There’s nothing like positive news, or even rumors of something positive, to lift the markets particularly if it’s after a bad day. In online stock trading, you’ve got to observe the market movement in such situations. There was optimism for US stocks on Wednesday, December 4, with reports emerging of the US and China heading towards phase-one of a trade deal, MarketWatch reports.
Tuesday Was Bad for the Market
This positivity helped overcome fears caused by remarks made by President Trump on Tuesday, which caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) to end 280.23 points lower, or 1% down, at 27,502.81. It was the largest single day drop for the DJIA since October 8. Even the S&P 500 finished 0.7% down, losing 20.67 points at 3,093.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) too retreated 0.6%, a 47.34-point loss, and ended at 8,520.64.
Wednesday Reversed the Situation
But all that was reversed on Wednesday when Dow Jones rose 0.7%, 182 points, to 27,684. COMP soared 45 points, a 0.5% rise to 8,566. The S&P 500 jumped 0.6%, 20 points higher, to trade at 3,113. The indexes were off their earlier highs from last week though. Still, the Volatility Index (VIX) sunk back to below 15. It’s also been observed in the MarketWatch report that the small-cap stocks are managing to keep pace with the wider market, which is an indication of a healthy appetite for risk.
Despite Reshuffles, Wednesday Was Great for These Stocks
Apart from this positive news from the market, there were other headlines involving individual stocks. Management changes took place at Expedia Group ($EXPF) and Alphabet ($GOOG, $GOOGL). Motley Fool reports that both the changes were approved by investors.
Expedia’s Major Management Reshuffle
Expedia Group has gone through a major management reshuffle, with CEO Mark Okerstrom as well as CFO Alan Pickerill having to resign over a lack of agreement on company strategy. But investors seem to have loved it, with shares rising 6.2%. The daily operations will be taken over by Barry Diller, Chairman and Peter Kern, Vice Chairman while chief strategy officer Eric Hart will perform the function of the CFO.
Diller was quick to explain that the company’s weak outlook and disappointing Q3 results were the result of this aggressive management shuffle that took the focus of the company away from its operations. But investors were encouraged by Diller’s decision to buy more shares of the company and thereby “express his faith” in Expedia’s strategy for the future. Motley Fool’s Jim Crumly reports that Diller already controls around a third of the company’s voting power.
Pichai in Full Control at Alphabet
Over at Google parent Alphabet, it announced following the market close on Tuesday, December 4 that CEO Sundar Pichai will be handling the active daily management of the company as co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page will be stepping down from any active role. They’ll remain as board members though, and together they still control the majority of voting shares in Alphabet.
But what Pichai has been given charge of now also includes the “other bets” divisions of Alphabet that go beyond search and online services to autonomous vehicles, remote internet technologies, life sciences and delivery drones, as Motley Fool analyst Crumly points out. There is the hope that Pichai, who has a reputation for being pragmatic, could lead these other divisions of Google to greater profitability, as his experience with Android and Chrome proved. The market was impressed, which is why its Class C shares rose by 2%.
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