Hello and welcome to the stock market today! Jobless claims are falling, consumer prices are rising, and investors are not sure exactly what to expect after Hot Vax Summer. So with that in mind, what will the stock market do today?

Source: Shutterstock

• The S&P 500 is up 0.12%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.12%
• The Nasdaq Composite is up 0.11%

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

What Will the Stock Market Do Today? Look Like 2020.

At first glance, a string of press releases from this morning give summer 2020 vibes. Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) brought in $2 million in grant funding to research the autonomous refueling of hydrogen stations. Workhorse (NASDAQ:WKHS) is pursuing a drone patent. Lordstown Motors (NASDAQ:RIDE) says it is on track to start production of its Endurance truck in September.

These battered electric vehicle names are pushing ahead with new catalysts… but their stock prices are not all thriving. Nikola is still in the red today, while WKHS stock is up just slightly. After gaining 10% in morning trading, Lordstown shares pulled back.

Perhaps it is hard for investors to get excited about this trio. They have missed out on critical contracts, faced brutal short-seller reports, and ushered in DOJ scrutiny. But do their announcements this morning point to a new era?

One electric vehicle company seems to have a clearer answer to that. Nio (NYSE:NIO) shared more announcements on Thursday around its mass-market brand. It hopes to rival familiar brands like Toyota (NYSE:TM) — offering cheaper and more accessible cars. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), one of its U.S. rivals, has promised to achieve similar goals through making a $25,000 model.

As CEO William Li put it, the new brand is the result of company growth and reduced technology costs. Nio will want to maintain its luxury status, but it will also benefit from helping to boost broader consumer adoption of EVs.

Welcome to the Crypto Club

Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) just welcomed a new member, and investors threw a huge party. On its first full day of trading on the Coinbase Pro platform, the IoTeX (CCC:IOTX-USD) crypto rocketed more than 100% higher. Over the last 24 hours, it is still up 42% .

So what is IoTeX? And why is its trading-debut rally so noteworthy?

To start, IoTeX launched in 2017 as an open-source, decentralized platform designed to help humans and machines interact. Just like in a sci-fi movie, the developers wanted to create trust and understanding between humans and machines. They also wanted to create a system were proper economics were at play.

Enter IoTeX. In the years since its founding, a team of researchers created an EVM-compatible blockchain and expanded to connect with other blockchains, wallets and decentralized applications. Some of its more prominent use cases involve non-fungible tokens, machine learning and weather derivatives.

So while an intriguing cryptocurrency on its own, IoTeX got a big catalyst yesterday. Coinbase added it to its platform along with Orion Protocol (CCC:ORN-USD), Quickswap (CCC:QUICK-USD) and others.

And although Coinbase has been making a concerted effort to list more cryptocurrencies, perhaps reducing the Coinbase effect, IoTeX was basking in the sunlight. Its listing was well timed with a return of interest to its larger peers like Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) and Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD), and making for a splendid day.

Keep a close eye on IoTeX, but also on the crypto market in general. With leading coins down on the day, smaller altcoins could start to see the hype cool… again.

Read more about the IOTX crypto and IoTeX price predictions here.

What Else We’re Watching

• President Joe Biden and his administration have a unique request: They want OPEC — a group of oil-producing nations — to pump more oil. Their reasoning is that increased supply will lower prices at the pump, and help ease the reopening burden on consumers. Critics however warn that we are about to see a drop in oil demand.
• Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has a new competitor… sort of. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) announced that it would enter the streaming wars with Salesforce+ for business professionals. This new service will debut in September and feature Salesforce content focused on skill-building.
• Palantir (NYSE:PLTR) shot up this morning after reporting its Q2 numbers. The big takeaway is that the Big Data company saw revenue increase 49% year-over-year. Palantir also reported earnings per share of 4 cents, matching expectations.
• Talk about a crypto catalyst! As part of his transfer to the Paris St. Germain team, soccer star Lionel Messi will receive an undisclosed amount of $PSG fan tokens. These come from Socios.com, which is linked with the Chiliz (CCC:CHZ-USD) crypto.

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.