This archive report was first published on 18 August 2020.
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 index, a benchmark of the US stock market, hit an all-time high of 3,395.06 points, despite a weakening US dollar that extended losses for the fifth consecutive day.
As the US dollar continued to decline, precious metals prices surged, with gold reaching a high of $2015.50 per ounce, nearing its 52-week high of $2063.
Warren Buffett's firm, Berkshire Hathaway, recently announced a $564 million investment in Barrick Gold, the world's second-largest gold miner, which contributed to the rise in gold prices.
Major Stocks on the Rise ¶
Apple Inc. launched two new radio stations on Apple Music, renaming its global flagship radio station Beats 1 to Apple Music 1. The new stations, Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, will be available to Apple Music users in 165 countries.
Apple's shares have risen by more than 58% since the start of the year, while Tesla shares hit a new all-time high of 1923.87 ahead of the company's recent announcement of a 5-for-1 stock split.
SoftBank Group Corp. invested $3.9 billion in 25 of the world's largest technology companies, including Amazon.com Inc., Tesla Inc., Netflix Inc., and Alphabet Inc.
JD and Walmart Earnings ¶
JD.com, a Chinese e-commerce firm, released its earnings for the second quarter, with revenue rising 33.5% to $28.5 billion. The company's shares rose to a historical high following the positive earnings data.
Walmart Inc. released its earnings for the second quarter of 2020, with revenue rising by 5.6% to $137.7 billion. The company's e-commerce sales in the United States skyrocketed 97% during the period.
Other Market Updates ¶
Amazon Web Services signed a deal with Toyota Motor to collaborate on its Mobility Services Platform, providing a platform for Toyota to process and analyze data from its cloud-connected vehicles.
Oracle Corp.'s shares rose on Tuesday after reports that the company had entered the race to buy TikTok's US operations. The company is considering buying the app's operations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Bitcoin price surged on Tuesday to hit a one-year high of $12,408.9, with the estimated number of tera hashes per second dedicated to mining blocks, or the bitcoin hashrate, rising to a new all-time high of 129.03 tera hashes per second.
