DAILY DOSE: March 5, 2021
Posted on 03/05/2021
1. Positive U.S. job reports, shoots up Dow Jones Industrial Average by 300 points. February Payrolls 379K, Expected 198K. Of the 379K jobs added, 286K were waiters and bartenders. COVID lockdowns that started in March 2020, forced many U.S. restaurants and bars to close temporarily. Unemployment dips to 6.2%. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes the adjusted unemployment rate would be 6.7%, compared with the published 6.2% rate.
2. Insight Partners kicked in US$ 500 million to take a minority stake in Saks.com, valuing the business at US$ 2 billion. HBC, the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue, plans to spin out the luxury department store’s website into a separate business from its stores.
3. According to a March 3, 2021 tweet from the Bahrain Embassy DC, “HE Khalid Al Rumaihi, CEO of Mumtalakat, #Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, met virtually with Prof. Avi Simhon, Head of #Israel’s National Economic Council & Economic Advisor to the PM, to discuss opportunities for investment & potential joint projects.”
4. SeaWorld Entertainment says that all SeaWorld Parks are now open and operating with enhanced safety measures for the 2021 season.
5. Walmart Inc. is taking a second crack to tap into the U.S. consumer banking market. Walmart last applied for a charter in 2005.
6. WTI oil prices increase 3.5% to a session high of US$ 66.06 per barrel.
7. MicroStrategy buys around 205 Bitcoins for US$ 10 million cash at average price of US$ 48,888. The company now holds an estimated 91,064 Bitcoins.
MicroStrategy (DOLLAR COST AVERAGE): Aggregate Purchase Price of US$ 2.2 Billion, or about US$ 24,119 each.
8. Costar withdraws bid to buy Corelogic.
9. Barstool “Presidente” Dave Portnoy has a new ETF. Portnoy’s ETF sees US$ 280 million of inflows.
10. New York’s Financial District is facing some pain as financial firms seek to reduce footprint of office space. JPMorgan Chase & Co. searches to exit from the area. Ratings companies S&P Global and Fitch Ratings Inc. are also marketing subleases in the area.
11. Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, remains under military (National Guard) occupation, even now the month after U.S. President Biden’s inauguration. Large fencing and military patrols still surrounds various parts of the Capitol.
12. DOJ: John McAfee, the 75-year-old anti-virus software and cryptocurrency promoter, was indicted by the U.S. government for fraud and money laundering. Previously on the run from the U.S. government, McAfee is currently being detained in Spain on separate criminal charges filed by the DOJ’s tax division.
13. Despite COVID-lockdowns in the U.S., a massive flood of migrants are nearing the U.S. border in Mexico. The White House is looking at housing migrant children that are unaccompanied at a military base in Virginia. Mexico had logged almost 2.1 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 186,000 deaths as of March 2, 2020, according to various news sources.