Oracle's Veiled Shot at Amazon

Photo by Luca Bravo / Unsplash

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

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger / Unsplash

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

Deadly Increase: Covid Spurs Biggest Rise in Life-Insurance Payouts in a Century (The Wall Street Journal)

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