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Welcome to 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.
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1. Tesla isn't the only automaker day-traders love. Ford soared as much as 13% to a seven-year high on Thursday on the back of strong third-quarter earnings. Highlights included the company raising its full-year profit forecast and reinstating its dividend.
The results come a month after Ford's stock got a boost from a new plan to spend $11 billion to build three new battery plants. It's part of Ford's broader pivot towards electric vehicles.
For months Ford has been a retail-investor favorite, featuring as one of the most widely held stocks among Robinhood users.
What else to know:
- Ford's shares are up more than 90% this year
- During the earnings call, company executives cited an easing of the semiconductor shortage as helping drive recovery
- The biggest Ford bull on Wall Street is Dan Levy of Credit Suisse, who has a $23 price target on the stock - 31% above Thursday's intraday high
2. Tech stocks are shaping up for sharp losses after earnings misses for Apple and Amazon spread gloom. Warnings over supply-chain squeeze drag Nasdaq and S&P away from Thursday's record highs. Here are the latest moves on the market.
3. The CEO of SwingTrades spent years honing his trading strategy - and made $5.3 million last year. Speaking with Insider, Paul Scolardi broke down how he did it and what's behind his stock-picking approach. Here are the three names on his radar right now.
4. Earnings on deck: Exxon, Chevron, and Colgate-Palmolive, all reporting.
5. El Salvador's President Bukele said the country bought $25 million worth of bitcoin after waiting to buy the dip. When bitcoin tumbled below $59,000 at one point on Wednesday - a two-week low - El Salvador added another 420 bitcoins to its official holdings.
6. Bullish bets on Tesla stock reportedly made up half of all options trades earlier this week. Investors are betting that Tesla shares can surge even higher after it topped $1 trillion in market cap on Monday. So far in October, Tesla has gained 37% - and investors think it'll keep rising.
7. Shiba inu coin's massive run has put meme coins in the spotlight. The ethereum-based coin has shot past other meme coins with its recent boom, even surpassing the Reddit-favorite Dogecoin. Here are the 10 largest meme coins by market cap.
8. GOP Senator Toomey introduced a bill that would limit the SEC's ability to ban payment for order flow. PFOF has been an important revenue component for firms like Robinhood that offer no-fee trading and the option to buy fractional shares. But SEC Chief Gensler thinks that PFOF is an "inherent conflict of interest."
9. You can access commercial real estate with as little as $1,000 - according to the CEO of a $400 million real estate crowdfunding firm. Aaron Halfacre spent over a decade at BlackRock, but eventually began to focus on real estate as an asset aggregator. He thinks that crowdfunding can benefit some investors more than REITs and house hacking - here's why.
10. Inflation is historically high, but that doesn't mean you can't protect your portfolio. Asset manager Ehren Stanhope isn't worried about a return to the 'Great Inflation' of the 1970s, but he still thinks investors can make certain moves to safeguard themselves. Here are his four ways to inflation-proof your investments.
Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email [email protected] or tweet @philrosenn.
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