MARKETS
COVID-19
Declining Coronavirus Cases Still Require Caution
The daily average of new coronavirus cases is declining in America with an average of 47,300 as of Wednesday this week, compared to the peak average of 67,317 cases on July 22. As states observe this decline, it is important to keep it this way with the proper safety measures or else the numbers can quickly change. However, it may be too late with colleges reopening and the virus being closely linked to Greek life. At least 17 states have reported COVID-19 cases being traced back to off-campus gatherings and Greek life. With one week into the semester, University of North Carolina announced its cancellation for in-person instruction. The university has reported four COVID-19 clusters across residence halls and a frat house, with at least 130 students testing positive.
FINTECH
Robinhood Swooping Series G Funding Round this Week
Robinhood as a trading start-up has been gaining traction from younger investors through the pandemic. In June, the app said it saw a 4.3 million daily average revenue trades –or DARTs– outperforming all of the publicly traded incumbent brokers such as Charles Schwab and E-Trade. On Monday, Robinhood received their Series G funding of $200 million from an NY hedge fund, D1 Capital Partners. This injection boosts the company’s valuation to $11.2 billion from $8.6 billion, which poses a speculation of an IPO. However, the company has not disclosed whether it is profitable or not. Additionally, Robinhood has gained criticism over the casino like interface and gamification which ultimately led a trader to commit suicide over a $730 million loss in a day over options trading this summer. The pandemic opened up time on a lot of Americans’ hands and it seems like they picked up trading as their new hobby.
ELECTIONS
Biden Accepts the Democratic Nomination for the White House
On Thursday, Joe Biden formally accepted his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention. The former Vice President has proposed an economic plan prior to the convention that focused on immediate relief for families, small businesses and communities that suffered from the pandemic. More recently, Biden has shifted his focus on manufacturing and innovation with his “Buy American” economic agenda. This includes a $700 billion investment in procurement and R&D for new technologies that promote clean energy, innovation in biotech and artificial intelligence. According to Biden, this new plan will help create 5 million new job and more, “Made in America, all in America” products to ultimately rely less on imports from foreign countries like China. Additionally, he plans on boosting the corporate tax rate back up to 28% from 21%, increasing capital gains tax and eliminating the real estate tax break.
TECH
4-1 Apple Stock Split Coming in Hot
On Wednesday, Apple hit a milestone becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to hit a $2 trillion market cap. Taking a step back, it took Apple 42 years to reach the $1 trillion mark, but only 2 years after that to top $2 trillion. CEO Tim Cook had a major influence on this milestone as he shifted Apple to not only a hardware company, but also a software company. This was the right move as iPhone sales have plateaued, but services such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud, and the App Store remained consistent. On July 30th, Apple announced a four-for-one stock split. That means, for each share of Apple stock that an investor owns, they’ll receive three additional shares. Stock splits are cosmetic and do not fundamentally change anything about the company, other than being more accessible to more investors at a cheaper price. Currently trading above $380, investors should have the chance to buy a share of Apple for around $100 depending at where trading prices end this month.
Source: CNBC
ENTERTAINMENT
Movie Theatres Reopening After Five Months
This weekend, major theatre chains such as Regal, AMC, Cinemark and Marcus Corp will be reopening their doors to the public after a five-month shutdown. Even with new safety measures and sanitary stations, it is unclear if there will be an audience. Health experts are worried about the air conditioning units in a confined space as they can push infected droplets around the room and people taking their masks off to eat popcorn. Theatres will mostly show older movies to gauge the audience and then proceed with newer titles, but a survey conducted by Morning Consult showed that only 17% of consumers feel comfortable in going to the movies.
Written By: Sarah Lee
Works Cited
Bursztynsky, Jessica. “Apple Becomes First U.S. Company to Reach a $2 Trillion Market Cap.” CNBC, 19 Aug. 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/19/apple-reaches-2-trillion-market-cap.html.
CNN, Christina Maxouris. “New Covid-19 Cases Are Declining across the US, Official Says, but That Could Quickly Change If People Aren’t Careful.” CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/20/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html. Accessed 22 Aug. 2020.
Haselton, Todd. “Apple Announces 4-for-1 Stock Split.” CNBC, 30 July 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/30/apple-stock-split-announced.html.
Morning Brew
Robinhood Announces Another Mega Round, Valuation Soars to $11.2B. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/17/robinhood-announces-another-mega-round-valuation-soars-to-11point2b.html?utm_source=morning_brew. Accessed 18 Aug. 2020.
Rooney, Kate. “Robinhood Reports More Monthly Trades than Rivals Charles Schwab, E-Trade Combined.” CNBC, 10 Aug. 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/10/robinhood-reports-more-monthly-trades-than-rivals-charles-schwab-e-trade-combined.html.
“When Will Consumers Feel Safe Again?” Morning Consult, 18 Aug. 2020, https://morningconsult.com/2020/08/18/tracking-consumer-comfort-with-dining-out-and-other-leisure-activities/.
Whitten, Sarah. “Movie Theaters Reopen This Weekend, but It’s Unclear If Audiences Will Return.” CNBC, 21 Aug. 2020, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/movie-theaters-reopen-this-weekend-but-attendance-is-in-question.html.