A recap of the past week in 3 short headlines.
1. Tech Continues to Roar
The major indexes – S&P 500, Dow 30, and NASDAQ – continue to set record highs amidst a seemingly unstoppable market rally. Tech as a sector continues to dominate. FAANMG and others are surpassing their records and adding billions to their market capitalizations every day. Bank of America recently found that the tech sector is worth more than Europe’s entire stock market. It remains to be seen if tech can continue its unprecedented rally, or if the market will rotate back into defensive, value-based sectors.
Recently, there has been major news regarding the Dow Jones. The index announced that tech giant Salesforce.com, along with Amgen and Honeywell International, will replace the places of Pfizer, Raytheon Technologies, and Exxon Mobil. Many are seeing this shakeup as a sign of COVID-19’s permanent effect on the old guard of once-dominant blue-chip stocks.
2. COVID-19 Update
Despite the market’s explosive growth, COVID-19 continues to make its way around the country. Over 300,000 new cases have been discovered in the past week in the United States alone, putting the U.S. total at nearly 6 million. Encouragingly, the death rate remains relatively stagnant. California, Texas, and Florida continue to lead the U.S. in new cases per day, while Guam, Iowa, North Dakota, and Mississippi lead in new cases per capita.
Abbott Laboratories’ 5 dollar, 15-minute COVID-19 test has recently received emergency use authorization from the FDA in what could be a game-changer in the fight against coronavirus. 9 vaccines are currently in “Phase 3” trials, and 2 have been “approved for early or limited use”. As fall approaches, the world waits in anticipation for trial results. Health officials fear that an effective vaccine is one of the only ways for a full recovery from COVID-19.
3. A Race for TikTok
The TikTok acquisition talks continue to evolve every day. Just a few weeks ago, Microsoft seemed like the sole acquirer of the popular social media app. However, Microsoft has now teamed up with Walmart to make the acquisition. Tech giant Oracle has also joined the race, along with U.K. investment firm Centricus. In early August, the Trump Administration deemed TikTok a national security risk, leading ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to explore potential U.S. M&A deals. ByteDance is based in Beijing, China. We will continue to keep you updated on this evolving situation.
