Lordstown Stock Is Sliding, Novavax Is Gaining and the Market Is Waiting for the Fed
The stock market looks set for a slightly higher open Monday as investors look ahead to Wednesday’s FOMC decision on monetary policy.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.1% in early trading, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures had ticked up 5 points. Nasdaq Composite futures had risen 0.3%.
It’s a quiet summer morning—on Wall Street, summer begins with Memorial Day—and there’s not much news to get stocks moving one way or another, at least not anything that really moves the needle. The G7 met, but it’s difficult to say if it accomplished anything. Elon Musk has been tweeting about bitcoin again, which didn’t do much at all. Meme stocks are moving, but not all that much, with AMC Entertainment (AMC) up 3.5% and GameStop (GME) advancing 1.1%.
Which leaves investors focused on Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the remainder of the Federal Reserve. They will make the case that inflation is transitory and that they still plan to take a long time before raising interest rates. But that argument is getting harder to make. It’s not the 5% inflation print that was released last May–that it was the highest since 2008, when the U.S. was in the throes of a recession tells you all you need to know about making judgments about the state of the economy from any one reading–but that other central banks are starting to tighten, with Hungary and the Czech Republic likely to raise interest rates soon.
Don’t be surprised if stocks continue to just bounce around until the Fed has its say.
Lordstown Motors (RIDE) has dropped 6.3% to $10.69 after its CEO and CFO resigned.
Novavax (NVAX) has gained 11% to $231.99 after announcing that trial data showed 90% efficacy from its Covid-19 vaccine. Moderna (MRNA) has fallen 1.9% to $214.76.
Ferrari (RACE) has fallen 3.1% to $204.67 after Goldman Sachs downgraded its stock to Sell from Buy on concerns about the cost of developing an electric vehicle.
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) has gained 2.2% to $1,396.50 after getting upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.
Wendy’s (WEN) has risen 2.7% to $24.79 after getting upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Northcoast.
Write to Ben Levisohn at [email protected]
