NEW YORK (Reuters) – Short interest on the Nasdaq declined 2% in late July, the exchange said on Friday. As of July 31, short interest fell to about 14.068 billion shares, compared with 14.356 billion shares as of July 15. Investors who sell securities “short” borrow shares and then sell them, on bets the stock will fall so they can buy the shares back at a lower price, return them to the lender and pocket … Read more…
(Justin Vaughn, Editor, Options Trading Report) Friday ended the week on a sour note; the indexes were awful as the major sell-off carried the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite down 417 points, closing at 16,776, or off 3.4%. The Conservative Dow Jones Industrial Average was more of the same, losing 1.5% of its value. The S&P 500 suffered, losing 1.8%, as the indexes lost billions. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped, falling to below 2020 levels as … Read more…
By Joan Faus BARCELONA (Reuters) – Now you see him, now you really, really don’t. “It was magic,” said former Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias, of how Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont appeared at a rally in central Barcelona on Thursday and then, embarrassingly for authorities, disappeared. Puigdemont, 61, faces an arrest warrant for alleged embezzlement over his role in holding an illegal referendum on independence for Catalonia in 2017. Nonetheless, he returned to Spain as … Read more…
By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Nasdaq surged more than 3% on Thursday as U.S. stocks rallied after U.S. jobless claims fell more than expected in the latest week, soothing worries the labor market was weakening too quickly. The S&P 500 was up more than 2%, with technology-related megacaps giving it the biggest boost. The technology sector rose 3.5%, with communication services sector up 2.5% in afternoon trading. Among the S&P 500’s biggest gainers, … Read more…
(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had agreed to three presidential debates in September and was awaiting a response from Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign. “We’ve agreed with Fox on a date of September 4th, we’ve agreed with NBC … on September 10th, and we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25th,” Trump told a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. “I hope she agrees,” Trump added. (Reporting by … Read more…
By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) – An options strategy that bets on individual stocks logging larger-than-expected moves after corporate results was winning big this earnings season but is among many that has been derailed by this week’s volatility spike. The strategy involves buying options straddles – which combine a put and a call options purchase – on shares of a company ahead of its earnings report. Data from ORATS showed the strategy worked … Read more…
By Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is drawing attention from U.S. Republicans – and within China – for his long history with a country seen as Washington’s greatest economic and military rival. Attacks from supporters of the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, started after Harris announced on Tuesday that Walz – who taught in China after college and has traveled … Read more…
By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks were lower in choppy trading on Wednesday afternoon, rising early with technology shares and then falling in tandem with them as investor jitters were stoked by weak demand in a 10-year Treasury auction. With investors still nervous after a recent steep selloff in global stocks, equities pared early gains further after the Treasury auction. Wall Street then turned red, and the S&P technology index was last down … Read more…
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shares of Lumen Technologies surged 30% on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, after the telecommunications company boosted its annual free-cash-flow forecast due to demand related to artificial intelligence. Lumen shares were trading at $6.54 per share after hitting an intra-day high of $7.83, which is the highest since October 2022. The stock nearly doubled on Tuesday, soaring 93% to close at $5 from $2.59. It is now up 256% … Read more…
By Sourasis Bose (Reuters) – Demecan Group, one of Germany’s largest cannabis producers, recently completed its latest round of funding, bringing its valuation close to 100 million euros ($109.24 million), a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The funding round was led by Florida-based Trog Hawley Capital, marking the first institutional investment by a U.S.-based investor in Demecan. While financial details on the latest funding were not known, according to the source, … Read more…