Weekly news summary for January 22 to January 28, 2021
Friday, Jan. 22, 2021: Eurozone PMI Falls Further into Contraction
The Eurozone economy slipped further into contraction territory at the start of 2021, as its Composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) declined to 47.5 from 49.1, while UK retail sales also failed to meet expectations, with November’s figures receiving a downward revision.
Eurozone’s PMI data came against a backdrop of social and economic restrictions that have continuously been tightened as new COVID-19 strains have been identified.
Monday, Jan. 25, 2021: California Lifts Stay-At-Home Orders
California Governor Gavin Newsom lifted the stay-at-home orders across the state on Monday, a change that may put restaurants and gyms in many countries back in business.
The move came as the 7-day average for new COVID-19 infections nationwide dropped to its lowest since December, while the number of people hospitalized with the virus was down to its lowest in six weeks.
Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021: GameStop Surges Further on Musk’s Tweet
Rookie traders went further for niche stocks on Tuesday, prompting expert short sellers rushing to take care of losing bets, with shares of US video game retailer GameStop surging for the fourth straight day, driven partly by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
GameStop rose 50% in after-hours trading, adding to the 93% gain in Tuesday’s roller-coaster session after Musk tweeted “Gamestonk!!” and a link to Reddit’s Wallstreetbets stock trading discussion community.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021: Microsoft Earnings Rise on Cloud Computing Service
US software maker Microsoft Corp. set the stage for positive earnings in the tech industry, reporting a 30% profit increase for the second quarter of its fiscal year, as the pandemic accelerated the company’s cloud hosting, computer and Xbox purchases, and investment in remote working and learning.
Microsoft’s sales were up 17% to $43.1 billion, surpassing forecasts by nearly 10%, with its Azure cloud computing services climbing 50% and its shares trading at an all-time high close to $238 in Wednesday’s pre-market trading.
Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021: Toyota Reclaims World’s Top Car Seller Title
Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Corp. beat rival Volkswagen in vehicle sales in 2020, reclaiming the title as the world’s top-selling automaker for the first time in five years, as the demand slump triggered by the pandemic weighed further on the German car group.
Toyota stated on Thursday that its company-wide global sales tumbled by 11.3% to 9.528 million vehicles last year, although the figures still ended above Volkswagen’s sales fall of 15.2% to 9.305 million vehicles.
