Here are five things you need to know for Wednesday, January 6th:
1. – Stock contracts mixed as Wall Street Bets Democrats win Senate
Stock contracts were mixed on Wednesday because investors were betting that Democrats could win the U.S. Senate and because tensions between America and China had risen again.
Democratic Reverend Raphael Warnock beats Senator Kelly Loeffler in Georgia and wins one of the two Senate run-offs in the state. His victory puts the Senate majority within the Democratic Party’s reach.
The race between Republican Senator David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff is too early to call, according to the Associated Press, because votes are still being counted.
Contracts linked to the Dow Jones industrial average rose 106 points and S&P 500 futures fell 6 points. Nasdaq futures fell 234 points, or 1.83%, due to concerns that large technology companies could face a tougher monopoly on monopolistic investigations under a Democratic Congress.
The yield on the standard 10-year US Treasury note reached 1% for the first time since March.
The election in Georgia will determine whether the Democrats will take control of Congress and enable them to strengthen the legislative agenda of President-elect Joe Biden.
A swing to the Democrats could lead to greater fiscal stimulus and higher taxes. Only one Republican victory would give the IDP enough votes to stop Biden from pursuing its more ambitious policies on trade, energy and security, according to analysts.
President Donald Trump meanwhile signed an executive order on Tuesday banning transactions with eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group’s Alipay. China on Wednesday accused the US of abusing its powers, saying that their actions only harmed American consumers.
2. – Wednesday’s economic calendar
The US economic calendar on Wednesday includes the ADP National Employment Report for December at 08:15 ET, the PMI Composite Final for December at 09:45, Factory Orders for November at 10:00, Oil Stocks for the week ended January 1 at 10:30 and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting December 15-16 at 2 p.m.
The earnings reports will be released by Simply Good Foods on Wednesday (SMPL) – Get report, Greenbrier Cos. (GBX) – Get report and MSC Industrial Direct (MSM) – Get report.
3. – Alibaba allegedly plans $ 5 billion in sales
Alibaba (BABY) – Get report plans to raise at least $ 5 billion this month by selling a U.S. dollar bond, Reuters reported, citing people with knowledge of it.
The proceeds from the offer could reach $ 8 billion, depending on the investor’s response, one person close to the matter told Reuters. The company is likely to use the funds for general corporate expenses.
The offer would come amid increasing scrutiny by the Chinese authorities of co-founder of Jack Ma, Alibaba.
Ma, who has not been seen or heard from since November, angered Chinese President Xi Jinping with a speech in October that attacked the government’s role in curbing creativity and innovation in the technology sector. Since then, government officials have launched an antitrust inquiry into Alibaba and flattened the initial plans for public offerings of its online banking subsidiary, Ant Group.
CNBC reported on Tuesday that Ma was not ‘missing’, in the sense that his location was unknown, but rather ‘lay low’ in terms of his public appearance in the hope that he could dispel the current opposition from the government.
Alibaba’s US deposit receipts fell 1.71% on Wednesday to $ 234.
4. – NYSE may withdraw course on China Telco delistings
The New York Stock Exchange is considering returning for a second time to delist three large Chinese telecommunications companies after Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin criticized the NYSE’s surprise decision to postpone the companies, Bloomberg said. reported with reference to three people familiar with the matter.
The NYSE decision to hold the listings came as a surprise and caused confusion among officials at the U.S. Treasury and State Department and the National Security Council. The turnaround in the NYSE also caused unrest that reached the highest levels of the Trump administration, Bloomberg reports.
Just last week, the NYSE said it would remove the shares to comply with a U.S. government order signed by President Trump that hampers investments in 35 companies owned or controlled by the Chinese military. But on Monday, the Big Board said in a statement ‘that they no longer intend to continue with the delisting action’ after ‘consultation with the relevant regulatory authorities’.
But on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the exchange could continue with the delisting.
China Mobile (CHL) – Get report, China Telecom (CHA) – Get report in China Unicom (CHU) – Get report lost more than $ 30 billion in market value in the last weeks of 2020 when investors sold the shares following Trump’s order. They dumped as much as $ 12 billion more when their U.S. depository receipts tumbled Monday over the NYSE’s decision to delist them. Prices rose on Tuesday after the NYSE delisting was canceled, moving lower again after the Bloomberg story broke.
5. – Apple CEO Tim Cook gets a big increase from 2020
appeal (AAPL) – Get report CEO Tim Cook raised his cash bonus by 40% last year to $ 10.7 million after the technology giant exceeded its internal financial targets for the past financial year.
Cook’s bonus rose 36% in 2019 when its pay package dropped as revenue and profits fell, linked to weaker iPhone sales, reports The Wall Street Journal.
According to the Journal, according to Apple’s proxy submission, Cook’s 2020 reward, excluding established shares, is $ 14.8 million, including the cash bonus and a salary of $ 3 million that did not change from the previous year.
Cook also had a limited stock of $ 281.9 million earned during the year.
Apple is a holding in Jim Cramer Action Alerts PLUS Member Club. Do you want to be notified before Jim Cramer buys or sells AAPL? Learn more.