Today is Friday, December 10, 2021.
Oracle's Veiled Shot at Amazon
Shares of Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) jumped 10.4% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the tech giant posted better-than-expected earnings.
Financials: Oracle reported earnings of $1.21 per share and revenue of $10.4 billion - both were better than what analysts projected.
Big Growth: It was a great quarter for Oracle’s cloud business. Total cloud revenue shot up 22%, Fusion ERP cloud revenue went up 35%, and NetSuite ERP cloud revenue increased 29%.
Comment: During the earnings call, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison reportedly said that Oracle’s cloud “never ever goes down,” which was interrupted as a joke against Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Web Services, which had an outage this week.
Final Thoughts: Oracle looks like a solid long-term bet for investors. Can the company close the gap against the other big cloud giants, such as Amazon?
Notables
Notable Earnings Today: Academy Sports & Outdoors (Nasdaq: ASO), Johnson Outdoors (Nasdaq: JOUT).
Notable IPOs Today: Intensity Therapeutics, Inc. Common stock (Nasdaq: INTS), Integrity Applications, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: IGAP), Newcourt Acquisition Corp Class A Ordinary Share (Nasdaq: NCAC), Healthcare AI Acquisition Corp. Unit (Nasdaq: HAIAU), Financial Strategies Acquisition Corp. Unit (Nasdaq: FXCOU), Onyx Acquisition Co. I Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: ONXY), Worldwide Webb Acquisition Corp. Class A Ordinary Share (Nasdaq: WWAC).
Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Milkmen Cannabis (MainVest), NanoMed Tracking (NetCapital), Blendily (MainVest), Joanna Premium Tonic Syrups (MainVest), Unlo (Wefunder), LifeBridge 10000 (Wefunder), Aavrani (Republic).
Notable Economic Events Today: Consumer price index (8:30 a.m. ET), Michigan Consumer Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET).
Bitcoin’s Early December Decline, Explained
The price of Bitcoin has declined rapidly since peaking a month ago in November.
Numbers: Bitcoin is down 30% from its peak last month. In the past week, the price of Bitcoin dipped about 10%.
Catalyst: Analysts point to economic uncertainties behind this recent decline. There are concerns about Bitcoin miners around the world facing government crackdowns, even though Bitcoin mining is currently on pace for a record, according to the Financial Times.
Bullish View: Despite the declines, many experts are bullish on Bitcoin. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone tweeted on Thursday that Bitcoin could reach $100,000 in 2022 due to deflationary forces.
Final Thoughts: Now is not the time for Bitcoin investors to panic. Historically, Bitcoin has survived declines like this before.
Sectors Ready for a Santa Claus Rally
Investors are hoping for a Santa Claus rally to boost stocks at the end of the year. Here are a few sectors to keep an eye on.
Big Tech: Technology giants are always popular, but especially during a Santa Claus rally. In particular, Google (Nasdaq: GOOGL) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) are strong picks.
Be Healthy: With the pandemic still here, there are many health stocks to choose from - including pharmaceutical companies and retail health stores.
Energy: If oil prices have a late-year rebound, then energy stocks could be good. Last year, Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) went up 6% during the Santa Claus rally.
Final Thoughts: Keep an eye on companies with strong financials. They also tend to do well towards the end of the year.
Trends to Watch
Nu Kid on the Block: Nubank stock opens 25% above IPO price, valuing company at nearly $52 billion (MarketWatch)
Workers Have Spoken: Starbucks workers at Buffalo store win union victory, the coffee giant's first (Yahoo! Finance)
Deadly Increase: Covid Spurs Biggest Rise in Life-Insurance Payouts in a Century (The Wall Street Journal)
Sign of the Times: Bitcoin surge was a windfall for white supremacists, research finds (NBC news)
Not a Spam Email: Spam sales hit record high for seventh straight year in 2021, says Hormel Foods CEO (CNBC)
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