While developments around the Omicron variant continue to be the main driver in this week’s market sentiment, here’s what you need to know this week.
1. Evergrande faces payment deadline
After China Evergrande Group said that there was no guarantee that it would have enough funds to meet debt repayments, shares of the firm tumbled 12% to an 11-year low.
The shares fell as a 30-day grace period on the coupon payment of $82.5 million due on Monday, 6 December, came to an end.
The company plans “to actively engage” on a restructuring plan with offshore creditors, it said.
2. Volatility set to continue
Disruptions in stocks sold off last week look set to continue as investors dump shares of growth and technology companies in favor of value stocks.
The shares dump follows the hit by the double-whammy of uncertainty over the Omicron variant and the prospect of faster tapering by the Fed.
Value stocks, including companies like banks and energy firms, rallied earlier in the year as the U.S. economy reopened but faltered later as investors rotated back to tech shares.
3. Crypto selloff
Bitcoin fell as much as 20% on Saturday in the wake of a volatile week on equities markets, while Ethereum dropped more than 10% before pulling back.
The crypto market faced a broad-based selloff in digital currencies amid concerns over a regulatory crackdown.
Major cryptocurrency firms, including Bitcoin, are expected to testify before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday amid calls for regulations.
4. Musk sells more Tesla shares
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO, Elon Musk has sold another 934,091 shares worth nearly $1,01 billion, in order to fulfill his tax obligations and also exercised options to purchase 2.1 million shares of the automaker at $6.24.
Musk has sold 10.1 million shares for $10.9 billion and exercised options to buy 10.7 million shares since early November.
Tesla stocks closed 6.42% lower at $1,014.97 a share on Friday while still up 39% year-to-date.
5. Fiserv, stock of the week
Fiserv’s (FISV:NASDAQ) shares rose 2.6% last week, while the outperformance could potentially continue into the 2022 calendar year.
The company, which provides a wide range of payment services to the financial industry, earned $1.47 a share in the third quarter as revenue grew 10% from a year ago to $4.16 billion.
Over the past year, a good number of insiders have significantly increased their holdings in Fiserv. The data is encouraging because it indicates that insiders are more optimistic about their prospects.
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