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Tips For Improving Portfolio Performance: Mark Minervini

U.S. Investing Champion and "Market Wizard" Mark Minervini joined the IBD Live team on Feb. 1 to share his top tips for improving portfolio performance.

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  • Marc Lasry, Chris Giancarlo Invest in Crypto Firm BlockTower

    (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire hedge-fund manager Marc Lasry and former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Christopher Giancarlo have invested in crypto-asset and blockchain investment firm BlockTower Capital.Terms weren’t disclosed. Lasry, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Avenue Capital Group, made an investment independent of his firm, according to people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to speak on the record. Lasry, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Giancarlo confirmed the investment, but declined to comment further.Giancarlo, also a former executive at a swaps brokerage, earned the nickname “crypto dad” while serving as CFTC chairman from 2017-2019, including during the regulatory agency’s approval of Bitcoin futures.The investment disclosures come as crypto enthusiasts prepare for fresh regulators while digital assets surge to record prices. Gary Gensler, the Biden administration’s nominee to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, during a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday cited fraud and manipulation within cryptocurrency markets as issues the SEC needs to address.This isn’t the first time that Lasry has shown interest in the cryptocurrency industry. He predicted back in 2018 that the price of Bitcoin could hit $40,000, a milestone the digital asset surpassed in January. The world’s largest cryptocurrency, surged over 300% last year, and briefly surpassed $58,000 in February.BlockTower was co-founded in 2017 by Matthew Goetz, who previously worked in investment management at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Ari Paul, formerly a portfolio manager who oversaw risk at the University of Chicago’s endowment investment office. The firm has received funding in the past from Union Square Ventures LLC and Andreessen Horowitz. A spokesperson for BlockTower declined to comment.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.

  • Bond jitters putting markets in 'completely new light', BIS says

    The swift rise of borrowing costs on global bond markets over the last month could completely alter the outlook for financial markets, according to the central bank for the world's central banks, the Bank for International Settlements. In its latest quarterly report, the Swiss-based BIS also noted how wild retail trading-driven swings in stocks such as GameStop recently had helped whip up volatility. The big shift however has been in the U.S. Treasury markets that tend to propel global borrowing costs on the sense that unprecedented stimulus will ignite inflation if COVID-19 vaccines allow economies to fully reopen this year.

  • 13 years after investing in an obscure Chinese automaker, Warren Buffett’s BYD bet is paying off big

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  • Tesla Former Board Member Says Elon Musk Company Won't Remain 'King Of The Hill In Electric Forever'

    A former board member of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) said Tuesday that the company is unlikely to remain the “king of the hill” in electric vehicles forever, CNBC reported. What Happened: Steve Westly said on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” that he had been bullish on the Elon Musk-led automaker for the last 10 years and it’s “hard to imagine an auto company executing better than Tesla has.” Westly pointed to the company’s latest earnings release in January where it said it had a “multi-year horizon” and expected to achieve 50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries. “No one else in the auto world is doing that. Having said that, Tesla is not going to be king of the hill in electric forever,” said Westly. Why It Matters: The venture capitalist noted that there have been large-scale commitments on EVs from legacy automakers such as General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) and Volkswagen AG (OTC: VWAGY). “Tesla is not just getting hit from the high end,” said Westly on the availability of EVs from Volkswagen marques such as Audi and Porsche. Tesla also faces increased competition from Chinese EV rivals, which have more affordable offerings. The analyst noted increased competition in Europe where according to him the company was “No. 1, they’re now No. 4.” See Also: Tesla's Share Of European EV Market Reduced To 3.5% “They’re getting competition from all sectors. They’re going to have to double down to compete.” Tesla’s plans to make a more affordable $25,000 vehicle have left Chinese rivals such as Xpeng Inc (NYSE: XPEV), Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO), and others unfazed. In January, a two-door $4,500 EV made by Wuling — a joint venture of GM and state-owned SAIC Motor — outsold Tesla’s Model 3 in China by nearly two-to-one. Price Action: Tesla shares closed 4.45% lower at $686.44 on Tuesday and gained 0.34% in the after-hours session. Click here to check out Benzinga’s EV Hub for the latest electric vehicles news. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaNio Says Chip Shortage Will Hit EV Production In Q2Such Popularity, Much Wow! Dogecoin Now Available At 1,800 ATMs Across US© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

  • Monthly stimulus checks may be on the way for families later this year

    A bill in Congress would give families up to $300 a month per child starting this summer.

