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Wallstreet
Major indexes in the United States stock market ended lower after hitting new intraday highs on Tuesday. During Tuesday’s session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new all-time high while the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 also hit new all-time records in the early afternoon.
Investors across the global markets are also keenly watching the developments around the second impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump at the US Senate. Trump was impeached in January for inciting violence during the January 6 protests in Washington DC.
Meanwhile, Shares of GameStop Corp. declined almost 20% on Tuesday’s intraday session to below $50 per share as the volatility surrounding the massive Reddit hype on buying shorted stocks continued to move the market. The company’s shares closed 11.56% lower at the end of the trading session.
Earnings Report
Toyota Motors
Toyota Motor on Wednesday said its sales revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 rose by 7% to $78 billion.
Operating income surged 54% to $9.45 billion while net income grew 50% year-on-year to reach $8.02 billion.
Lyft Q4
Ridesharing company Lyft revenue for the fourth quarter of 2020 fell 44% year on year to $569.9 million, it said on Tuesday after US Markets closed.
The company’s net loss during the period under review widened to $458.2 million from a net loss of $356 million in the same quarter in 2019. Lyft said the number of active riders fell 45.2% in the last quarter of 2020 compared to the last quarter of 2019.
In the full year 2020, Lyft’s revenue was down to $2.4 billion from $3.6 billion in 2019. Its net loss declined from $2.6 billion in the previous year to $1.8 billion in 2020.
Twitter Earnings
Twitter’s revenue for the last quarter of 2020 rose 28% to $1.29 billion to beat analysts estimates. The microblogging platform said its average monetizable daily active users rose by 27% to hit 192 million.
In the full year ended December 31, Twitter’s revenue rose 19.3% to $3.7 billion. However, it reported a net loss in 2020 of $1.1 billion, mainly attributed the loss to non-cash, tax-related adjustments.
“2020 was an extraordinary year for Twitter. We are more proud than ever to serve the public conversation, especially in these unprecedented times,” CEO Jack Dorsey said, and added: “Our product changes to date are promoting healthier conversations for those who use our service, including advertisers and partners, and we are excited about our plans to continue innovating in 2021.”
Heineken to shed 8,000 jobs
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV has announced plans to reduce its staff by 8,000 as part of its overall restructuring program.
Total restructuring charge will stand at approximately €420 million, while run-rate direct savings on personnel expenses will amount to €350 million.
“The timelines of restructuring will vary depending on the specific circumstances of each of our local operations, including a reduction of the personnel costs at the head-office by a run-rate of c.20% to be implemented at the end of the first quarter of 2021,” the company said in a statement.
Bitcoin Rally
The price of bitcoin continued to rally on Tuesday and hit a new record by topping $48,000 for the first time.
The recent surge is mainly attributed to news that Tesla purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin saying this was to ensure “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.”
