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“Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy. Profit from folly rather than participate in it.” – Warren Buffett
We’re just about through the first month of 2021, and if you thought this year would be less chaotic than the last, don’t hold your breath. In a fitting end to what has been a crazy month in the markets, shares of GameStop (GME) and the other heavily shorted stocks out there are rallying on news that Robinhood would allow clients to trade the stocks again. The company drew on its credit lines and raised new capital last night to shore up its balance sheet, so hopefully, that will prevent a repeat of yesterday’s chaos.
In markets today, futures were already lower but are near their lows of the morning after JNJ released preliminary results of its COVID vaccine. While the initial numbers showed that the vaccine was effective, the overall efficacy doesn’t appear to be as strong as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines already in circulation. One difference between the JNJ study and others, though, is that JNJ’s study took place during a period when other variants of the virus were in circulation, so more details on this will likely be forthcoming.
Be sure to check out today’s Morning Lineup for updates on the latest market news and events, earnings reports from around the world, economic data out of Europe, an update on the latest national and international COVID trends, and much more.
Shares of Caterpillar (CAT) are bucking the negative tone this morning after the company reported positive earnings results. One positive aspect of CAT’s results for the broader economy was that machinery sales saw a significant improvement. While overall machinery sales on a three-month average basis are still down on a global basis, they improved from a decline of 11% to a drop of just 2%. That’s the least negative level since November 2019.
