stock Soars on Citi Credit Card Deal
21 hr 6 min ago
Shares of American Airlines Group (AAL) soared Thursday morning after the carrier announced it had signed a new, exclusive credit card partnership with Citigroup (C), which will be taking over Barclays’ (BCS) share of the portfolio.
American Airlines and Citi, who have partnered on credit cards for more than 37 years, inked a 10-year extension with the bank “becoming the exclusive issuer of the AAdvantage co-branded card portfolio in the U.S. in 2026.” Up until now, American Airlines has issued cards with both Citi and the British bank Barclays.
“The agreement creates an innovative alignment between the Citi ThankYou and AAdvantage card programs and is designed to drive incremental value for both companies and produce a significantly expanded loyalty and rewards offering for AAdvantage members and Citi-branded cardmembers,” the companies said.
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American Airlines stock was up 13% recently, trading at its highest level since mid-2023.
Citigroup shares were up about 1%.
-Aaron Rennie
Five Below Jumps on Naming of New CEO, Outlook Boost
21 hr 58 min ago
Shares of Five Below (FIVE) are soaring more than 13% in premarket trading after the discount retailer announced a new CEO and raised its outlook for the year, noting “solid” Black Friday sales.
On Thursday, Five Below announced it had appointed Forever 21’s Winnie Park as its new CEO. The company had announced the sudden departure of its CEO Joel Anderson in July, while lowering its sales guidance.
The company now projects net sales for the year to be in the range of $3.84 billion to $3.87 billion, assuming an around 3% drop in comparable sales. That compares with the forecast previously of $3.73 billion to $3.80 billion in net sales assuming an around 4% to 5.5% decrease in comparable sales.
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) are expected to be in the range of $4.78 to $4.96 versus the range of $4.35 to $4.71, previously.
Third-quarter results also beat estimates. Net sales of 843.7 million beat the $797.4 million estimates by analysts polled by Visible Alpha. The adjusted EPS of 42 cents also beat estimates of 16 cents each.
JPMorgan analysts noted that Five Below management had said in the earnings call that foot traffic at the stores had picked up from the middle of the second quarter, a “180 degree turn” versus the second quarter. The analysts raised their price target on the stock to $110 each from $83, but stuck with their underweight call.
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The stock was up 12% at around $118 early Thursday, trading at a six-month high. Despite the gain, the stock has lost about 45% of its value since the start of the year.
-Nisha Gopalan
Bitcoin Levels to Watch as Cryptocurrency Tops $100K
23 hr 19 min ago
With bitcoin’s move about $100,000, it broke above a newly formed pennant, a chart pattern that signals a continuation of the cryptocurrency’s current move higher.
Source: TradingView.com.
A measure moved, which calculates the impulsive move higher that preceded the pennant and adds that amount to the pattern’s top trendline, projects a bullish target of $129,930.
Investors should monitor key support levels on bitcoin’s chart around $90,500, $80,500 and $70,000.
Bitcoin was recently trading at around $103,000 and has gained more than 45% since the presidential election amid hopes the incoming Trump administration will adopt policies that benefit the crypto industry.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
-Timothy Smith
Major Stock Index Futures Move Fractionally Lower
23 hr 48 min ago
Futures tied to major U.S. stock indexes were down less than 0.1% this morning, as trading gets set to kick off after stocks rose to fresh record highs on Wednesday.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures
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S&P 500 Futures
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Nasdaq 100 Futures
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