What Did the Stock Market Do Today? 3 Big Stories to Catch Up On.

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Phew, another busy week on Wall Street is coming to a close, and investors have a lot to process. Before you kick back this weekend, make sure you are all caught up. So what did the stock market do today?

Street sign for Wall Street pictured in front of several American flags representing american stocks

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  • The S&P 500 closed higher by 1.49%
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 1.06%
  • The Nasdaq Composite closed higher by 2.32%

So what else did the stock market do today? Here are some of the top stories.

What Did the Stock Market Do Today? Celebrate Chips.

This has been a volatile week in the stock market, with concerns of employment, inflation, and an uncertain pandemic recovery causing some wild swings. Most recently, news from the CDC allowing fully vaccinated individuals to gather indoors without masks helped stocks rally. Today, investors got another positive catalyst.

As Reuters reported, a group of U.S. senators are getting ready to unveil a proposal that would funnel $52 billion into chip spending. This money would go toward research and production over the next five years, and comes at a time when the chip shortage is in the spotlight. As a result of current supply-demand imbalances, a variety of products are hard to come by. For example, consumer electronics like gaming consoles are frequently out of stock. Car dealers are reporting empty lots. Auto makers are slashing production targets and halting work at their factories.

So what should you expect? The report highlights a trio of senators pushing this spending forward, and says investors can expect to see it in a Senate bill next week. More broadly, this bill is looking to spend $110 billion to better compete with China on advanced tech.

Just Keep Cruising

Today, investors in cruise stocks like Carnival (NYSE:CCL), Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) got a welcome surprise. Two separate announcements bolstered consumer hopes that cruise operators will be back in action sometime this summer.

Importantly, cruise stocks have been volatile for investors looking for recovery plays. Although Covid-19 reopening will provide a major boost, an uncertain timeline has led to more than a few selloffs in Carnival and its peers. Up until today, it seems that cruises would remain docked until at least Nov. 1 when a conditional sailing order lifted. This has been disappointing, especially as vaccine rates pick up and new cases, deaths and hospitalizations in the U.S. drop.

That is why news today is so welcome. The first update is that the CDC may be willing to allow cruises to resume sailing as soon as this summer. This follows easing mask guidance earlier this week, and a move by the CDC to recognize vaccine science. Simply put, the CDC wants to recognize that vaccines work, and further incentivize Americans to get vaccinated.

The second update is that the U.S. Senate just passed legislation to make Alaskan cruises feasible. Because such cruises currently require time in foreign waters, their operators are required to stop in Canada. Where things stand right now, Canada is intent on halting cruises through February 2022. Senators just passed legislation that would temporarily waive the requirement to dock in Canada, giving cruise stocks another upside catalyst.

So what is the bottom line? Although this upward trajectory is far from smooth considering the price action we have seen in cruise stocks, it is another tangible step in the recovery narrative.

Winners, Losers, Honorable Mentions

Winners: Dogs took over Wall Street this week in a big way. Inspired by the recent success of Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD), a handful of puppy-themed coins and tokens mounted record rallies of their own. Some see themselves as allies or siblings to Doge, while others intentionally want to disrupt its meme dominance. These high-flying cryptos include Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD), Doge Killer (CCC:LEASH-USD), Kishu Inu (CCC:KISHU-INU), Alaska Inu (CCC:LAS-USD) and more. Perhaps most importantly, some of these tokens achieved impressive feats this week, including exchange listings on Binance and Huobi.

Losers: Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) got played by Elon Musk this week. Just weeks after announcing that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was adding BTC to its balance sheet and adding Bitcoin as a payment option, Musk backtracked. His reasoning? The energy consumption from Bitcoin mining is growing, and much of it comes from fossil fuels like coal. For some of his biggest supporters, this pivot was a real slap in the face.

Honorable Mentions: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) deserves an honorable mention. Its following, the #AMCArmy, has remained committed to the meme stock long after the initial short squeeze drama. Today, powered by social media campaigns, they rallied behind another short squeeze. In doing so, other short-squeeze plays like Palantir (NYSE:PLTR), MicroVision (NASDAQ:MVIS) and Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ) got some juice.

On the date of publication, Sarah Smith did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.

Sarah Smith is the Editor of Today’s Market with InvestorPlace.com. 


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2021/05/what-did-the-stock-market-do-today-3-big-stories-chip-shortage-cruise-stocks-dogecoin/.

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