How Will The Upcoming Election Impact The Stock Market?
Over the last few weeks, we've received many questions about how Tuesday's election will impact the stock market. To answer that question, we sat down and asked Barry to share his thoughts in a video, which we shared below. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us at 615.370.4040.
3rd Quarter GDP
The first estimate for Q3 real GDP growth is 33.1% at an annual rate. According to First Trust, this is the fastest pace for any quarter since World War II. This number beat the 32% consensus expected. The largest contributor to the growth rate was consumer spending, with personal consumption, business investment, an home building also contributing to the rapid growth. Real GDP and consumer spending remain below their 2019 highs, with real GDP down 3.5% and consumer spending down 3.3%. Even with the gains, we are still a ways away from a full economic recovery.
Apple vs Google
According to a Financial Times report, Apple is attempting to build its search engine as U.S. antitrust regulators are focused on Google for allegedly abusing its dominant market position. In iOS 14, the latest version of the iPhone operating system, Apple unveiled its search capabilities. Google currently pays $8-12 billion a year to be the iPhone default search engine. While Apple is being secretive about its project, the Financial Times points to Apple poaching Google's head of search, ambitious hiring for search engineers, and increased activity from Apple's web crawler as clues to their intention.
Germany Announces 4-Week Shutdown
On Wednesday, German officials agreed to implement a four-week shutdown of restaurants, bars, theaters, and clubs to help curb coronavirus outbreaks, according to Forbes. The shutdown will begin on Monday, November 2nd. Unlike the first shutdown in March and April, school and kindergartens are expected to remain open. Restaurants will also be allowed to serve take-out orders. Germany, a country whose population exceeds 83 million people, has had less than 500,000 total cases since the start of the pandemic. The country is now averaging more than 10,000 new cases per day over the past week.
NASA Finds Water On The Moon
Scientists began finding signs of water on the moon in 2009 and confirmed the presence of water ice in 2018. Now, for the first time, NASA has identified water on the moon's sunlit surface. The scientists also found pockets of ice hiding in shadowy regions, according to space.com. Nasa's Project Artemis is expecting to have a sustained human presence on the moon by 2028. Water can be used to help with life support functions, conduct new experiments with plant life, and create rocket fuel.
Callaway Looks To Buy Topgolf
On Tuesday, Calloway announced through a press release that it has reached a deal to acquire Topgolf, an entertainment company that operates indoor and outdoor golf games. Callaway initially invested in Topgolf in 2006 for 14% of the company. "Topgolf is the best thing that happened to golf since Tiger Woods. It's going to be the largest source of new golfers for our industry," Callaway CEO Chip Brewer said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Topgolf had 23 million patrons in 2019, with over half being non-golfers.
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