  • A $21 Trillion Treasuries Mystery Is Bedeviling Global Markets

    (Bloomberg) -- Bond traders have been saying for years that liquidity is there in the world’s biggest bond market, except when you really need it.Last week’s startling gyrations in U.S. Treasury yields may offer fresh backing for that mantra, and prompt another bout of soul-searching in a $21 trillion market that forms the bedrock of global finance. While stocks are prone to sudden swings, such episodes are supposed to be few and far between in a government-debt market that sets the benchmark risk-free rate for much of the world.Yet jarring moves occur periodically in Treasuries, forming a bit of a mystery as no two events have been the same. Some point to heightened bank regulations in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Scrutiny over liquidity shortfalls intensified in October 2014 when a 12-minute crash and rebound in yields happened with no apparent trigger. Panic selling during the pandemic-fueled chaos a year ago, exacerbated when hedge funds’ leveraged wagers blew up, brought the issue to the fore again.And then came last week, when the gap between bid and offer prices for 30-year bonds hit the widest since the panic of March 2020.The latest events “are a stark reminder what happens when liquidity suddenly vanishes in the deepest, largest bond market,” said Ben Emons, managing director of global macro strategy at Medley Global Advisors.At issue is whether this vast market is more vulnerable to sudden bouts of turbulence thanks to measures that have made it more difficult for banks to hold Treasuries. Some analysts say the tumult last week was magnified by questions over whether the Federal Reserve will extend an easing of bank capital requirements, which is set to end March 31. Put in place early on in the pandemic, the measure is seen as making it easier for banks to add Treasuries to their balance sheets.The 2014 episode triggered a deep dive into the market structure, and regulators have pushed through some changes -- such as increased transparency -- and speculation has grown that more steps to bolster the market’s structure may be ahead.“While the scale and speed of flows associated with the COVID shock are likely pretty far out in the tail of the probability distribution, the crisis highlighted vulnerabilities in the critically important Treasury market that warrant careful analysis,” Fed Governor Lael Brainard said Monday in prepared remarks to the Institute of International Bankers.There are plenty of potential culprits in last week’s bond-market tumble -- which has since mostly reversed -- from improving economic readings to more technical drivers. Ultra-loose Fed policy and the prospect of fresh U.S. fiscal stimulus have investors betting on quicker growth and inflation. Add to that a wave of convexity hedgers, and unwinding by big trend-following investors -- such as commodity trading advisers.Based on Bloomberg’s U.S. Government Securities Liquidity Index, a gauge of how far yields are deviating from a fair-value model, liquidity conditions worsened recently, though it was nothing like what was seen in March.For Zoltan Pozsar, a strategist at Credit Suisse, the action began in Asia with bond investors reacting to perceived hawkish signs from the central banks of Australia and New Zealand. That sentiment then carried over into the U.S. as carry trades and other levered positions in the bond market were wiped out. A disastrous auction of seven-year notes on Thursday added fuel to the unraveling.Last week’s drama “brings to mind other notable episodes in recent years in which a deterioration in the Treasury market microstructure was primarily to blame,” JPMorgan & Chase Co. strategist Henry St John wrote in a note with colleagues.One key gauge of Treasury liquidity -- market depth, or the ability to trade without substantially moving prices -- plunged in March 2020 to levels not seen since the 2008 crisis, according to data compiled by JPMorgan. That severe degree of liquidity shortfall didn’t resurface last week.The bond-market rout only briefly took a toll on share prices last week, with equities surging to start this week, following a sharp retreat in Treasury yields amid month-end buying.The Fed cut rates to nearly zero in March 2020, launched a raft of emergency lending facilities and ramped up bond buying to ensure low borrowing costs and smooth market functioning. That breakdown in functioning has sparked calls for change from regulators and market participants alike.GLOBAL INSIGHT: Recovery? Yes. Tantrum? No. Yield Driver ModelFor now, Treasuries have settled down. Pozsar notes that the jump in yields has provided an opportunity for some value investors to swoop in and pick up extra yield, effectively helping offset the impact of the leveraged investors who scrambled for the exits last week.“Some levered players were shaken out of their positions,” Pozsar said in a forthcoming episode of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. “It’s not comfortable -- especially if you’re on the wrong side of the trade -- but I don’t think that we should be going down a path where we should redesign the Treasury market.”Why Liquidity Is a Simple Idea But Hard to Nail Down: QuickTake(Updates with details on Bloomberg’s liquidity index in 10th paragraph, and a chart)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.

