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Good morning. It may have been a somewhat subdued, socially-distanced affair in Washington yesterday—LOWEST. INAUGURATION.TURNOUT. IN. MEMORY!, someone somewhere no doubt tweeted—but investors were out there, popping champagne corks.
U.S. equities hit record highs on Wednesday, and global stocks continue to rally today. Alas, Bitcoin continues to slump.
Let’s see where investors are putting their money.
Markets update
Asia
- The major Asia indexes are mostly higher in afternoon trading with the ShanghaiComposite up 1.1%.
- Alibaba investors are doing a bit of profit-taking today, sending shares in the e-commerce giant 2.7% lower. That’s after the company’s $58.2 billionsurge on Wednesday.
- Chinese tech stocks have been on a one-month tear. The Market Ear blog notes, the closely watched KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) is up nearly 25% since Christmas as we see the global tech trade reflate.
Europe
- The European bourses were higher out of the gates with the Stoxx Europe 600 up 0.75%. with auto and bank stocks leading the way.
- The real estate market for London‘s swankiest neighbo(u)rhoods, Mayfair and Knightsbridge, is hitting all kinds of COVID turbulence, forcing landlords and property owners to slash rents and offer-prices.
- The Bitcoin market may be stalling out at the moment, but that’s not stopping BlackRock. The world’s biggest asset manager will for the first time offer futures in the digital currency to clients.
U.S.
- U.S. futures are gaining again this morning. That’s after all three exchanges, plus the Russell 2000, closed Wednesday in the green, with a string of fresh all-time highs.
- The big winner was Netflix, which jumped 16%. (It’s flat this morning). As Fortune‘s Aaron Pressman explains, perhaps overlooked in all the glee over new subscriber sign-ups is even bigger news— that “the company would be cash flow positive this year despite spending close to $20 billion on new programming.”
- Upbeat corporate earnings has proven to be a huge tailwind to stocks this week. Here’s who’s on deck today: CostCo, Intel, IBM and Kimberly-Clark, to name a few.
Elsewhere
- Gold is up a tick, trading above $1,860/ounce.
- The dollar is down a whisker.
- Crude is off a sliver [help, I’m running out of tiny metaphors], with Brent trading below $56/barrel.
- Bitcoin is down 5.3%. A cool three grand has been shaved off its value in the past 24 hours, to $32,700. [No metaphor problem here.]
***
Buzzworthy
Bitcoin bulls are unimpressed
Biden > Trump, Obama
Inauguration party’s over; Who’s got the tab?
For the win
Source: WallStreetBets / Wall St Memes
***
***
Have a nice day, everyone. I’ll see you here tomorrow… Until then, there’s more news below.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
As always, you can write to bullsheet@fortune.com or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
The 100 million pledge. The Business Roundtable—whose members include CEOs at Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, and Boeing, to name a few—cheered the Biden administration's move yesterday to commit to vaccinating 100 million Americans in the first 100 days of his presidency. Amazon and Starbucks have even offered to help with logistics.
Don't forget Paris. Not long after Lady Gaga sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" yesterday, President Biden was busy undoing big pieces of the Trump legacy, committing to climate-friendly fuel efficiency standards and re-entering the landmark Paris Agreement. On cue, the S&P 500 energy sector climbed0.36% yesterday. It's up 47.55% over the past three months, a reminder not to make any big investment decisions based solely upon campaign trail doom-mongering.
Attention, investors.Fortune's must-read Quarterly Investment Guide goes live today (not long after Bull Sheet arrives in your in-box). I'll talk more about the guide in the coming days, but if you want an early peek (or, if you want to check out previous issues of the guide), you can click here.
Some of these stories require a subscription to access. There is a discount offer for our loyal readers if you use this link to sign up. Thank you for supporting our journalism.
Market candy
Quiz Time
The S&P 500 closed up nearly 1.4% yesterday, the best Inauguration Day pop since...which president?
- A. Donald Trump (2017)
- B. Barack Obama (2013)
- C. Ronald Reagan (1985)
- D. Bill Clinton (1997)
The answer is C, Ronald Reagan. Fortune's Anne Sraders, who you definitely want on your pub quiz team if the topic is "the stock market," goes to the history books to analyze the historic start the Biden presidency has had on your portfolio.
