The Dow is up over 570 points midday
The major indexes are continuing to stride higher this afternoon, as investors' concerns over last week's speculative trading frenzy begin to fade, and targeted names such as GameStop (GME) lose ground. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is up over 570 points at the midway mark, while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are also sporting sizeable gains.
Wall Street is shifting its focus to more earnings out of the closely watched tech space, with quarterly reports from Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) due after the close. Meanwhile, stimulus negotiations are still top of mind. President Joe Biden met with 10 Republican lawmakers yesterday, after they made a slimmer counteroffer to his $1.9 trillion plan. Democrats are making moves to pass a reconciliation bill, though, with or without Republican support.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- A pandemic-fueled surge in deliveries gave UPS a leg up.
- What could be holding Alibaba stock back after an upbeat Q3 report.
- Plus, bulls race for DKNG ahead of Super Bowl; HOL to take space launch startup public; and Robinhood restrictions suggest it's game over for GME.
Sports betting name Draftkings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG) is seeing a surge in bullish activity in the options pits today. The company has been the recipient of some positive attention lately, with Seeking Alpha touting sports betting apps as the "Super Bowl MVP" this year, while yesterday Benchmark lifted its price target to $66. So far, 236,000 calls have exchanged hands, which is three times the intraday average. Most popular is the weekly 2/5 60-strike call, followed by the 2/12 70-strike call, with new positions being opened at both. At last glance, DKNG is up 10.6% at $60.45, suggesting traders are betting on even more upside for the security by the time these contracts expire.
One of the best performers on the Nasdaq today is Holicity Inc (NASDAQ:HOL). The security is up 43% to trade at $14.79, after the investment holding company said it would take rocket startup Astra public in a $2.1 billion blank-check deal. The space launch firm will is the first of its kind to join the Nasdaq, and will be listed under the ticker ASTR. In turn, HOL hit an all-time high of $15.61 earlier today, clearing overhead pressure at the $10.50 level. The equity has gained some support at its newly formed 40-day moving average, and sports a year-to-date gain of 44.7%.
Highly buzzed-about retailer
GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) is the worst performer on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today. Enthusiasm over the Reddit-fueled rally is cooling, while online trading platforms such as Robinhood are keeping a short leash on some of the the internet's main targets. The security is down 43% to trade at $128.25 at last check, and is looking to settle above its Jan. 25 close, when the trading frenzy began to gain steam.