  • How to make sure your next stimulus check is the full $1,400

    The payments in President Biden's COVID relief plan will rely on an IRS formula.

  • Rocket shares soar more than 70% as analysts eye 'GameStop-esque' short squeeze

    Heavily shorted mortgage provider Rocket Companies saw its stock surge on Tuesday, in an eye-popping move reminiscent of the rallies that powered GameStop and other so-called meme stocks earlier in the year. Shares of Rocket, the parent company of Quicken Loans, closed up 71.2% at $41.60 after being halted several times for volatility. The outsized move puts Rocket among the stocks that have experienced wild gyrations after becoming a focus of investors on sites such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets, where mentions of the company have multiplied in recent days.

  • Here are 9 get-rich tips from Warren Buffett's annual shareholder letters

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  • Nasdaq, Easterly, MorganFranklin, V&E, Mizuho to Host “SPAC to the Future” on March 4 Featuring SwitchBack, Haymaker, InterPrivate

    2020 became known as the “Year of the SPAC “as the structure gained institutional support while shattering IPO and M&A records. But with success comes fresh challenges. For those considering launching new SPACs, it may become harder to entice IPO investors who have a myriad of choices and the cost of insurance can be difficult […]

  • Intel Told to Pay $2.18 Billion After Losing Patent Trial

    (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp. was told to pay VLSI Technology LLC $2.18 billion by a federal jury in Texas after losing a patent-infringement trial over technology related to chip-making, one of the largest patent-damages award in U.S. history. Intel pledged to appeal.Intel infringed two patents owned by closely held VLSI, the jury in Waco, Texas, said Tuesday. The jury found $1.5 billion for infringement of one patent and $675 million for infringement of the second. The jury rejected Intel’s denial of infringing either of the patents and its argument that one patent was invalid because it claimed to cover work done by Intel engineers.The patents had been owned by Dutch chipmaker NXP Semiconductors Inc., which would get a cut of any damage award, Intel lawyer William Lee of WilmerHale told jurors in closing arguments Monday. VLSI, founded four years ago, has no products and its only potential revenue is this lawsuit, he said.VLSI “took two patents off the shelf that hadn’t been used for 10 years and said, ‘We’d like $2 billion,”’ Lee told the jury. The “outrageous” demand by VLSI “would tax the true innovators.”He had argued that VLSI was entitled to no more than $2.2 million.“Intel strongly disagrees with today’s jury verdict,” the company said in a statement. “We intend to appeal and are confident that we will prevail.”Intel fell 2.6% to $61.24 in New York trading. The stock is up 23% since the beginning of the year.One of the patents was originally issued in 2012 to Freescale Semiconductor Inc. and the other in 2010 to SigmaTel Inc. Freescale bought SigmaTel and was in turn bought by NXP in 2015. The two patents in this case were transferred to VLSI in 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Law.VLSI lawyer Morgan Chu of Irell & Manella said the patents cover inventions that increase the power and speed of processors, a key issue for competition.‘Willful Blindness’Federal law doesn’t require someone to know of a patent to be found to have infringed it, and Intel purposely didn’t look to see if it was using someone else’s inventions, he said. He accused the Santa Clara, California-based company of “willful blindness.”The jury said there was no willful infringement. A finding otherwise would have enabled District Court Judge Alan Albright to increase the award even further, to up to three times the amount set by the jury.