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NASDAQ Records New High Post Tech Earnings
The NASDAQ once again rallied to a new all-time high, as tech stocks continue to outperform the rest of the market.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ index has seen large gains since last Thursday, when several tech heavyweights released better than expected earnings, today surpassed the 11,050 level.
One of the biggest contributors to today’s gains, came from APPLE which saw its shares rise by 2.7%
Overall, the index rose by roughly 1.3%
U.S. Manufacturing Sector Continues Strong Recovery
Data released today showed that the manufacturing sector in the U.S. continues to rise as the nation has relaxed COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
Overall, manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in almost 18 months in the month of July as factory orders increased.
The ISM data which tracks to see if the sector is growing (above 50) or contracting (below 50) said its index raced to a reading of 54.2 last month, which is an increase from 52.6 in June. That was the strongest the index has read since March of 2019.
The S&P 500 gained 0.7%, and Dow rose by 0.85 on the news.
Microsoft in Talks to Buy Tiktok’s U.S. Business
After President Trump confirmed that he will look to ban TikTok from operating within the U.S. due to “security concerns”, several suitors have begun talks with the Chinese tech giant, for a potential takeover of the app.
So far leading the race is Microsoft, which announced it is in discussions to buy TikTok in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Microsoft shares rose by over 3% on the news.
Quote of the day: “Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.”
Steve Clark
Biggest Bull
NDX (futures): Today saw the NASDAQ reach a new record high as markets continued to grow after last week’s strong earnings from tech companies. After trading at 10,745 on Friday, the index reached a high of 11,079 today.
Biggest Bear
GBPUSD: After moving to a high of 1.31703 last week, Monday saw cable fall. This came as the USD rallied against GBP led by better than expected manufacturing growth. The low of the day was 1.30041.