—— Amazon’s market value soars by $200 billion in one day; BlackRock enters TikTok to target Gen Z; Nike invests $75 million in WNBA; U.S. payrolls surge more than expected; Snap’s stock jumps 50% on first profit; Aramco plans its secondary offering; Apple releases its new iPad and iPhone.
1. Amazon’s market value soars by $200 billion in one day
U.S. e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. reported its 2021 fourth-quarter report Thursday night, indicating that the revenue from the company’s cloud-computing business beat industry expectations. The company also announced that the subscription price of Amazon Prime will be rised.
In 2021, Amazon’s revenue rose 9% year-over-year to $137.5 billion, while revenue from its cloud business AWS surged 48.5% to $17.8 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon nearly doubled its net profit of $14.3 billion.
Although Amazon’s first-quarter revenue and operating profit forecast may fall short of industry expectations, the company’s stock price has soared by as much as 14%, and its market value has surged by nearly $200 billion in one day. The increase has set a record for the U.S. stock market and surpassed the market capitalization of 90 percent of the companies in the S&P 500.
Last week, Apple’s quarterly results also beat expectations by a wide margin, sending the company’s stock price soaring and a $179 billion increase in its market value.
On the other hand, the underperforming Meta Platforms Inc. fell 25% because of its disappointing performance, wiping $251 billion off its market value and dragging down the entire Nasdaq Composite.
Amazon’s earnings result injected more confidence into investors, the stock rose after the market, and the entire Nasdaq was lifted
2. BlackRock enters TikTok
On Thursday, BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset management company, officially entered TikTok in the United States and released a short 10-second video.
For an asset management giant like BlackRock, the humorous videos on TikTok are clearly in contrast. However, according to statistics, TikTok users are increasingly interested in finance, and there are more bloggers who specialize in sharing financial and personal wealth knowledge.
According to the video released by BlackRock, the company hopes to provide users with more knowledge of wealth management through the TikTok platform and develop investment awareness from an early age.
In June last year, Fidelity, another American asset management giant,, also created a TikTok account, and the number of followers has exceeded 11,000.
There are also many financial companies that are promoting their products and services through “Fin-fluencers”.
Most of TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 29, and they are very sticky. BlackRock hopes to attract more Generation Z and young people through TikTok platform.
BlackRock enters TikTok, aiming to cultivate future customers
3. Nike takes stake in WNBA
Recently, the National Women’s Basketball Association received a $75 million capital injection from Nike Inc. and 24 independent investors, setting a new high for the league’s financing amount.
After the financing is completed, the post-money valuation of the WNBA will reach $1 billion. The affiliate programs will use funds to expand new profit points and help the growth.
Nike has always been one of the main partners of the WNBA. In this round of financing, Nike bought a sizable stake, according to people familiar with the matter.
Private investors participating in the financing include Micky Arison, chairman of the Miami Heat, and Michael Dell, CEO of Dell.
$75 million in funding is a new record for a women’s sports league
4. U.S. employment surges far more than expected
According to the latest data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. employment rose by 467,000 in January, far exceeding expectations for a gain of 150,000. The job market is doing well, and it also gives the Fed reason to tighten monetary policy more “aggressively” to keep inflation in check.
The U.S. government was concerned that the Omicron virus would have a greater impact on employment, and the new data gave officials a sigh of relief.
In addition to the surge in employment, wages rose more than expected and the unemployment rate rose to 4.0% from 3.9%.
Investors worried that inflation would continue to rise sold some U.S. government bonds after the jobs report released. Among the bonds, the 2-year Treasury note became the most affected one in fiscal changes, rose 0.09% to 1.28%, reaching its highest point since 2020.
Job openings topped 10 million in December, meaning there was an average of 1.7 jobs available for every unemployed person
5. Snap’s stock jumps 50% on first profit
Last night, Snap, the parent company of social software Snapchat, released its 4th quarter report which shattered industry expectations. The company’s revenue surged 42% to $1.3 billion, and adjusted net income per share came in at $0.22, beating expectations by $0.1.
On Thursday, the stock price of Meta, Facebook parent company, plummeted as much as 25% due to a dismal quarterly report and dragged down the peer Snap. But today, Snap’s stock rose more than 50%, completely erasing Thursday’s 20% decline.
Snap’s stock price peaked at $83.34 last summer, but after Apple announced its updated user privacy regulations, the difficulty and cost of advertising on social platforms such as Snap increased, and the stock price fell sharply.
At present, Snap’s price-to-earnings ratio (PE Ratio) has fallen to 19. Although it is still high, the company’s performance ratio is better than it in the last year.
Snap records first-ever adjusted net profit, trades well below last summer’s price-to-earnings ratio
6. Aramco计划二次上市售股
Aramco executives have held third-party meetings with consulting firms and are planning a secondary listing on the Riyadh stock exchange that could total in $50 billion, people familiar with the matter said this week.
The size of this listing plan is the largest in the history of the capital market, and the difficulty of completion is also very high. In 2019, Aramco completed the world’s largest IPO on the Saudi Stock Exchange, raising $29.4 billion from the market.
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been hoping to sell a certain stake in Aramco and uses the proceeds to invest in industries other than oil.
Saudi Arabia’s royal family hopes to further cash out of national oil reserves and uses the money to invest in other industries
7. Apple unveils new iPads and cheap iPhones
According to people familiar with the matter, Apple Inc. plans to hold a new product launch conference on March 8 2022 and to release a new cheap version of iPhone and a new version of the iPad tablet.
The upcoming new product launch conference is expected to be in the form of online.。
The new iPhones will replace the iPhone SE launched two years ago and feature 5G networking capabilities, high-end cameras, and faster processors. The changes in appearance are likely to be minor.
The new iPad tablets will be equipped with 5G networks and faster processors too.
In addition, Apple is likely to launch a Mac computer equipped with Apple’s own chips in March.
Bloomberg reported this month that Apple is working on a high-end hybrid device, but the launch could be delayed until 2023.
This year, Apple is expected to launch a new iMac, Mac Pro desktop, MacBook Air, and iPhone 14, etc.
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The content of this article comes from various financial news media such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, etc.