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NASDAQ records new high as Powell testifies
The NASDAQ recorded a new all-time high in today’s trading session as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was set to testify before congress.
Powell’s testimony comes a week after the Federal Reserve opted to keep its hawkish approach by keeping rates unchanged.
Congress will likely press Powell on the Fed’s stance on the current rise in inflation and look to get further guidance on when the bank could look to alter its policy.
In anticipation of the testimony, all three major U.S. indices traded higher, whilst Gold prices stalled.
The U.S. Dollar also weakened against the British Pound, hitting an intraday high of 1.3942 .
GameStop leads meme stock rally
GameStop, the original meme stock rallied on Tuesday as it was announced that the company had raised over $1 billion.
The company which was one of the major benefactors of the reddit “WallStreetBets” thread, today announced that it sold 5 million shares.
As a result of the sale, the company was able to raise $1.13 billion in capital in order to accelerate growth.
Today’s news saw shares in the retailer rise by as much as 12% earlier in today’s session, before retreating thereafter.
As of writing, $GME was up 5.6%, whilst fellow “meme stock” $AMC was trading up 2.90%.
FTSE 100 rises despite surge in COVID-19 cases
London’s FTSE 100 closed higher on Tuesday, despite the latest figures showing that COVID-19 cases were once again on the rise.
It was reported that there were 11,625 new COVID-19 infections, in addition to 27 deaths, compared to 10,633 cases and 5 deaths reported a day earlier.
The news comes 24-hours after the United Kingdom was expected to fully ease lockdown restrictions, however this has now been officially postponed to July 19th.
New variants of the virus are said to be the reason for the recent rise in cases, and as a result the government has moved to invite all adults over 18 to take their first COVID jab.
The FTSE 100 closed 0.39% higher on Tuesday.
Quote of the day – “A lot of people get so enmeshed in the markets that they lose their perspective. Working longer does not necessarily equate with working smarter. In fact, sometimes it is the other way around.”
– Martin Schwartz
