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

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Another day, another dollar — that is, if you’re a short-squeeze strategist. Carver Bancorp (NASDAQ:CARV) saw some massive gains thanks to retail investors. Additionally, initial public offering (IPO) madness is carrying on via Instacart, railroad stocks got smacked down and Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) popped despite some less-than-stellar news. What else 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 down 0.86%
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.75%
  • The Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.72%

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

What Did the Stock Market Do Today? Biden Railroaded the Railroads

The railroad industry slipped as a whole today thanks to President Joe Biden and his administration. There are concerns emanating from the White House that the railroad industry is anticompetitive. The President seeks to correct that this week.

Biden is expected to sign an executive order this week calling on regulators to pressure railroad companies, per the Wall Street Journal. The executive branch will tap the Surface Transportation Board in order to carry out some regulations. Biden cites anticompetitive pricing as creating a monopolistic market.

As a result of the news, railroad stocks are sliding. CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) is down 6%, despite recently announcing the date of their coming second-quarter earnings report. Likewise, Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) fell nearly 8%, even as they announced the date for their shareholder vote on their merger with Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI). The merger is the product of one of the most fierce bidding wars of the year. As a result, Canadian National would have the opportunity to connect Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with a single freight rail line. Unfortunately, that news could not save KSU stock’s losses.

Other railways are paring losses on the news as well. Canadian Pacific (NYSE:CP) saw a 6% downturn and Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) lost 4.5% on the day’s session.

The regulation concerns aren’t only on the rail industry, either; the executive branch is also examining anticompetitive behavior in ocean shipping. Now, the Federal Maritime Commission is being signaled to handle seaside regulations. The result is a similar slippage across ocean-shipping stocks, although not as severe.

Instacart Adds Facebook Ex-Pat Ahead of IPO

IPOs are driving investors wild this year and there’s no debate. The hype around previous IPOs like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and upcoming big-hitters like Lucid Motors and Robinhood are endless. Now, it seems like Instacart will be the next big stock to hit the market in Q3 — and the company is really revving its engine in anticipation.

Today’s big announcement is certainly evidence of huge things to come. Instacart is hiring Fidji Simo to take over as CEO before it goes public. Simo made a name for herself at Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), where she worked for some 10 years. Notably, Simo headed the operations of Facebook’s app. She will be taking over the new role on Aug. 2.

Simo is also a member of Instacart’s board, joining back in February. So, she’s certainly not new to the game. Co-founder Apoorva Mehta, who is currently taking on CEO duties, will step back into an executive chairman role. Mehta says he has no qualms about backing out of the role, noting Simo has an “incredibly ambitious vision for Instacart’s future.”

Lastly, Simo is not the only new addition to the Instacart team this year; fellow Facebook alum Asha Sharma serves as the company’s COO after landing the job in February. Additionally, ex-Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) head Nick Giovanni was hired in January as the CFO.

What Else We’re Watching

  • Retail investor mobs continue to squeeze the shorts. Black-owned bank Carver Bancorp is one of the most shorted stocks right now and investors are taking notice. Trading volume on the stock is a whopping 93 million over its daily average today. The stock peaked at gains of over 250% before settling down to a measly 107% gain on the day at the closing bell.
  • Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) is shutting down all its existing lines of personal credit, per an announcement today. The ambiguous decision is not doing much to assure investors in any way, although it’s apparent that the company is hoping to shift their focuses elsewhere. As a result, WFC stock is down 2.5%.
  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is narrowing the use cases for Biogen’s Aduhelm medication. The Alzheimer’s treatment was approved with much controversy in June. Medical professionals warned of increased Medicare spending with unlikely benefits. So, you’d think BIIB stock would slide today, right? Wrong. The stock closed out the day’s session up nearly 4%.
  • Shiba Inu (CCC:SHIB-USD) investors are gearing up to party! Jul. 20 is the set date for a virtual SHIB party, complete with its own virtual DJ. The developers recently launched their ShibaSwap decentralized exchange (DEX) and its governance token, Bone (CCC:BONE-USD). This party could very well be a way to leverage the new products, per InvestorPlace’s Chris MacDonald. Get your glow sticks ready.

On the date of publication, Brenden Rearick 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.

Brenden Rearick is a Financial News Writer for InvestorPlace’s Today’s Market team. He mainly covers digital assets and tech stocks, with a focus on crypto regulation and DeFi.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2021/07/what-did-the-stock-market-do-today-3-big-stories-to-catch-up-on-4/.

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