US Stock Market
Wall Street closed higher on Wednesday’s session as investors keenly await the federal approval of the stimulus relief package.
The new US President Joe Biden met with Democrats on Wednesday as the House took its first step toward passing the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus package through Congress without the support of the Republicans.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that Biden and Democratic senators agreed on the need to move quickly and provide $1,400 checks to Americans in an attempt to weather the pandemic.
This comes as the Federal Reserve Bank officials said the US job market is recovering rapidly as unemployment decreases. The officials see the current forecast of unemployment dropping to 4.5% by the end of 2021.
According to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, the pandemic is still strong in the United States and Europe, but that the arrival of vaccines could mean the crisis could weaken in the months ahead.
Wallstreet
GME & AMC
Shares of GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings traded higher on Wednesday after several brokerages announced plans allow the buying of fractional shares in these companies.
Both companies suffered major losses in the previous session amid what appeared to be profit-taking following their unprecedented rallies driven by traders on Wallstreet Bets on reddit.
Meanwhile, GameStop announced on Wednesday that it had added a new job position of a chief technology officer and appointed Matt Francis to the role starting from February 15. Francis previously worked at Amazon Web Services as an engineering leader.
Paypal Earnings
PayPal Holdings on Wednesday released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2020 with its earnings per diluted share surging 208% to reach $1.32. Net revenues in the period rose 23% to $6.12 billion with operating income rising 21% to $963 million.
It said total payment volume grew 39% to $277 billion.
Revenue rose 21% YoY to $21.45 billion with total payment volume growing 31% to a record $936 billion.
“PayPal delivered record performance in 2020 as businesses of all sizes have digitized in the wake of the pandemic. In this historic year, we released more products than ever before and have dramatically scaled our acceptance worldwide, giving our 377 million consumer and merchant accounts even more reasons to use our platform,” PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement.
Apple & Hyundai electric vehicle deal
Apple Inc. and the Hyundai Motor Company are close to finalizing a deal the production of Apple-branded autonomous electric vehicle according to CNBC.
The sources said that the deal has not been signed yet and that Apple is looking to cooperate with multiple carmakers. Previous reports stated that production should start in 2024 and could reach 100,000 vehicles by the end of that year.
eBay Earnings
American multinational e-commerce corporation eBay Inc. on Wednesday released its financials for the fourth quarter of 2020 with revenue rising by 28% to $2.9 billion. During the period under review, the company grossed $10.3 billion, an increase of 19%.
Net income rose 55% year-on-year to $781 million with diluted earnings per share (EPS) rising 93% from $0.58 to $1.12. For the fiscal year 2020, net income surged 67% to $2.54 billion.
“We finished the year with strong financial results, but what inspires me most is the support we’ve been able to extend to small businesses – providing them with tools, resources and access to millions of buyers globally,” eBay CEO Jamie Iannone said in a statement.
eBay’s shares closed 10.33% on Wednesday’s session.
Kodak Shares Rise on Microsoft partnership
Shares of Kodak jumped by as much 33% on Wednesday’s trading session after the company’s CEO Jim Continenza confirmed it is entering a partnership with Microsoft on all-in-one business software.
Kodak stocks closed 17.01% higher to $11.04.
Energy Markets
The global oil demand is expected to “remain uncertain” in the coming months, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in a statement following the 26th Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee.
The cartel also expressed optimism over oil markets’ recovery in 2021, adding that “the gradual rollout of vaccines around the world is a positive factor for the rest of the year, boosting the global economy and oil demand.”
According to the statement, OPEC members complied with the original production cuts in December with the overall conformity reaching 101%. OPEC and non-OPEC countries have also reduced crude production by a cumulative 2.1 billion barrels since April 2020.
Oil Prices
Prices of oil went up by over 1% on Wednesday after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that crude oil inventories in the United States decreased last week.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for deliveries in March rose 1.06% to sell for $55.34 per barrel at 9:05 am Eastern Time, hitting its highest level since November 2018.
RELATED; US Stock Markets; Wallstreet Closes Higher, Earnings Brief, Tesla, Ford, Uber News
