Amazon is going big in Washington state, Casper gets a bump with its IPO and more in Thursday’s Closing Bell on Money and Markets.
The Top Story
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is planning a 43-story tower in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington.
In addition, the company said it plans to hire more than 15,000 new employees to work in the tower “over the next few years.”
Amazon was not specific as to what those new employees will be doing.
“We welcome the news that Amazon is increasing its investment in Bellevue. These are 15,000 well-paid jobs coming to our city that will benefit local workers and the region,” Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson said. “With the downtown area’s successful growth over the last several years, we’ve created a dynamic and thriving neighborhood, and one that’s attractive to businesses, workers and residents.”
Currently, there are approximately 2,000 employees working in Bellevue and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos started the company in 1994 in a house in West Bellevue. Amazon opened its first office building in Bellevue in 2017.
Amazon’s growth goes beyond Washington state. The company recently inked a deal to lease 335,000 square feet of office space in Hudson Yards in New York. Officials said they plan to hire an additional 1,500 employees for that space.
Shares of Amazon were up 0.5% Thursday.
Money and Markets: Closing Bell*
S&P 500: 3,345 (+11 points, +0.3%)
DOW: 29,379 (+88 points, +0.3%)
NASDAQ: 9,572 (+63 points, +0.6%)
GOLD: $1,566.70 (+$11.10, +0.7%)
BITCOIN: $9,751.13 (+$42.69, +0.4%)
U.S. 10-YEAR YIELD: 1.64%
*- as of 4:28 p.m.
A Big Win
In Thursday’s Wall Street Wake-Up, we told you to keep an eye out for Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI). The company beat earnings and revenue projections and its stock rose 2.6% Thursday.
A huge win came for those who found Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR). After a 21% increase in users and a revenue beat Thursday morning, shares of the social media company rocketed up 15.1%.
Shares of Peloton Interactive Inc. (Nasdaq: PTON) fell 11.3% after the company reported losses of $0.20 per share. The company did, however, beat earnings and revenue.
M&A News
Advent International is acquiring Forescout Technologies Inc. for $1.9 billion. The acquisition will take Forescout private as it moves to a software-as-a-service model. Advent is buying all Forescout shares for $33 per share.
Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC) is spending $1.2 billion to acquire Unisys Federal (NYSE: UIS), in an all-cash transaction. Unisys specializes in providing IT as a service to federal civilian agencies and the Department of Defense.
In an attempt to bolster its 5G rollouts, Samsung Electronics is acquiring TeleWorld Solutions. TeleWorld provides consulting, design and deployment services for networks. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Golden Nuggets
Gold and silver both saw price gains Thursday afternoon as safe-haven bulls stabilized the market.
Both precious metals have held firm, despite strong gains in the equities market.
April gold futures jumped 0.4% to $1,570 an ounce while silver jumped 1.2% to $17.82 an ounce.
Platinum, however, fell off 2% to $967 an ounce and palladium moved down $79 to $2,236 an ounce.
Cannabis Corner
Boston’s first pot shop and Massachusetts’ first minority-owned marijuana business were given regulatory approval Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission gave approval to Pure Oasis to open a shop in Boston. The decision came three years after voters approved recreational marijuana in the state.
In other cannabis news, it was another down day, specifically for Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB). Late Thursday afternoon, the company announced co-founder and CEO Terry Booth will retire and step down.
Executive Chairman Michael Singer will serve as interim CEO. The company also announced job cuts due to sagging sales. BNN Bloomberg reported earlier in the day that the company was looking at slashing 10% of its workforce.
Shares of the company were down 5.6% on the day and are down 74% in the last 12 months.
Stock Market Update
Casper Sleep Inc. (NYSE: CSPR) had a successful initial public offering launch Thursday, but it was helped by the fact the online mattress retailer lowered its IPO price the night before.
The company elected to drop its price target to $12 to $13 after initially looking at a target of $17 to $19.
As a result, Casper stormed out of the gate, gaining nearly 20% when the market opened Thursday. Those gains retreated slightly, but Casper still rose 12.5% on the day.
U.S. markets closed out another positive day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% — another record close. The previous record was 29,297 set back on Jan. 16.
The S&P 500 moved up 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.6%.
Today’s Big Winners:
Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) +15%
Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE: CAH) +10.6%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (Nasdaq: CTSH) +9.9%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (Nasdaq: TTWO) +5.7%
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) +3.6%
Today’s Big Losers:
Becton Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX) -11.8%
Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE: PAYC) -9.8%
Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) -8.5%
Willis Towers Watson PLC (Nasdaq: WLTW) -5%
UnitedHeath Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) -1.1%
Check back for the most important news and numbers each day after the Closing Bell, only on Money and Markets.
Don’t forget about “Marijuana Markets: a POTcast,” featuring the biggest cannabis news and investment notes from Banyan Hill’s Anthony Planas, here on Money and Markets each Saturday morning.