Wall Street Journal (May 5)
“Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is trading at more than $421,000 per Class A share, and the market is optimistic. That’s a problem.” The share price “has nearly hit the maximum number that can be stored in one common way exchange computers handle digits.” Nasdaq Inc.’s system tops out at $429,496.7295 and had to suspend “broadcasting prices for Class A shares of Berkshire over several popular data feeds.” Nasdaq says a fix is in the works for later this month.
Tags: Berkshire Hathaway, Class A share, Digits, Exchange computers, Market, Nasdaq, Suspend, Trading
Wall Street Journal (December 2)
“Like much of corporate America today, the Nasdaq is virtue signaling at the expense of someone else. This is far from its reason for being, which is a marketplace to raise money while spreading the benefits of capitalism and corporate ownership. Imposing its own identity politics on some 3,300 listed companies meddles in corporate management and will harm economic growth and job creation.” [Nasdaq is seeking minimum quotas of women and minority/LGBTQ directors on corporate boards.]
Tags: Capitalism, Corporate America, Growth, Identity politics, Job creation, Management, Marketplace, Money, Nasdaq, Ownership, Virtue signaling
The Street (December 1)
To promote diversity and better governance, Nasdaq has proposed new rules that “would require companies to appoint at least two diverse directors on their boards or explain their rationale for not meeting that objective.” Before submitting its proposal to the SEC, Nasdaq analyzed over “two dozen studies that found an association between diverse boards and better financial performance and corporate governance.”
Tags: Boards, Directors, Diversity, Explain, Governance, Nasdaq, Performance, Rationale, Rules, SEC
Market Watch (December 21)
So far the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is up 22% in 2019. Since 1950, the average has climbed about “75% of the time, with an average return of about 8.9% in the following year, when it finishes the previous year with a return of at least 20%…. For the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes, the gains tend to be even richer than those of their blue-chip counterpart.”
Wall Street Journal (August 1)
“President Trump moved Thursday to extend tariffs to essentially all Chinese imports, escalating a trade conflict that is poised to hit U.S. consumers in the pocketbook and roiling financial markets…. Wall Street was rattled by the news.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all closed lower. “Oil prices sank almost 8%, their biggest drop since February 2015.”
Tags: China, Dow Jones, Financial markets, Imports, Nasdaq, Oil, Rattled, Tariffs, Trade conflict, Trump, U.S. consumers, Wall Street
Newsweek (May 13)
“China’s decision to raise tariffs on U.S. goods made its impact felt on Wall Street as stock markets began the week on a downbeat note. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index fell by more than 2 percent in early trading,” while the Nasdaq dropped even further. Market volatility “was directly linked to the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China…. The back-and-forth retaliation between the two superpowers wiped out the marginal gains stocks recorded at the end of last week.”
Tags: China, Dow Jones, Downbeat, Gains, Nasdaq, Retaliation, Stock market, Superpowers, Tariffs, Trade war, U.S., Volatility, Wall Street
Euromoney (October Issue)
Warning some stock exchanges could face downgrades, ratings agency S&P cautioned that they “have become more prone to operational risk.” Fragmentation is one key challenge. “There are now 16 SEC-registered securities exchanges in the US and more than 50 alternative trading systems, whereas before 2005 the equities market was dominated by NYSE and Nasdaq. It is this interconnectivity that is fueling operational risk. When Nasdaq halted trading in August, for example, other stock exchanges, including NYSE, Bats and Direct Edge, were also forced to stop trading in Nasdaq-listed securities.”
Tags: BATS, Challenge, Direct Edge, Downgrades, Fragmentation, Interconnectivity, Nasdaq, NYSE, Operational risk, S&P, SEC, Securities, Stock exchanges, Trading, U.S.
Institutional Investor (August Issue)
“Facing an image problem,” many Chinese companies are retreating from U.S. exchanges. “Frustrated by low valuations and investor skepticism, Chinese companies are increasingly considering delisting from U.S. stock exchanges.” Since 2009, 24 Chinese companies have delisted, often going private, from the NYSE and Nasdaq. Much investor skepticism is directed at companies that utilized reverse mergers to attain their listing, thereby avoiding the scrutiny that would accompany a normal IPO, but the skepticism has tainted even Chinese companies with solid financials.
Tags: China, Companies, Delisting, Image, Investors, IPO, Listing, Nasdaq, NYSE, Private, Reverse mergers, Scrutiny, Skepticism, Stock exchanges, U.S., Valuations
New York Times (October 31)
“Still hobbled by power outages and waterlogged transit, the New York region struggled to return to the rhythms of daily life on Wednesday, while facing the reality of a prolonged and daunting period of recovery.” Both the NYSE and NASDAQ are scheduled to resume trading with Mayor Michael Bloomberg scheduled to “open the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning after a two-day closure, the first for weather-related reasons since 1888.”
Forbes (August 21)
NASDAQ listed Apple “became the most valuable company in history on Monday in terms of market capitalization” when its market cap rose to more than $620 billion. In inflation-adjusted terms, however, Microsoft retains the crown. On December 30, 1999 Microsoft peaked around $618 billion, approximately $850 billion adjusted for inflation. With a current market-cap of about $257 billion, Microsoft is now valued at less than half of Apple.
Tags: Apple, Market-cap, Microsoft, Nasdaq
