This morning Japan released its final GDP growth report for the last quarter of 2020, which came in at 11.7%, well below a forecast of 12.8%. The report did not help the Japanese yen, which has been weakening for weeks now due to the essentially non-existent demand for safe havens.
The eurozone also released its third estimates of GDP growth in Q4, but fared a bit better. While QoQ the growth rate of -0.7% was slightly worse than expected, the YoY -4.9% result exceeded investors’ expectations.
Together with a few more positive (but less important) publications from Europe, today’s data helped boost EU indices higher.
As for the oil market, today we are seeing oil prices on the rise again, despite a disappointing close on Monday, which was a correction from highs hit earlier in the day, thanks to a conflict between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Today the Brent crude is trading around $68.78, while the WTI is at $65.50 per barrel.
On the stock market, Tesla is making a lot of noise lately, and not for the good kind of reasons. Due to rising bond yields globally, tech stocks, a 2020 pandemic favorite, have taken a hit. In addition, a shortage in the supply of semiconductors has made the situation worse.
To top it off, some investors have been skeptical about Elon Musk’s recent bets on Bitcoin. This has contributed to a drop in the stock value of Tesla of close to $280 billion in just a month, and the trend is likely to continue for a while.
On the other end of the spectrum is GameStop, the heavily-shorted company that was subject of a now infamous short squeeze weeks ago. GameStop announced it is working on improving its e-commerce strategy, which once more fueled investments in the previously-struggling company. The company’s shares are up 15% today.
