Travel Stocks Shrug Off Omicron

Today is Thursday, December 23, 2021.

Travel Stocks Shrug Off Omicron

Despite the rise of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Christmas travel is in full swing and travel stocks seem to be doing just fine.

Catalyst: The number of airline travel passengers in the U.S. returned to pre-pandemic levels on Tuesday, according to data released by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Stocks Riding High: Several travel stocks increased on Wednesday. United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) was up 1.46%, Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) was up 2.91%, Carnival Cruises (NYSE: CCL) was up 3.46%, and Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL) was up 3.77%.

Lagging: But some travel stocks didn’t perform well on Wednesday. Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR) was down 0.46%, Trivago (Nasdaq: TRVG) was down 0.48%, and Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) was down 0.52%.

Big Picture: While Omicron may have impacted some parts of travel, including international travel, the industry is doing well. This is especially true for domestic travel and hospitality stocks.

Final Thoughts: Travel stocks could be stymied by economic issues in 2022. Plus, travel in the U.S. is usually a bit slower during the upcoming first quarter.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: N/A.

Notable IPOs Today: Juniper II Corp. (NYSE: JUN), Apptech Payments Corp. Common Stock (Nasdaq: APCX), McLaren Technology Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: MLAI), Vision Sensing Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: VSAC), Hour Loop, Inc (Nasdaq: HOUR), Aetherium Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: GMFIU).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: CrowdLustro (Wefunder), BioSmart Research (Wefunder), CurlMix (Wefunder), Eventcombo (StartEngine), World Tree (Wefunder), Better Family (StartEngine).

Notable Economic Events Today: Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. ET), Personal Spending (8:30 a.m. ET), Core Durable Goods (8:30 a.m. ET), New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET), Michigan Consumer Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET), Michigan Inflation Expectations (10:00 a.m. ET).

Quantifying Crypto’s 2021 Rise

Photo by Executium / Unsplash

2021 was the year when cryptocurrency became more mainstream. Let’s break down some clear examples.

Reddit Dominance: Crypto was the most mentioned topic on the social media platform Reddit in 2021, with users mentioning "crypto" 6.6 million times, according to the Indian Express.

Open Your Wallets: The number of Bitcoin wallets to store coins has exploded. There were about 1 million in 2014. By the end of 2021, the number of Bitcoin wallets hit over 79 million.

Accepted Everywhere: 2021 was the year when everyone from PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) to Venmo to Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) all allowed customers to use crypto.

Final Thoughts: With so much acceptance and growth in 2021, where will crypto go in 2022?

Nikola Jumps Due to Viral Tweet

Shares of Nikola (Nasdaq: NKLA) increased 5.11% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the motor vehicle company posted a Tweet with photos from its first customer delivery.

Details: The photos were actually taken on December 17 when the company delivered its first Nikola Tre battery-electric vehicle (BEV) pilot trucks to Total Transportation Services.

Recent News: The good news is that Nikola reached a purchase order with Heniff Transportation Systems on Wednesday for 10 trucks. The bad news is that the company also paid $125 million in charges for an investor lawsuit this week.

Background: Last year, shares of Nikola plummeted after the company’s founder resigned due to allegations of misleading investors.

Final Thoughts: Shares of Nikola are down 41% this year.

Trends to Watch

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