The three major benchmarks are looking to extend Friday's gains
Stocks are on the rise midday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) up triple digits and looking to extend Friday's 658-point rally. Goldman Sachs (GS) is the most recent big bank name to report earnings, easily beating expectations and lifting sentiment on Wall Street. Crypto investors are enjoying gains today as well, as the sector surges, with Bitcoin (BTC) jumping above $22,000. Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) monthly confidence index dropped a much larger-than-expected 12 points in July -- its second largest decline ever -- to a reading of 55.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Media stock at two-year lows after downgrade.
- Coinbase stock is surging as crypto bounces back.
- Plus, options traders eye GOOGL ahead of stock split; MARA surges with Bitcoin; and VMAR sits out the rally.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is seeing an options surge ahead of tomorrow's 20-for-1 stock split. So far, 156,000 calls and 54,000 puts have been exchanged, with overall volume running at six times the intraday average. The weekly 7/22 115-strike call is the most popular by far, with new positions being bought to open there.
One of the best performing stocks on the Nasdaq today is Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARA), up 21.9% to trade at $9.80 as crypto-adjacent stocks rally alongside Bitcoin. Further removing itself from its July 5th 19-month low of $5.20, MARA is up 83.3% in the last month.
Meanwhile, Vision Marine Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:VMAR) is down 10.3% at $5.72, amid news of the company's partnership with Bénéteau SA to develop electric outboard powerboats. Today's drop has VMAR on track to snap a four-day win streak, and the volatility has it landed on the Short Sell Restricted (SSR) list.