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‘Personnel Is Policy’: Four Themes Emerge as Biden Selects Team

As President-elect Joe Biden works to fill key roles in his administration, WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib outlines four characteristics of the prospective team. Photo: Laura Kammermann

Latest Stories

  • Goldman Sachs warns of a dangerous bubble in these 39 stocks

    Goldman Sachs sounds the alarm on some very hot tech stocks.

  • How To Generate $100,000 Of Retirement Income, Without Selling Your Principal

    Your retirement savings are $1 million. You want $100,000 of yearly retirement income, including Social Security. Is that doable without tons of risk?

  • Millennials Love 5 Overlooked Stocks That Are Beating Tesla

    Millennials still love Tesla — it's their favorite S&P 500 stock — but they're actually making much more money on their five other top picks.

  • 2 Biotech Stocks Wells Fargo Says Are Ready to Bounce

    The biotech sector has started the year with a bang. The industry benchmark, iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF (IBB), is up ~11% so far in January -- far better than the S&P 500's 3% return. Covering the sector for Wells Fargo, 5-star analyst Jim Birchenough is upbeat about what he sees. “Overall, we see roughly 20% to 30% additional upside for the sector by historical metrics and would argue that accelerating pace of innovation and greater pipeline de-risking should ultimately support higher returns on investment,” Birchenough noted. An environment like that will be manna from heaven for any investor interested in pharmaceutical stocks; an improved political climate will just add some icing to this cake. “While a split House and Senate supporting continued legislative inertia would have been best received, in terms of maintaining a positive status quo for biotechnology growth, we believe that value proposition for emerging biotechnology therapeutics should win-out under any administration and House/Senate mix,” Birchenough added. With this in mind, we wanted to check out some of Wells Fargo's recent picks in the biotech space to see if the investment firm could steer us towards any game-changers. After running the tickers through TipRanks’ database, we found out that two recently scored Buy ratings from the rest of the Street, enough to earn a “Strong Buy” consensus rating. Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX) We will start with Karuna Therapeutics, a specialty pharma company whose focus is mental health. Specifically, Karuna works on the development of new drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia and dementia-related psychoses (DRP). With a potential patient base exceeding 2.7 million people, this is a large market. And the state of current treatment options is widely considered less than satisfactory. Medication side effects are severe, while therapeutic effects are less than desired. This leaves an opening for a company that can put a new, more effective, treatment on the market. Karuna is currently enrolling the pivotal Phase 3 EMERGENT-2 Study of its leading drug candidate, KarXT, for the treatment of acute psychosis in adults with schizophrenia. KarXT has showed a differentiated safety profile and efficacy in Phase 2 data. Furthermore, Phase 1b data in healthy elderly volunteers for DRP remain on track for 2Q21. This solid pipeline, with a new drug in multiple studies to treat several aspects of a serious disorder, has piqued Wells Fargo's interest. Covering KRTX for the firm, analyst Jacob Hughes writes, “Karuna Therapeutics is our top idea in 2021. While KRTX shares have had an impressive run... we see a very attractive setup for the stock over the next couple years and several important catalysts in 2021 to drive the shares higher… We think the pipeline has been de-risked and we like the risk/reward at these levels as the value of KarXT is proved out.” To this end, Hughes rates the stock an Overweight (i.e. Buy), and his $163 price target implies an upside of ~59% for the coming year. (To watch Hughes’ track record, click here) It’s not often that the analysts all agree on a stock, so when it does happen, take note. KRTX's Strong Buy consensus rating is based on a unanimous 6 Buys. The stock’s $138.80 average price target suggests a 35% upside from the current share price of $102.80. (See KRTX stock analysis on TipRanks) Zymeworks, Inc. (ZYME) Vancouver-based Zymeworks is a clinical stage biotech involved in researching new drugs for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune disorders, and inflammatory diseases. The company focuses on biotherapeutics, drugs precisely engineered for their target diseases. The company’s lead candidate, zanidatamab, has indications for biliary tract cancer, breast cancer, and gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. The drug is in Phase 1/2 testing for these cancers. Zymeworks’ second clinical candidate, ZW49, like zanidatamab, is an HER2 bispecific antibody in early stage study as a solid tumor treatment. Initial data will be presented at an investor event on January 27. Based on Zymeworks’ recent study results, Wells Fargo’s Jim Birchenough writes, “[We] expect zanidatamab to differentiate from current HER2 standards by virtue of depth of response in both refractory and frontline patients and to attract a prominent partner to pursue neoadjuvant and adjuvant breast cancer studies, and for ZW49 go-forward dose to demonstrate consistent responses to support further development, with upside potential from additional dose escalation.” In line with his bullish stance, Birchenough rates ZYME an Overweight (i.e. Buy) and his price target, at $71, implies a ~47% growth ahead. (To watch Birchenough’s track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, it appears that other analysts are generally on the same page. With 4 Buys and 1 Hold assigned in the last three months, the consensus rating comes in as a Strong Buy. In addition, the $60.82 average price target implies ~26% upside from current levels. (See ZYME stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for biotech stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • 7 Best Vanguard Funds for Retirement

