Author: Dan Brown
Bitcoin (BTC -0.50%) hit a value of more than $100,000 last year, for the first time ever. Did the fourth Bitcoin halving event prove to be a positive catalyst for the cryptocurrency and its valuation? Or has its rapid rise in value had more to do with other factors? How Bitcoin has done since the halving event Bitcoin’s big selling point is its scarcity. And every four years, the rewards of Bitcoin mining are halved. It’s bad news for miners, but it slows the rate at which new tokens enter circulation, thereby helping maintain Bitcoin’s scarcity. Bitcoin’s value sometimes rises…
Investors didn’t rush to buy Lockheed Martin stock this week. They might want to reconsider. Lockheed Martin (LMT 2.39%) reported earnings on Tuesday, and the crowd went mild. Seriously. Rarely has an earnings beat the size of the one Lockheed reported this week been met with such a gigantic collective shrug of dismissal as this one. Heading into earnings day, Wall Street analysts confidently predicted Lockheed would report a $6.31-per-share profit on $17.8 billion in sales. Instead, Lockheed reported $18 billion in sales, and a $7.28-per-share profit, a full 15% better than expected. But two days later, Lockheed Martin stock…
The S&P 500 index (^GSPC 0.74%) is made up of 500 companies from 11 different sectors of the economy, so it’s the most diversified of the major U.S. stock market indexes. It’s currently down 12.5% from its record high, placing it firmly in correction territory, amid simmering global trade tensions that were sparked by President Trump’s “Liberation Day” on April 2. The president announced a sweeping 10% tariff on all imported goods from America’s trading partners, in addition to much higher “reciprocal tariffs” on goods from specific countries that have large trade surpluses with the U.S. The reciprocal tariffs have…
The escalating trade war and tariffs (actual and threatened) have disrupted several sectors of the economy, including the bond markets. This, in turn, has had an impact on mortgage real estate investment trusts (mREITs) like AGNC Investment (AGNC 1.38%). The stock looked like it was starting to turn the corner following a difficult operating environment the past few years, but then the sudden shock to the bond market once again left it reeling. However, AGNC management thinks the current market environment could set it up for strong future returns. Given the stock’s 17% dividend yield, it’s certainly worth investigating the…
Altcoins were hot this week as investors poured back into the crypto market after a major sell-off early in April. The biggest move came from Sui (SUI 0.44%), which has been gaining momentum from users this year, and jumped 68.4% this week. Solana (SOL -0.78%) was up 13% on the week, Cardano (ADA 0.91%) was up 14.8%, and Avalanche (AVAX 0.61%) popped 17.6%. The macro picture It’s hard to discuss crypto trading without acknowledging the impact that market dynamics and trade volatility are having on the value of assets. When President Donald Trump announced tariffs earlier this month the market…
According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Kymera Therapeutics (KYMR -0.86%) notched an almost 23% share price gain across this week. That made it a standout in the ever-volatile biotech sector. Investors were cheered by a pair of announcements published by the company. Patients dosed in early-stage trial Kymera is a clinical-stage biotech that specializes in a mechanism known as targeted protein degradation in its medicines. On Tuesday, the company delivered encouraging news from the laboratory, writing in a press release it had initiated dosing in a phase 1b clinical trial of its investigational drug KT-621. That medication…
The field of psychedelic medicine is relatively new, and because of this, certain investors consider it to be loaded with potential. That’s why even minor events in companies specializing in this can be greeted with notable share price pops. Such a dynamic was in evidence with U.K.-based Compass Pathways (CMPS -4.26%) this week. On news about a step completed in a clinical trial, the company’s shares rose by 13% over the period, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. A significant milestone reached Compass Pathways, which focuses on psilocybin — the psychoactive compound found in “magic” mushrooms –…
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Logistics specialist Landstar System (LSTR -3.44%) wasn’t looking like such a special company to investors as the trading week came to a close. Its share price decelerated by almost 4% on Friday on news of a reporting delay. That decline was particularly noticeable given that the benchmark S&P 500 index increased on the day, rising by 0.6%. An uncomfortable delay That morning Landstar announced that its first-quarter earnings release, scheduled for publication next Tuesday, April 29, has been shifted forward. The company said it will instead unveil those results on May 13, again a Tuesday. Accordingly, it will file an…
Concerns about a top rival’s performance put big telecoms Verizon (VZ -2.11%) and AT&T (T -2.67%) in the investor doghouse on Friday. The stocks of both companies traded limply, to the point where the pair closed the day more than 2% lower in price. That made them outliers, as the S&P 500 index inched 0.6% higher. Rather uncomfortably, both stocks are components of the index. A peer disappoints The aforementioned peer is T-Mobile US (TMUS -11.26%), which published its first-quarter results after market close on Thursday. The company beat the consensus analyst estimates for both revenue and profitability, and raised…