US stocks closed lower on Monday with major indices such as the Dow Jones closing 0.89% lower led by Boeing which fell 3.74% at close. The tech heavy Nasdaq 100 was down 1.53% at market close while the S&P 500 fell by 0.91% with Nvidia posting the biggest decline of 6.75%.
US Vote on Federal Debt Limit
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill that helps accelerate the legislative process on the imminent increase to the federal borrowing limit.
The country’s Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated on Monday that the upper chamber of US Congress will officially vote to raise the federal borrowing limit on Tuesday, December 14. Ahead of the formal passage of the bill, the Democrats have yet to announce the exact number for the new debt limit.
Major US Stocks in the News
Apple Nears $3 Trillion Market Cap
Shares of Apple ($AAPL) hit all-time highs Monday after rising by about 1% to trade at $181.12. The stock is $2 away from $182.86 which would give the company a $3 trillion market cap according. The main driver of the rally is the news that the company is accelerating efforts to launch a self-driving vehicle by 2025 according to CNBC.
Tesla & Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was on Monday named the 2021 Person of the Year by Time magazine on Monday.
Musk was recognized for his work at Tesla Inc., the global leader in manufacturing electric vehicles, and SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer, space transportation services, and communications corporation. Person of the Year is an annual issue of the US news magazine and website Time that features and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year” since 1927.
Tesla stock falls below $1,000 per share
Tesla stock fell below $1,000 on Monday to touch its lowest level since October even as CEO Elon Musk continues to offload a 10% stake since November.
Latest filings made public on Monday showed that CEO Elon Musk sold another $906.5 million in company stock amounting to more than 934,000 shares. At the same time as he is selling shares, he’s also exercising options to buy additional stock. He exercised 2.13 million of his warrants in the latest filing.
Musk has now sold nearly $13 billion in Tesla stock over a month after he ran a poll on Twitter asking his followers if he should dispose of 10% of his stake in the company (Majority voted Yes), which includes several billion that he is selling to meet tax withholding obligations.
Pfizer to acquire Arena Pharma for $6.7 billion
Pfizer Inc. announced on Monday it had reached an agreement to acquire Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a deal worth $6.7 billion. Under the contract, Pfizer will take over all of Arena’s outstanding stocks at $100 per share.
Arena Pharmaceuticals has focused its business on therapeutic products, including gastroenterology, dermatology, and cardiology treatments.
READ; Hisa Unveils US Stock Market Investing For Kenyans as Regulator Issues No Objection