    A mix of choices for investorsMutual funds can help diversify your retirement portfolio, whether you're looking for growth through equity exposure or dividend income. Vanguard has a reputation for offering low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds to help investors achieve their retirement goals.

  • Jim Cramer on GameStop: ‘The mechanics of the market are breaking down. … I’ve never seen the guns like this. They can break shorts.’

    KEY WORDS Jim Cramer appears to be flabbergasted by GameStop’s epic run. Trading by individual investors has led to massive rises in the Texas-based videogame retailer’s stock, which has quadrupled in 2021.

  • Your next stimulus check: Congress to speed along $1,400 payments this week

    Speaker Pelosi and other leaders want quick approval. How soon could you get more money?

  • $1,000, 5 Years Later: How Much Would General Electric Stock Be Worth?

    Investors who have owned stocks since 2016 generally have experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) total return in the past five years is 121.4%. But there is no question some big-name stocks performed better than others along the way. GE’s Trainwreck: One of the worst-performing, high-profile U.S. stocks of the past five years has been industrial giant General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). GE has been one of the blue chip stocks in the U.S. market for over a century and was one of the original Dow Jones Industrial Average components. But a difficult energy environment coupled with some questionable accounting, ill-timed investments and poor balance sheet management created a perfect storm for GE investors in recent years. At the beginning of 2016, GE shares were trading at around $30. They topped out at around $33 in mid-2016 and traded mostly above the $28 level through mid-2017. Then the bottom fell out. From that point, the stock plummeted ceaselessly for the next 18 months or so, as profits evaporated, growth stalled and the company slashed its dividend and reported major write-downs associated with its dubious past accounting practices. The stock eventually bounced at the $6.66 level in late 2018 on optimism that the worst of GE’s struggles were finally in the past. Related Link: Here's How Much Investing ,000 In Intel Stock 5 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today GE In 2021, Beyond: GE peaked at $13.26 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic sell-off, which pushed the stock back down to $5.48 in March, its low point of the past five years. GE has since rebounded to above $11. The company paid a $200 million settlement to the SEC in late 2020, seemingly closing the book on its accounting issues. GE investors that bought and held on through a volatile five-year period still took a huge hit. In fact, $1,000 worth of GE stock bought in 2016 would be worth about $454 today, assuming reinvested dividends. Looking ahead, analysts expect GE to continue to recover in the next 12 months. The average price target among the 17 analysts covering the stock is $13 suggesting 18.3% upside from current levels. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaThis Day In Market History: Dow Hits Dot-Com Bubble Peak33 Blue Chip Companies That Are Suspending Campaign Donations After Capitol Insurrection© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Tencent Tumbles After Stock Approached $1 Trillion Valuation

