What Will the Stock Market Do Today? 3 Big Stories to Watch.

Advertisement

The Olympic Games are officially starting today, kicking off two weeks of procrastination at work while you watch. Meanwhile, electric vehicle (EV) talk is heating up as the biggest SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) merger of 2021 closes and more automakers pledge to go electric. So what will the stock market do today?

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

Source: Shutterstock

  • The S&P 500 is up 0.43%
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.40%
  • The Nasdaq Composite is up 0.20%

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

What Will the Stock Market Do Today? Watch the Olympics.

This morning marks the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Whether or not you’re a sports fanatic, chances are high that you will tune in at least a little over the 17-day festivities. And how could you not this year? With no fans at all and Japan still in a state of emergency against the coronavirus, athletes are battling it out with illness just as much as they are battling it out with the competition.

There are dozens of players already who have either tested positive for the virus or who have been forced into quarantine after coming in close contact to someone with the virus. The South African men’s soccer team has been dealing with an internal breakout; ultimately, the team was forced to scrounge together a line up from remaining squad members just in time to compete yesterday. Ultimately, they lost to Japan.

Team sports are not the only events that could be derailed by the virus. Coco Gauff, ranked 25th in the world by the World Tennis Association, will miss her first Olympic Games due to a positive test, a big hit to U.S. tennis hopes. Likewise, NBA star Bradley Beal is unable to compete with the team after entering Covid protocols. All in all, 110 cases are being linked to the games so far.

It’s a very odd sight, watching softball and soccer earlier this week. NBC has chosen to forego the typical pumped-in crowd noise that professional sports leagues used without fans. There’s something uncanny about this year’s Games. The lack of crowd noise, the lack of participation from some top athletes, the ads getting yanked from TV; you’ve got to tune in just to take in the difference of it all.

Automakers Continue Toward an EV Future

The race right now that stockholders are paying closest attention to is among the automakers who were born with the intention of all-electric transportation. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Lucid Motors — via Churchill Capital (NYSE:CCIV) — are locked in a heated race for EV supremacy. Tesla’s got the cars on the road, but Lucid carries a serious amount of hype with it. And in fact, Lucid could be taking its next steps to pass Elon Musk’s brand; shareholders are voting this morning to approve the SPAC merger between Lucid and CCIV.

It’s not just these new companies that are making a splash with electric vehicles. Plenty of storied car manufacturers are dipping their toes in the water with a hybrid here or a plug-in there. Even still, there are car companies taking a cannonball plunge with eye-catching models. Ford (NYSE:F) is causing quite a stir with its electric model of the F-150 truck, the most popular model of truck ever.

Today is seeing yet another famous brand promising to deliver on electric vehicles. Daimler, the manufacturer behind Mercedes Benz, is saying today the company is going all-electric very soon. The company is investing $47 billion into the development of a fleet of all-new electric vehicles.

CEO Ola Källenius is talking about the company’s decision today, saying the manufacturer plans to be “dominantly, if not all electric, by the end of the decade.” He adds that spending on combustion-engine tech will be slowed to a halt by 2025. This timeline syncs up with what a lot of car makers have been aiming for; 2030 seems to be the planned start of the new age of electric vehicles. And with the European Union (EU) floating ideas to ban new combustion-engine cars by 2035, it’s a plan that more manufacturers should adopt.

What Else We’re Watching

  • Snap, Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) stock is blowing away investors this morning after yesterday’s big earnings call. The company doubled up its revenue and grew its user base faster than predicted.
  • Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) stock is a different story. The tech giant’s stock value is slipping today, after it failed to deliver impressive numbers as a chip maker in a global chip shortage.
  • The Tampa Bay Buccaneers revealed their Super Bowl LV rings last night — and they’re quite possibly the most opulent championship rings ever crafted. The tops come off to reveal Raymond James Stadium underneath.

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-will-the-stock-market-do-today-3-big-stories-to-watch-10/.

©2024 InvestorPlace Media, LLC