This has been yet another weird and volatile week. A mix of red and green days plagued the market. Tesla hit $700 per share on Monday, falling back down to mid-600 range.
Topps Going Public
Remember collecting baseball cards in school? Well you’re beloved sports card company will finally be going public via a SPAC. They grew 23% last year and now trying to jump on the new wave of trending collectibles.
Topps chairman, Michael Eisner, a former Disney CEO noted that the company is in the exact position Disney was in when he took over. He’s got a plan to continue propelling growth in the company and that could look promising when they go public.
Don’t forget they are more than just collectible cards. They own Bazooka candy and more recently announced they will be expanding into NFTs. Creating a digital collectible card may be the cherry on top they need.
Credit Suisse 1.5 Billion Hit
The bank is currently examining how they put themselves into such a risky trade. In late February, the bank was thrown off guard when their $10 billion in investment funds with Greensill Capital was undone upon the financing firm filing for bankruptcy.
Just weeks later they were hit with the massive margin call from Archegos Capital Management.
The bank found itself lending more than other banks and put themselves into a risky bet. It was reported they would take a $4.7 billion charge on the Archegos trade, which is more than a year’s worth of profit. Losses to their investors may even hit $1.5 billion.
Their compliance and risk team will likely be working overtime to rethink their investing strategies and to rebalance their risk tolerance.
Goldman Sachs End Short On US Dollar
The bank finally ended their recommendation to end their bet against the US Dollar. Since last October, Goldman Sachs recommended shorting the US Dollar against other currencies, including the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar. The trade provided a 5% return last year but has fallen flat in 2021.
Strategists suggest US growth and rising bond yields will help keep the US dollar in check over the short term. Also, they see the bigger opportunity will be to position themselves for a recovery in European economy.
Coinbase For The Win
Just a week before Coinbase going public, they released their Q1 reports. They posted 6.1 Million monthly transacting users and revenue of $1.8 Billion. This is a huge increase compared to the $1.3 Billion they did in all of 2020.
This will likely bump up their valuation to at least $110 Billion. Investment bank DA just raised its price target from $195 to $440. There is still a lot left to see, in regards to how the market will react and observing the company during a bear market, but this is a great start.
Stocks Driven With Borrowed Money
From small Robinhood Market traders to the big boys like Archegos Capital, many investments are being supported by borrowing money.
As of February, investors had borrowed over $840 Billion against their portfolio. This was a 49% increase from last year, which broke records. The last time investor’s borrowing had grown so fast was during the dot-com bubble in 1999.
Analysts warn these signs could indicate a potential bubble forming, resulting in overvalued industries and some major issues if there is a downturn in the market.
The Future Is Green
Blackrock believes the future is in clean energy. That’s why they recently raised $4.8 Billion for a new clean energy ETF. This was more than double their original target.
They said, “You’re seeing a major shift in institutional interest in decarbonization and wanting to allocate into it.” The pandemic only increased the timeline as it brought even more awareness to this movement.
The fund will be focusing on physical assets like wind and solar farms. In addition, they are also investing in earlier-stage projects and developers. Their main focus will be in wind and solar assets.
