Financial market research and analysis

News
• Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday trade, with tech shares in the region monitored following overnight declines for the sector on Wall Street. Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent dropped 6.97% and 4.03%, respectively. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.74%;
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ignored Joe Biden’s victory and claimed there will be a “smooth transition” to a second Trump term. Other top Trump administration officials, such as Vice President Mike Pence, have publicly insisted that the election is not over;
• Nearly 120,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the U.S. as the total number of confirmed cases topped 10.1 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University;
• Initial sales for Alibaba's Singles Day event were massive, soaring past $56 billion in the first 10 days and 30 minutes of the extended event. But shares of Alibaba slid as much as 9% in Tuesday trades after Chinese regulators released a new draft of anti-monopoly rules that could target online platforms;
• Apple announces its first new computers with its own chip instead of Intel’s;
• Beyonce, Peloton strike multiyear content partnership, sending exercise cycle-maker’s shares higher;
• Pfizer’s encouraging vaccine news Monday gave some consumers enough comfort to book cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio said;
• One day after Carnival stock soared by the most on record (+39%), company rushed to lock in the gains and raise much needed liquidity by announcing a new $1.5 billion "at the market" stock offering via Goldman and JPMorgan. The news sent the stock over 12% lower;
• NASA certifies SpaceX to carry astronauts, a first for a privately-developed spacecraft system.
• Lyft (LYFT) shares rose more than 6% as the company reported third-quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday, following a massive rally on Monday. Amid the Covid19 pandemic in the U.S., Lyft’s active riders increased 44% y/y in Q3;

Day Ahead
• Earnings: Lemonade (LMND);
• Macro: Chinese New Loans, Brazilian Retail Sales.

Quote of the day
"Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.” – Albert Einstein"

Wrap
The Dow closed up 262 points while the S&P 500 slumped with tech companies losing favor on vaccine hopes. The Nasdaq fell 1.37% as Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft extended losses from Monday as investors turned to reopening stocks. Apple bucked the trend, rising ever so slightly after announcing its first chip, the M1. Value and small caps sharply outperformed Growth and large caps stocks. European equities closed higher as Banks surged another 4.4%. On the fixed income side, the U.S yield curve steepened to its highest since May 2017.

President-Elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that his transition is underway and nothing is going to stop it, even if President Donald Trump continues to stew in denial. Fellow Republicans are still supporting Trump's attempt to challenge Biden's victory, but their patience may be limited, Reuters reported. Senior aides said the president must produce evidence or exit stage.