    (Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. slumped after a world-beating surge in the stock pushed its market value to the cusp of $1 trillion for the first time.The Chinese Internet behemoth lost as much as 6.7% in Hong Kong on Tuesday, putting its market capitalization below $900 billion. Traders took profit after Monday’s 11% surge, which was Tencent’s biggest in almost a decade. Adding caution were comments by an advisor to China’s central bank to local media indicating that excessive liquidity and ultra-low borrowing costs were creating bubbles in the stock market.Read more: China Asset-Bubble Warning Threatens Stock Frenzy in Hong KongThe prospect that China will tighten funding conditions threatens to derail Tencent’s stock rally, which has been underpinned by a relentless flow of capital from the mainland. Onshore funds purchased a record amount of Hong Kong shares this month, with about a quarter of that targeting Tencent. As more than a billion people use its WeChat social-media platform, Tencent is ubiquitous to Chinese investors who have no access to Hong Kong shares of rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. through the stock links.Tencent was the most recent mega-cap company to benefit from investor enthusiasm for the tech sector, with its looming milestone a marker for the euphoria sweeping the stocks globally. Before Tuesday, the stock had added $251 billion in January alone -- by far the biggest creation of shareholder wealth worldwide. Warnings are rising that easy monetary policy is fueling bubbles in global equities, especially in the U.S., where gains have been led by the Nasdaq.As investors seek cheaper alternatives, they’ve been piling into Hong Kong equities. That’s helped make the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index the best performing among the world’s major benchmarks in the past month.While Tencent has long been an investor favorite in Asia, returning more than 100,000% since its 2004 initial public offering as of Monday, there are other risks to the rally.In 2018, a government crackdown on China’s online gaming industry squeezed Tencent’s most profitable business, which at the time accounted for about 40% of its revenue. Coupled with a slowing Chinese economy and a weakening yuan, Beijing’s nine-month halt on approvals for new games contributed to a 22% slump in the shares.A campaign against monopolistic practices since late last year has targeted many of the industries in which Tencent and rival Alibaba operate, including the online payments industry. But while increasing regulatory risk has left Alibaba’s shares about 18% lower than their October peak, Tencent has closed at seven fresh records in the past eight sessions. One factor contributing to the divergence: Alibaba’s Hong Kong stock is not included in trading links with mainland exchanges.Tencent would be the second Chinese firm to join the trillion-dollar club after PetroChina Co., which was briefly worth more than that in late 2007 before collapsing in value. U.S. tech giants Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are also worth more than $1 trillion each, as is Saudi Arabian Oil Co.Tencent was founded in 1998 by four college classmates and a friend from Shenzhen who devised a Chinese version of the instant messaging service ICQ. Led by “Pony” Ma Huateng -- ma is Chinese for “horse” -- the company’s chat software became the primary communication tool for a generation of young Chinese.Still, Tencent’s surge has outpaced all but the most bullish analysts’ forecasts. The stock’s closing level of HK$766.50 on Monday was almost 10% higher than the consensus 12-month price target compiled by Bloomberg, the widest gap since 2014.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Biden's Green Energy Boom Could Send These Electric Vehicle Stocks Soaring

    2020 was an absolutely unbelievable year for electric vehicle stocks, but with a new administration set to take the wheel, this year could be even bigger

  • GameStop Short Seller Melvin Gets $2.75B Funding From Citadel, Point72

    GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME) short seller Melvin Capital Management LP said Monday it had received $2.75 billion in investment from hedge funds Citadel and Point72. What Happened: While Citadel and its partners are investing $2 billion, Point72 is pumping in $750 million into Melvin Capital, the firm’s CEO Gabriel Plotkin said in a statement. “The team at Melvin is eager to get to work and reward the confidence of these two great investment icons,” said Plotkin. Point72 has already invested $1 billion invested in Melvin, as of 2019. The investments are in Melvin’s fund and in non-controlling revenue shares of the company, according to Wall Street Journal. Why It Matters: Melvin has lost 30% through Friday, thanks to a series of short bets including against GameStop. GameStop shares surged as high as $159.18 on Monday and closed nearly 18% high at almost $76.80. The shares rose another nearly 15.7% in the after-hours session to $88.87. Benzinga PreMarket Prep co-host Dennis Dick dismissed the justification of a turnaround in the game retailer’s business. “I’m trying to say this has absolutely nothing to do with company fundamentals in a move like GameStop,” said Dick. The short squeeze in GameStop’s stock has been driven by online communities, which are in a spat with short seller Citron Research. Read Next: GameStop's Confounding Rally Leads To One Of Its Largest Investors Turning Neutral See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaWhy Tesla's Q4 Earnings Could Be A 'Blowout' Compared To Street EstimatesApple Supplier Luxshare Hit With US Patent Infringement Probe© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • 'This is not normal' - Wall Street grows wary of stock bubbles

    Growing concerns about stock bubbles on Wall Street are sparking fears of a pullback, highlighted by the wild ride for shares such as GameStop Corp. A flood of money supply, ultra-low or zero interest rates and COVID-19 vaccine rollouts have sparked a "buy everything" rally, helping world stocks add a whopping $33 trillion in value from their lows of last March. Surges in share prices of some loss-making firms, red-hot public markets and amateur investors chasing stocks have drawn concern as the benchmark S&P 500 has gained more than 70% since March.

  • AMD Reports Earnings Tomorrow. Here’s What To Expect.

    The chip maker is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results Tuesday afternoon. Analysts expect the company to post sales of $3.02 billion, up 42% from a year ago.

