Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Stocks set to bounce after Tuesday’s broad sell-off
People are seen on Wall St. outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, March 19, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
2. Yellen, Powell set for Day 2 of economic testimony
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (L) congratulates Fed Governor Jerome Powell at his swearing-in ceremony for a new term on the Fed’s board, in Washington in this handout photo taken and released June 16, 2014.
US Federal Reserve | Reuters
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell are set to deliver a second day of economic testimony to lawmakers as required quarterly by the March 2020 Covid relief act. They will appear remotely before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. ET. On Tuesday, they told the House Financial Services Committee that elevated asset valuations in pockets of the markets are not reasons for alarm yet. Yellen and Powell also said they’re confident in the stability of the financial sector as the U.S. economy continues to recover from the pandemic.
3. GameStop sinks after acknowledgement of possible share sale
A man talks by his phone in front of GameStop at 6th Avenue on February 25, 2021 in New York.
John Smith | Corbis News | Getty Images
GameStop shares fell 12% in Wednesday’s premarket after the company acknowledged in a filing that it’s considering selling additional equity shares. The stock soared more than 2,400% in January’s Reddit-fueled trading frenzy before crashing. It mounted a comeback in late February and earlier this month on hopes for a digital transformation. However, shares in recent days moved lower. After the closing bell Tuesday, GameStop missed on the top and bottom lines with quarterly results. But it did see e-commerce sales jump 175% for the quarter. The company also named former Amazon and Google executive Jenna Owens as its new chief operating officer.
4. Intel to build new chip plants; Amazon names new cloud chief
Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, speaks in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 9, 2017, in a photo taken when he was CEO of VMware.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Dow stock Intel rose about 4% in premarket trading after the company said late Tuesday it will spend $20 billion to build two new semiconductor factories in Arizona. The announcement, coinciding with new CEO Pat Gelsinger’s first public remarks since taking over the job, signals that Intel will continue to focus on manufacturing during industry shifts that have led competitors to increasingly separate chip design and chip fabrication.
Andy Jassy, CEO Amazon Web Services, speaks at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, October 25, 2016.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Incoming Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, head of the company’s cloud business for the past 15 years, revealed his Amazon Web Services successor in a memo to employees. Adam Selipsky, a former Amazon executive and currently CEO of Salesforce-owned data-visualization software maker Tableau, was chosen to run the AWS division.
5. Elon Musk says people can now buy a Tesla with bitcoin
Tesla, led by Elon Musk, confirmed that it purchased about $ 1.5 billion in bitcoin in January and expects to start accepting it as a payment in the future.
Artur Widak | NurPhoto | Getty Images
Elon Musk announced late Tuesday that it’s now possible to buy Tesla vehicles in the U.S. with bitcoin. “You can now buy a Tesla with Bitcoin,” tweeted CEO Musk, who was also officially made the “Technoking of Tesla” this month. People outside the U.S. will be able to buy a Tesla with bitcoin “later this year,” Musk said, without specifying which countries. The electric auto maker in February revealed it bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. At the time, Tesla said it would soon start accepting the world’s biggest and most popular cryptocurrency as a form of payment.
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