US stock markets pushed further into record territory on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both gaining 0.4% and the Nasdaq also climbing, finishing 0.3% higher.
Avis the new ‘meme stock’
Shares in Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) fell another 2% after Elon Musk announced that the deal for Hertz to buy 100,000 cars was not yet signed, despite the company begging to differ.
Competitor Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ: CAR) became the latest meme stock to light up message boards and social media with shares gaining over 100% in less than two hours of trading after the company reported a 96% increase in revenue and a record quarterly profit of US$674 million. This appears to be another short squeeze.
Pfizer beats estimates
Shares in Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) have remained strong, gaining close to 4% after the company beat analyst expectations in the quarter.
Profit was up sixfold as last year’s fall in demand filtered through with revenue more than doubling to US$24 billion.
Vaccine revenue reached US$14 billion from US$1 billion in the prior year before the COVID vaccine was released, of which 75% of sales are coming from outside the US.
In macro news, the Federal Reserve is expected to taper bond purchases as part of its current two-day meeting.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks fared overnight.
- Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) up 20.4%
- Toast (NYSE: TOST) up 14.1%
- Under Armour (NYSE: UA) up 13.9%
- Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) down 9.7%
- Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) down 10.4%
- Opendoor (NASDAQ: OPEN) down 10.7%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow US markets higher at the open on Wednesday. For all the latest, check out my ASX 200 morning report.