AXS Investments CEO and chairman Greg Bassuk explains why he likes Cleveland-Cliffs and Hannon Armstrong’s shares in the Biden administration.
U.S. stock markets were modestly higher on Wednesday morning as investors waited for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Dow Jones Industrial futures were up 37 points, or 0.12%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq Composite futures were up 0.22% and 0.77%, respectively.
The early advance had the largest averages on the road to gains on the first day of the Biden presidency after a strong four years under President Trump.
The S&P 500 rose 67% over Trump’s term. The annual gain of 13.73% was the third best during a presidency, and the performance of the index was only during the presidencies Clinton (+ 15.18%) and Obama (+ 13.84%). The Nasdaq, meanwhile, rose 138%, delivering the best percentage of profits under any president.
TRUMP’S STRONG STOCK MARKET IN PERIL AS PRESENTED PRESIDENCY
The inauguration ceremonies begin at about 10:45 a.m., and Biden is expected to take the oath an hour later.
In shares, Netflix Inc. added 8.5 million paid subscribers in the last three months of the year, bringing the total number of subscribers to more than 200 million for the first time. The power giant reported revenue that exceeded Wall Street estimates while earnings were too low.
Morgan Stanley reported earnings and earnings that exceeded analysts’ forecast, bolstered by strong investment banking, trading and asset management.
UnitedHealth Group said its quarterly profit fell 38% year-over-year as the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatment results in a result.
Meanwhile, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been found to be effective against the rapidly spreading variant of the disease that was discovered in the UK during the last months of last year.
Elsewhere, AMC Entertainment raised $ 100 million in debt through a deal with Mudrick Capital, giving the chain more cash to the pandemic. Mudrick already had $ 100 million in AMC debt.
In commodities, the West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil rose 71 cents to $ 53.69 a barrel and gold added $ 7.20 to $ 1,847.40 an ounce.
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European markets were mixed with Britain’s 225 drop of 0.05%, while the French CAC 40 rose by 0.32% and the German DAX 30 by 0.51%.
In Asia, markets ended mixed with the Japanese Nikkei 225 slipping 0.38%, while Chinese Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng rose 0.47% and 1.08% respectively in Hong Kong.