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

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Earnings will take over the evening as some of the biggest tech companies in the world prepare to report their numbers at the market’s close. Meanwhile, vaccine mandates are beginning to force up the rate of inoculation in the U.S. So what will 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 is up 0.24%
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.24%
  • The Nasdaq Composite is up 0.03%

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

What Will the Stock Market Do Today? Await Tech Earnings.

Today is the day. Well, today’s the day if you are one of the many with Big Tech holdings in your portfolio. Tuesday will provide investors some insight into earnings of some of the biggest tech giants, continuing what is one of the most hyped up weeks of earnings season.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) kicked the week off yesterday, as it posted some astonishing numbers. Notably, the company saw net income of over $1.1 billion in Q2, doubling up on its income from Q1. Of course, the company is also ramping up production; it has more than doubled both production and delivery numbers year-over-year. And probably the most notable signifier of Tesla’s growth is the fact that its revenue came more from selling cars than from selling credits to other companies, which has been atypical thus far.

If Tesla’s numbers are a peek at what is to come, investors should be getting very excited. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) all report today. Also making things a little more exciting is the drama being stirred up between these companies during the week.

Elon Musk, at his own company’s earnings call, had some things to say about Apple in particular. Musk mentioned at one point during supply chain talks that Apple uses far more cobalt, a controversial component of battery making that has mining practices tied to human rights abuses, than Tesla. He didn’t stop there; he also mentioned Apple when talking of “walled gardens,” implicitly referencing its antitrust lawsuit with Epic Games.

Mask Mandates Become Vax Mandates

Vaccines have been a hot button issue ever since their rollout began to rapidly increase in the early months of 2021. Many are choosing to forego vaccination for a number of reasons. However, this could be changing soon; as the delta variant threatens to derail both the health progress, as well as the economic recovery progress, made in the U.S., local and state governments are doing their part to ensure more people continue to get vaccinated.

That’s because today marks the start of a new type of coronavirus legislature. Where before — and even still in some places like Los Angeles county and St. Louis — we had mask mandates, states are now beginning to implement vaccine mandates. Three central bodies are beginning to require vaccines.

New York City, as well as the state of California, is requiring all government employees to get vaccinated. The announcement, which affects hundreds of thousands of workers across both areas, is meant to nudge those who have been hesitant toward vaccination to get their shots. Workers who forego vaccination still won’t face termination, but will be subject to a mask mandate and weekly testing.

Meanwhile, the Department of Veteran Affairs isn’t messing around with testing or mask-monitoring; the message they have sent to their 115,000 frontline employees is simple: Get the vaccine, or join the unemployment line. As the country continues reopening economically and government spending could start tapering, the last thing needed is another outbreak of coronavirus. And with the delta variant making itself seen in the reopening process — travel bans are to remain in effect for the time being — the government wants to squash the bug here and now.

What Else We’re Watching

  • The Federal Reserve is beginning its two-day policy meeting today. With economic growth slowing as the delta variant continues to pick up pace, as well as the ever present issue of inflation, all eyes will certainly be on the meeting.
  • American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) is making it known what the new shortage to fear is. As the industry eyes up an airplane fuel shortage, the company is asking its pilots to conserve as much as possible.
  • Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is denying rumors that it is looking to accept Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) as a payment method. An insider lifted the entire crypto industry with rumors that the e-commerce giant was looking into crypto payments.

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-12/.

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