Wall Street Breakfast

Stocks rose this week, with investors piling into growth-oriented segments of the market. At the time of this recording, the S&P 500 (SP500) and Dow Industrials (DJI) were up 0.3% and 0.1% for the week, respectively. The Nasdaq (COMP) rallied by 0.9% while cryptocurrencies (and crypto stocks) saw the biggest gains.
Winners & Losers
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) gained about 21% after Elon Musk’s Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) said it had invested $1.8 billion in the cryptocurrency. Shares of crypto-related companies rallied on the news and were some of the biggest winners for the week. Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) is up 87%, Marathon Patent Group (NASDAQ:MARA) is 64% higher, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) 27% to the good.
Semiconductors also gained significantly on reports the Biden administration signed an executive order to authorize supply chain reviews. KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) are up about 10% each
MicroVision (NASDAQ:MVIS) skyrocketed, gaining more than 77% this week after saying it had received the necessary components and equipment to improve its lidar sensors.
Coronavirus vaccine stocks gained: Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) rallied 12% today after Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an outperform rating. NantKwest (NASDAQ:NK) is up 21% this week after receiving Phase 1 FDA approval of its T-cell based COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Not all was quiet among social media pump stocks: China Liberal Education Holdings (NASDAQ:CLEU) jumped 145% this morning after a 13-G reported generated excitement on Stocktwits and YouTube.
Bumble (NASDAQ:BMBL) shares had a strong start after their initial listing, opening nearly 80% higher.
Defensive names were among the biggest losers this week. Utilities as measured by the Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLU) are down about 0.3% this week. Certain consumer staples names also sold off. Clorox (NYSE:CLX) is down 4% for the week, Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) is about 1.7% lower, while Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE:SWK) and Procter & Gamble are both about 0.5% in the red.
What Caught Our Eye(s) This Week

Stephen: Crypto coverage as reported here, here, and here;

Kim: Robinhood among those subpoenaed in federal probe of squeeze stock manipulation and the upcoming hearing;

Nat: A Lucid Look At The SPAC Craziness: Churchill Capital Corp IV Deep Dive.

About This Podcast
Alpha TALKS Wall Street Breakfast is a weekly roundtable covering what moved markets this week (WMMTW), featuring a panel of Seeking Alpha editors.
Hosted by Nathaniel E. Baker, Senior Editor, Strategic Contributors, and featuring:

Bradley Olesen, VP News;

Kim Khan, Senior News Editor (off this week);

Stephen Alpher, Managing Editor News, co-host of Seeking Alpha's Alpha Trader podcast.


AlphaTALKS videos, featuring highlights of this podcast, publish every Friday by close of trading. Also available on our YouTube channel.

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