Episode 39: Stimulus Discussions Resume.
Market News
It’s been a roller coaster of ups and downs and starts and stops as the stimulus discussions resume.
The markets have largely taken the impacts well but the intraday swings can leave anyone dizzy. We ended the week up in all sectors, with small caps up 6% for the week. Next week we have big banks kicking off earning season as we get closer to the holidays. If we continue to enjoy the Fed’s support on interest rates and Congress passes a new stimulus package, the markets will definitely continue their run-up.
With Election Day approaching, several ballot measures are vying for voter attention. Among those is Prop 22, drawing particular focus on the Gig Economy. For backers of the measure, it’s personal. As of September 23, Uber, DoorDash, Lyft, Instacart and Postmates collectively poured $184.3 million into the "Yes on Proposition 22" campaign. Meanwhile, the "No on Prop 22" folks received just $10.7 million, mostly from labor unions. This remains a very close ballot battle, particularly in light of the dollar differential.
Amazon’s Prime Day is set to accelerate beyond last year’s effort and power the e-commerce giant to a blowout fourth quarter, according to JPMorgan. The firm kept Amazon as its top pick ahead of the event, which was pushed to mid-October this year due to the pandemic. That schedule puts Prime Day at the forefront of what is expected to be a busy holiday shopping season for e-commerce, according to Morgan’s client note.
Friday Market Close
Dow 30 28,586.90 +161.39(+0.57%)
S&P 500 3,477.14 +30.31(+0.88%)
Nasdaq 11,579.94 +158.96(+1.39%)
IPO & SPACS
Gores Holdings VI, a SPAC formed by The Gores Group, filed for a $300 million IPO. Earlier Gores SPACs have purchased such companies as wholesale mortgage lender UWM and Twinkies maker Hostess. http://axios.link/L92Z
Another SPAC, Clover Health, a tech-enabled provider of Medicare Advantage plans, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with a Palihapitiya-led SPAC called Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings III (NYSE: IPOC).
Former Paypal Mafia member Max Levchin has confidentially filed to take Affirm - a San Francisco-based provider of point-of-sale credit to consumers for online purchases - public. http://axios.link/8u2h
Next Friday we will be hosting our first Vote with Love listening party. Join us on Friday, Oct 16th, at 6 pm on Facebook and make sure you are registered to vote!
Have a great weekend!