Stock Market Today Mid-Morning Updates
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by 170 points. Today, President Joe Biden and world leaders in Brussels opened three emergency meetings to address Russia’s war with Ukraine. This would include a NATO summit, a G-7 summit, and an European Union summit, where Biden will attend all three. Furthermore, a senior U.S. official says that the U.S. plans to sanction over 300 Russian elites and block Russian central bank gold. The EU and G-7 will also inform international organizations that from this point on, they are no longer to operate within Russia under “business as usual” standards.
Also, GameStop (NYSE: GME) is down by over 4% on today’s opening bell after surging by more than 60% in the past 5 trading sessions. The meme stock surged earlier in the week after GameStop Chair Ryan Cohen announced that he has bought an additional 100,000 shares. Trip.com (NASDAQ: TCOM) is up by over 6% today after the China-based travel services company reported an unexpected profit this quarter.
Among the Dow Jones leaders, shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up by 0.57% today while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also up by 0.20%. Meanwhile, Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Nike (NYSE: NKE) are trading mixed on Thursday. Among the Dow financial leaders, Visa (NYSE: V) is up by 0.35% while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is also up by 0.55%.
Shares of EV leader Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) are up by 0.86% on Thursday. Rival EV companies like Rivian (NASDAQ: RIVN) are also up by 1.29%. Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) is up by 0.27% today. Chinese EV leaders like Nio (NYSE: NIO) and Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV) opened lower today.
Dow Jones Today: U.S. Jobless Claims Drop To 50-Year Low
Following the stock market opening on Thursday, the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq are trading higher at 0.63%, 0.51%, and 0.53% respectively. Among exchange-traded funds, the Nasdaq 100 tracker Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is down by 0.61% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA: SPY) is also up by 0.65%.
The 10-year Treasury yield continues to climb to multi-year highs at 2.42%. Oil prices are also up and the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude currently trades at $113.60 per barrel. Fillings for first time unemployment benefits for the week dropped by 28,000 to 187,000, fewer than consensus estimates. This would be the lowest level since 1969. February durable goods orders also fell 2.2%, more than double the estimated decline.
The generally strong job market and soaring inflation are being followed closely by the Federal Reserve, which increased interest rates last week for the first time in more than three years. On the geopolitical front, Poland and other eastern flan NATO countries are seeking clarification on how the U.S. and other European nations can assist in dealing with their growing concerns about Russian aggression as well as a spiraling Ukrainian refugee crisis. President Biden is also scheduled to visit Poland on Friday.
[Read More] Top Stock Market News For Today March 24, 2022
Nikola Stock Soars After Announcing Start Of Semi-Truck Production
Making headlines in the stock market today is Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA). In brief, the company essentially specializes in the development of heavy-duty electric vehicles (EVs). Aside from that, the company is also working on fuel-cell EVs, and energy infrastructure solutions. Since going public in 2020, Nikola has not had the smoothest of journeys. Despite a recent falling out with its former CEO, Nikola continues to make progress on the operational front.
Diving in, Nikola revealed that it has started the production of its battery-powered electric semitruck, the Tre. In an announcement from yesterday, the company notes that production began earlier this week on Monday. Notably, this makes Nikola the first company to bring an electric semitruck to market, outpacing Tesla. As the company begins work at its Coolidge, Arizona factory, it expects the first deliveries to head out in the coming quarter. As a result of all this, NKLA stock is now gaining by over 9% at today’s opening bell.
In detail, the Tre mainly works for businesses looking to transport goods over shorter distances. Accordingly, it currently has a range of about 350 miles, making it optimal for smaller supply routes. For now, Nikola is expecting total deliveries of between 300 to 500 trucks in 2022. After that, the company is planning to bolster its production capacity in 2023. While all that is great, Nikola executives also note that the company is already eyeing its next big project. This would be its plans for a hydrogen fuel cell version of the Tre. The likes of which Nikola expects to have an impressive range of 500 miles and be out by 2025. As such, I can understand why investors are flocking to NKLA stock today.
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Uber Significantly Expands Driver Pool With Curb Partnership
In other mobility-related news, Uber (NYSE: UBER) is coming into focus today thanks to its latest partnership. Simply put, Uber is now teaming up with Curb, a taxi-based ride-hailing platform. Through the current deal, Curb and Uber will be integrating their software on Uber’s flagship platform. In doing so, Uber clients will have access to a much wider group of drivers, significantly increasing their chances of securing a ride. According to Uber, the duo are looking to have this collaboration rollout later this spring in New York. Because of all this UBER stock is now gaining by over 3% at today’s market open.
By and large, the current scale of this deal is worth noting. After all, Curb is bringing tens of thousands of additional drivers to the table. All of which make up the largest network of taxis in the country. This timely play by Uber would also help to mitigate the impact of the ongoing labor shortage in the ride-hailing space. Speaking on the long-term development of this partnership is Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. He highlights, “I will tell you we wanna get every single taxi in the world onto our platform by 2025.” With all this in mind, it is no wonder that UBER stock is in the spotlight today.
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