Stocks End Lower; Tech Earnings Boost Afterhours: Markets Wrap
Bloomberg 1/26/2021 Lu Wang and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) U.S. stocks ended an up-and-down session slightly lower, weighed down by worries over virus variants and hurdles to a fresh aid package. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index jumped afterhours following a strong earnings report from Microsoft Corp.
The S&P 500 dropped just over 0.1% on an uneventful day at the index level. Below the surface, sentiment continued to be driven in large part by the retail trading set. GameStop Corp. rallied another 92%, while Pitney Bowes Inc. jumped more than 80% after a comparison to the video-game retailer. Small-caps were among the worst performers as traders turned away from bets on an end to Covid lockdowns.
Legal Entity Identifier: 213800UMIOUWXZPKE539
During the six months to 30 November 2020, the Company s share price and NAV (after deducting borrowings at fair value) returned 50.8 per cent. and 53.8 per cent. respectively. This compares with a total return of 11.1 per cent. for the S&P 500 Index (in sterling terms).
¾ Moderna, held in the Company since 2018, is one of the biotechnology companies which has been at the forefront of coronavirus vaccine development. ¾ In the energy sector, there s been an acceleration in the shift towards electric vehicles. ¾ SpaceX, a private company investment, has been innovating at a breath-taking pace. ¾ We are optimistic about what the future holds. The pace of innovation is speeding up and spreading out. This ought to be a fruitful environment for growth investors.