  • Chamath Palihapitiya Invests in Two Deals in One Day During SPAC Boom

    (Bloomberg) -- Serial blank-check dealmaker Chamath Palihapitiya has doubled down on SPACs and has now participated in at least half a dozen deals that his own blank-check vehicles aren’t even involved in.On Monday, Palihapitiya, the former Facebook Inc. executive and venture capitalist, invested in two companies going public via a special purpose acquisition company -- smart lockmaker Latch Inc. and solar lender Sunlight Financial LLC -- through the equity raised to support the deals. That’s on top of the six blank-check vehicles he’s helped raise.Latch and Sunlight were just two of the five companies that announced they were going public via a SPAC on Monday, in deals worth a combined $15.4 billion including debt. The flurry of mergers come after a record year for blank-check companies that shows no sign of stopping. with more than $15 billion raised in fresh capital already this month. SPACs raised more than $79 billion in the U.S. in 2020 -- more than the combined total in all previous years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.While the amount Palihapitiya invested in two of the Monday deals couldn’t immediately be learned, he tweeted Jan. 21 that he was leading a private investment in public equity -- or PIPE -- for an undisclosed deal that turned out to be Latch. The SPAC, backed by New York-based real estate firm Tishman Speyer, raised an additional $190 million from investors including Palihapitiya, BlackRock Inc. and D1 Capital Partners.Sunlight agreed to go public through a merger with a vehicle backed by Apollo Global Management Inc. The SPAC raised $250 million from Palihapitiya, Coatue and BlackRock, among others. SPACs announce PIPE investments when they do a deal to help finance it and support its closing.Shares in most of the blank-check companies that announced a deal Monday climbed. TS Innovation Acquisitions Corp. jumped as much as 90% after the Latch transaction was revealed, and traded up 43% at 2:01 p.m. in New York. Spartan Acquisition Corp. II, which is merging with Sunlight, jumped as much as 45%, while ION Acquisition Corp. 1 Ltd. climbed 36% on its deal with advertising-tech firm Taboola Inc. Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. climbed as much as 13% after announcing a $7.3 billion deal with Alight Solutions.Landcadia Holdings III Inc., which announced a deal with Hillman Group Inc., slipped slightly in afternoon trading, though it still trades above the $10-per-share price at which SPACs go public. Investors had already had a chance to trade the Hillman and Alight deals after earlier reports on the transactions.Palihapitiya isn’t the only investor showing up on multiple deals but he is one of the few individuals showing up so often in the public announcements. These transactions often attract big names, usually institutional investors such as BlackRock and Fidelity Management & Research Co. It’s possible other private investors are investing in SPAC mergers without disclosing their involvement.Palihapitiya is dabbling in many sectors through these investments. Other SPAC deals he’s contributed to in the past few months include 3D printing company Desktop Metal Inc., rare earth company MP Materials Corp., electric bus manufacturer Proterra Inc. and car insurance company Metromile Inc., statements showed.(Updates with money raised by SPACs in 2020 in the third paragraph. An earlier version of this story corrected the definition of PIPE.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • GameStop shares go on rollercoaster ride to close 18% higher

    GameStop (GME) shares went through a massive short squeeze, spiking more than 130% on Monday and prompting trading halts before dipping briefly into negative territory. Shares of the video game retailer closed up 18% at $76.79 each.

  • 'I love you guys': Redditor betting on GameStop claimed to use profits to pay off student loans

    Student loan borrowers are riding the Reddit-fuelled GameStop (GME) wave, betting that they’ll be able to use the profits to pay off their debt.

  • Is Ford Stock A Buy Now, With Earnings Due Soon?

    With earnings turning around in 2021 and the stock making a notable move, is Ford primed for a comeback? Here’s what you should know.

  • Warren Buffett says this is how to protect your finances from the pandemic

    Listening to Buffett, you can pick up these tips for surviving the pandemic financially.

  • Jim Cramer: Buy GameStop For What It's Worth

    Oddly it might be an anthem for the younger investors who have flooded the Wall Street Bets site with positive commentary about GameStop , the long-in-decline brick and mortar store that has been the target of perpetual shorts all the way down from $47 five years ago to $4 in 2020. Not that long ago, many on Wall Street considered GameStop a goner. Until an important confluence of events occurred, starting with a shortage of the new Playstation and Xbox devices, devices that GameStop features, and the addition of Ryan Cohen, the founder of the phenomenally success Chewy , to the board of GameStop just last week.

  • Cathie Wood: More Tech Companies Will Adopt Bitcoin Treasury Reserves

    Wood said large companies are asking her if they should follow Square's lead.