Episode 59: Big Tech pausing contributions and CES 2021
Happy Monday! I am excited to kick off a new format for our market recaps. We will countdown the top 3 topics impacting the markets this week.
Companies deplatforming Trump: The companies keep growing on who will not have Trump on their platforms. In addition now beside deplatforming tech companies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft announced they are pausing contributions from their political action committees in the wake of the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday by insurgents incited by President Donald Trump. More companies are following like Marriott and while those companies took a sweeping approach to pausing contributions, others have been more targeted. This brings up the good point of whether big pacs should be giving political contributions.
The deployment of the PPP loans: The Small Business Administration has begun accepting applications for the second round of loans from the Payment Protection Program. The $900 billion pandemic relief bill signed into law at the end of last year by President Trump allocated $284 billion for the program. First-time borrowers are still bound by the terms of the initial round. This time around, loans are capped at $2 million, down from the previous $10 million maximum. There are companies like Numerated who are helping small banks and businesses get to the loans faster and easier.
CES 2021 is online and here are the gadgets that are a focus smart home, workout tech, batteries, and so many TVs. While another major conference goes virtual, the JP Morgan Healthcare conference, 2020 was still a banner year for the pharmaceutical industry in terms of acquisitions, partnerships, and companies that went public. Much of that is likely to continue in 2021.
Market closed down today: Stocks pulled back from record highs on Monday, but some investors are taking solace in a reliable market indicator that just sent a bullish signal for 2021. Overall levels are still above average but investors are cautious about inflation.
Public Offering This Week: This week we have Affirm going public on Wednesday and Poshmark on Thursday. Both companies will be listing on Nasdaq and looking to raise capital via a traditional IPO. We will bring you more information on our IPO watch parties.
Pandocap Updates: On Friday we will have our interview launching with Udemy around how they will move forward with tech education in 2021.
Have a great week!