Stocks higher on NFP and record ISM service reading, GameStop tumbles, bitcoin consolidates

Optimism high after strong NFP, vaccine rollout

After a robust nonfarm payroll report, substantial further progress appears it could right around the corner for the US economy.  Fed Chair Powell would argue that we are far from ‘mission accomplished’ since the US economy still needs to bring back over 8 million jobs before they will pull in the reins over asset purchases and consider macro-prudential regulation.  With the economy poised to run hot once President Biden delivers infrastructure stimulus later this year, the Fed will be able to start having conversations about lowering their monthly asset purchases by the end of summer.

Optimism is sky-high for the US economy after a record 4 million COVID-vaccine doses were delivered in a day.  Yours truly got the Pfizer vaccine over the weekend and all my NYC friends that want a vaccine have received their first dose or have a scheduled appointment.

Positive signs for the reopening of the economy is happening after the tremendous box office debut for King Kong vs Godzilla and as parts of downtown Las Vegas start to feel like it’s pre-pandemic time.  Airline and movie theater stocks are rising sharply, and it seems that reopening momentum could last.

US stocks could remain bullish on the reflation trade which is now a one-two punch of vaccinated Americans with lots of money in savings and prospects over Biden’s infrastructure spending.

GameStop

GameStop shares tumbled after announcing the sale of up to $1 billion worth of additional shares.  No one can blame management for wanting to take advantage of how high shares prices have gone.  After falling over 18% in premarket trading to $155.12, shares have pared losses and are down around 5%.

The corporate transformation will take months and the short-term pressures will test the patience of the Reddit-army of retail traders, but for now they seem committed.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin was unable to make a fresh record over the weekend and prices are quickly consolidating here.  The news has been relatively quiet for Bitcoin over the past few days.  Some frothy targets were made, anticipation is growing over the CoinBase IOP, but in the end it seems this rally needs fresh billion dollar investments from corporate America.

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Ed Moya

Ed Moya

Contributing Author at OANDA
With more than 20 years’ trading experience, Ed Moya was a Senior Market Analyst with OANDA for the Americas from November 2018 to November 2023. His particular expertise lies across a wide range of asset classes including FX, commodities, fixed income, stocks and cryptocurrencies. Over the course of his career, Ed has worked with some of the leading forex brokerages, research teams and news departments on Wall Street including Global Forex Trading, FX Solutions and Trading Advantage. Prior to OANDA he worked with TradeTheNews.com, where he provided market analysis on economic data and corporate news. Based in New York, Ed is a regular guest on several major financial television networks including CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Yahoo! Finance Live, Fox Business, cheddar news, and CoinDesk TV. His views are trusted by the world’s most respected global newswires including Reuters, Bloomberg and the Associated Press, and he is regularly quoted in leading publications such as MSN, MarketWatch, Forbes, Seeking Alpha, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Ed holds a BA in Economics from Rutgers University.