Facebook’s recent data-breach prolongs a rough run of late for the social-media giant that is got investors wary over the next shoe to drop.
The company is trailing its tech peers, otherwise known as the FAANG gang—Amazon, Apple AAPL, +0.85% Netflix, and Alphabet’s Google GOOGL, -0.01% —in a big way. Zuck’s company is down 9.7% year-to-date, while on the other end, Netflix NFLX, +0.21% is up 96%, followed by a 68% gain for Amazon AMZN, +0.82%
MarketWatch
And that brings us to our call of the day, from CrackedMarket’s Jani Ziedins who says if anyone can pull off a comeback, it is Zuck’s pride and joy.
“This is still the hottest social media property and nothing else comes close. As long as technology continues to be the hottest sector, Facebook will continue to be a buy,” he said. Out of 48 analysts tracked on FactSet, two rated Facebook a sell, seven a hold, with the rest buy or overweight ratings.
“At this point, FB is far more likely to catch up to the other tech highfliers than it is to bring everyone else down to their level,” Ziedins says, though he cautions that while things look still look OK for the company near term and into year-end, “the situation could look a lot different next year.”
Facebook: Hackers didn’t access other apps in breach that affected 50 million accounts
Nonetheless, all that glitters doesn’t do that forever. Or something like that. And eventually, as happens to every hot sector at some point, is that the baton will be handed over to the next dazzling group of stocks, Ziedins reminds us.
Read: This might be the riskiest sector of the U.S. stock market
The market
The Dow DJIA, +0.45% , S&P 500 SPX, +0.39% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.42% all opened higher.
The euro EURUSD, -0.1039% is up, with Europe stocks SXXP, +0.62% in the green, led by the FTSE MIB Italy index I945, +1.26% I945, +1.26% Asia ADOW, -0.61% had a flat session.
Elsewhere, gold US:GCU8 is flat and crude US:CLU8 is higher.
Check out the Market Snapshot column for the latest action.
The chart
How tight are they? Our chart of the day taps into what’s turned into some financial water-cooler talk lately, that is the spread between the average yield on a junk bond and that of U.S. government bonds.
According to Bloomberg, that spread is now the lowest since 2007. For investors, the time to grab those junk bonds is usually when that spread is wide and they’re getting more bang for their buck against play-it-safe government bonds. So when investors are willing to take the extra risk for less money, eyebrows are raised.
Investors are demanding the least extra spread to own U.S. junk bonds versus investment-grade ones since 2007: Bloomberg Barclays index data h/t @DRBcurtis pic.twitter.com/JIGozhfCO5
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) October 2, 2018
The buzz
Facebook definitely doesn’t need more problems, but it #instagramdown has been a top trender in the wee hours with what looks like an outage in some parts of the world. Some on Twitter haven’t been exactly welcoming to the Instagram refugees:
Welcome to all the Instagram users being forced to be on twitter tonight.
We don’t care about what your food looks like here. #instagramdown
— andy lassner (@andylassner) October 3, 2018
New York authorities are looking into a report that claims President Donald Trump and his family schemed to help their parents dodge millions in taxes. He pocketed at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father Fred’s real-estate business, the New York Tim es reported.
Tesla TSLA, +0.15% ended up with a worse deal than the SEC first offered. Here’s how that happened.
Opinion: SEC settlement forces Tesla to give Elon Musk adult supervision
Luxury auto maker of James Bond fame, Aston Martin, got off to a soggy debut in London, with shares down 6% and well under that 1,900 pence IPO price.
Lennar LEN, -2.03% jumping after profit and deliveries beat forecasts.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told an interviewer on Tuesday evening that the company has no interest in making money off user data, only protecting what little it does collect.
Read: GE stock hits bottom after new CEO hired
The economy
Ahead of the open, we got ADP employment, which will be followed by the Markit services purchasing managers index and the Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index.
And a boatload of Fed speakers are en route, with Chicago Fed President Charles Evans kicking things off. Still to come are Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin, Fed Gov Lael Brainard, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, and rounding things off, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will make an appearance at an Atlantic magazine conference in Washington at 4 p.m. Eastern.
The quote
Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were teenagershttps://t.co/QE57JmpFNI pic.twitter.com/vIwKJBKXfD
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) October 3, 2018
“How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember.’ How did you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.’”—That was POTUS, mocking the testimony of Christine BLASEY Ford at a rally in Mississippi, as he criticized her accusations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for leaving his life in tatters.
The FBI probe into those allegations possibly could be wrapping up as soon as Wednesday, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressing to get a vote on Kavanaugh as soon as possible.
Random reads
Two letters sent to the Pentagon Tuesday tested positive for poison
Volcano erupts on a earthquake-and-tsunami-battered Indonesian island
Here’s U.K. PM Theresa May dancing at the Conservative party conference
Prime Minister Theresa May boogies onto the stage for her conference speech to the sound of ABBA's Dancing Queen #CPC18 pic.twitter.com/FCjjy3D1wj
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 3, 2018
Wild Card win for the Rookies
Congratulations to the @Rockies on their Wild Card win.
Wishing them the best of luck in the NLDS and beyond. pic.twitter.com/ingfj4wjG8
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) October 3, 2018
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