What Did the Stock Market Do Today, Aug. 16? 3 Big Stories to Catch Up On.

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This morning, the story was that equities were falling from the highs, thanks to concerns about growing instability in Afghanistan and the delta variant of Covid-19. By this afternoon, the narrative changed. Two of the major indices closed out Monday at new record highs despite any negative catalysts present. So beyond pulling off a turnaround, 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 up 0.26%
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.31%
  • The Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.2%

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

What Did the Stock Market Do Today? Diss Cathie Wood.

Michael Burry has a bone to pick with Cathie Wood, and a new regulatory filing shows his level of commitment. Burry, whose Scion Asset Management grew to fame as a result of the 2007-08 financial crisis and The Big Short, entered a new position betting against her leading exchange-traded fund. The filing from the end of the second quarter shows that he holds bearish put contracts worth $31 million against the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK).

The ARKK ETF closed lower on Monday by roughly 2.6%.

Importantly, Burry has previously made his complaints about Ark Invest and its stock picks known. Earlier this year, he took a bearish position against Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), one of Wood’s top picks. Tesla is also the top holding in the ARKK ETF with a 10.68% weight. In this latest filing, investors also learned that Burry upped his position against Tesla, with puts on 1,075,500 million shares. That is up from puts on 800,100 shares in Q1.

According to Burry, the issue is with overvalued equities that could trigger “the mother of all crashes.” He has also specifically warned against investing in cryptocurrencies and meme stocks.

So what is the bottom line? Burry certainly has earned himself a huge following thanks to his historic calls. However, Wood has a devoted following of her own. Her picks have struggled amid a reopening rally and concerns over valuations, but recent weeks have provided a bit of a turnaround. The success of Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) following its IPO ushered in a resurgence of interest in her picks.

Arcimoto Is Changing the Way We Think About EVs

InvestorPlace Markets Analyst Joanna Makris is a big fan of electric vehicles, and she wants investors to know about one specific company on her radar. That company is Arcimoto (NASDAQ:FUV), and she recently sat down to chat with its CEO, Mark Frohnmayer.

So what makes Arcimoto so special? Well, unlike other electric vehicle startups, Arcimoto has a unique vision for its vehicles. It hopes to carve out a niche with its three-wheeled utility vehicle, also known as the Fun Utility Vehicle. These lightweight vehicles could transform how we view transportation… and also lend themselves to deliveries and emergency response.

Ahead of its earnings call, Makris talked with Frohnmayer about all sorts of topics. For instance, what does he think about the short-sellers attacking his company? And how is Arcimoto navigating supply-chain challenges?

Take it from Frohnmayer himself: “Fast gas cars are on the verge of becoming super uncool.” That bold sentence sums up his message to critics.

That means if you want to be cool and play EV stocks the right way, you should listen to Makris dive in deep with Frohnmayer. Watch the video above and read more about Arcimoto here.

What Else We’re Watching

  • On Monday, the anonymous social media app Yik Yak made its return, at least for iPhone users. After disappearing in 2017, Square (NYSE:SQ) spent about $1 million to buy up its engineering staff. It remains unclear if Square is behind the new launch.
  • Vaccine stocks like BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) were big losers today, despite sharing generally positive news. It seems that bearish analyst calls, combined with general uncertainty, are weighing on the sector. Right now, investors want to know the future of booster shots and full regulatory approval.
  • T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) closed down 2.9% on Monday after announcing it was investigating claims of a 2019 data breach. According to a forum post, a hacker has access to data for roughly 100 million people. Here are 14 things you should know.
  • Nio (NYSE:NIO) joined Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the spotlight on Monday, and not for a good reason. An ES8 vehicle from the Chinese automaker was involved in a fatal crash, and it was apparently driving itself during the time of the accident.

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/2021/08/what-did-the-stock-market-do-today-aug-16-3-big-stories-to-catch-up-on/.

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