China's New Omicron Lockdown

Today is Tuesday, March 15, 2022.

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China's New Omicron Lockdown

A new wave of Omicron infections has resulted in lockdowns in the city of Shenzhen in China.

Details: Over 17 million residents in Shenzhen, a major tech and manufacturing hub, will be in lockdown for at least a week. Over 51 million people in the region are impacted. Several businesses in the region will be closed. It is said to be the worst Covid-19 outbreak in China in two years.

Bad News: Electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology (TPE: 2354) shut down production in Shenzhen. Its stock dropped 0.58% on Monday. The company produces supplies for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which also saw its stock drop 2.66% on Monday. Other stocks impacted include Nike (NYSE: NKE), which fell 4.14%, and Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS), which dropped 11.89%.

Good News: It wasn’t all bad news for stocks on Monday, as vaccine stocks rallied due to the new outbreak. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) jumped 3.94% and Moderna (Nasdaq: MRNA) increased 8.59%. Investors see the vaccines produced by these companies as superior to the ones deployed in China.

Final Thoughts: It is worth keeping an eye on these stocks, especially if you want to buy the dip on the stocks that fell or sell the stocks that jumped on Monday.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Volkswagen (OTCMKTS: VWAGY), Shift Technologies (Nasdaq: SFT), Katapult Holdings (Nasdaq: KPLT), CitiTrends (Nasdaq: CTRN), SentinelOne (NYSE: S), Dole (NYSE: DOLE), Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR), FTC Solar (Nasdaq: FTCI), Markforged Holding (NYSE: MKFG), Carlotz (Nasdaq: LOTZ), Sovos Brands (Nasdaq: SOVO), Caleres (NYSE: CAL), Joyy (Nasdaq: YY), Kamada (Nasdaq: KMDA), GoHealth (Nasdaq: GOCO), Aspen Group (Nasdaq: ASPU), CooTek (NYSE: CTK), Bird Global (NYSE: BRDS), Boxed (NYSE: BOXD), Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment (NYSE: CHMI), IHS Holding (NYSE: IHS), Kandi Technologies Group (Nasdaq: KNDI), Volt Information Sciences (NYSEAmerican: VOLT), Zedge (NYSEAmerican: ZDGE), Pennsylvania Real Estate Invt Trust (NYSE: PEI).

Notable IPOs Today: AKANDA CORP. (Nasdaq: AKAN), 5E Advanced Materials, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: FEAM).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: FitBUX (Republic), YEP (NetCapital), Quantum Music (Republic), DeoBioSciences (NetCapital), GoSun (StartEngine), Hailios (StartEngine), StaySafe Concrete Products (Wefunder).

Notable Economic Events Today: Retail sales (8:30 a.m. ET), Import/Export price index (8:30 a.m. ET), Business/Retail inventories (10:30 a.m. ET), Crude oil inventories (10:30 a.m. ET), FOMC Decision on Interest Rates (2:00 p.m. ET).

Bitcoin Survives EU Regulation

The price of Bitcoin ticked up a bit on Monday after the European Union voted against a proposal that would have banned mining of certain cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Detail: The provision in the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) bill, which would have limited proof-of-work mining, was defeated by a vote of 30-23 on Monday in the EU.

Numbers: The price of Bitcoin went up about 2% on Monday. Bitcoin prices have been mostly stable in the past week.

Final Thoughts: It’s been a rough year so far for Bitcoin, but Monday’s news should give Bitcoin traders one less thing to worry about.

Last Year’s Top IPOs Are Still Down

Despite all of the hype, the three biggest IPOs of 2021 have seen their stock prices plummet.

Rivian: While having the financial back of Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Ford (NYSE: F) is great, Rivian Automotive (Nasdaq: RIVN) can’t keep up with its nearly $70 billion valuation. The stock is down 70%.

Coupang: South Korea e-commerce platform Coupang (NYSE: CPNG) raised over $4 billion for its IPO, but the stock is down 64%.

Grab: Last year, Grab (Nasdaq: GRAB) went public as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Now, the stock is down 74%.

Final Thoughts: To be fair, not all IPOs fall, but these three stocks dropped fast.

Trends to Watch

More Expensive: Lyft, like Uber, plans to add a fuel surcharge (CNN)

Surging: Treasury Yields Rebound to New Multiyear Highs (The Wall Street Journal)

Come Together: HBO Max and Discovery Plus will merge into one app (The Verge)

Big Bets: Investors turn to crypto funds, companies as Russia-Ukraine crisis escalates (Reuters)

No More: Global fruit supplier Camposol withdraws $450M US IPO (Seeking Alpha)

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