“We are very pleased that the jury recognized the value of the innovations as reflected in the patents and are extremely happy with the jury verdict,” Michael Stolarski, chief executive of VLSI, said in an e-mailed statement.Officials with NXP couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.The damage request isn’t so high when the billions of chips sold by Intel are taken into account, Chu said. Intel paid MicroUnity Systems Engineering Corp. $300 million 2005 and in 2011 paid Nvidia Corp. $1.5 billion even though a settlement in that case involved a cross license of technology, he said.“Operating companies are going to be disturbed by not only the size of the award but also the damages theory,” said Michael Tomasulo, a Winston Strawn lawyer who attended the trial. “They more or less seemed to have bought the entire VLSI case.”The damage award is about half of Intel’s fourth-quarter profit. The company has dominated the $400 billion chip industry for most of the past 30 years, though it’s struggling to maintain that position.The verdict is smaller than the $2.5 billion verdict won by Merck & Co. over a hepatitis C treatment. It was later thrown out. Last year, Cisco Systems Inc. was told by a federal judge in Virginia to pay $1.9 billion to a small cybersecurity companies that accused it of copying a feature to steal away government contracts. Cisco has asked the judge for a new trial.The case is among the few in-person patent trials in recent months, with many courts pressing pause amid the coronavirus pandemic. It was delayed a week because of the winter storm that wreaked havoc across much of Texas.Intel had sought to postpone the case because of the pandemic, but was rejected by Albright, a former patent litigator and magistrate who was sworn in as a federal judge in 2018 and has quickly turned his courtroom into one of the most popular for patent owners to file suit.The case is VLSI Technology LLC v. Intel Corp., 21-57, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Waco).(Updates with VLSI comment in 12th paragraph. An earlier version corrected the spelling of law firm name in eighth paragraph.)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.

  • BitGo Reveals $250M in Bitcoin Holdings, Signaling More Crypto-Native Disclosures Ahead

    The crypto custodian has had bitcoin on its own balance sheet since 2014, CEO Mike Belshe told CoinDesk.

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  • Cathie Wood’s Main ETF Roars Back With Near-Record Inflow

    (Bloomberg) -- Even the worst performance in almost a year is doing little to diminish demand for Cathie Wood’s brand.The ARK Innovation ETF (ticker ARKK), the main fund at Wood’s Ark Investment Management, notched its second-biggest inflow ever on Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The $464 million injection came on the heels of a four-day rout that had sent the exchange-traded fund down more than 15%, showing the willingness of investors to buy the dip.Spooked by rising bond yields, traders punished the pricier parts of the equity market last week, including many of ARKK’s top holdings, like electric carmaker Tesla Inc. But the pain has proved fleeting and ARKK posted its best day in nearly two months on Monday as stocks rallied across the board.The “rebound in equities and especially technology stocks were a delightful surprise to Ark Innovation ETF,” Saxo Bank’s Chief Investment Officer Steen Jakobsen wrote in a note. Jakobsen cautions though that the “Tesla-Bitcoin-Ark risk cluster could still induce volatility in equities.”Wood’s rough week at one point trimmed assets in ARKK, which returned 149% in 2020, by some $5 billion. While considerable, that remains a fraction of the firm’s ETF assets under management, which last month climbed to more than $60 billion.The ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG) also had an inflow on Friday, adding $64 million. The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) saw a small outflow.In spite of Monday’s rebound, bearish bets continue to mount against ARKK. The percentage of shares sold short in the fund has reached a record of almost 5%, according to IHS Markit data.The ETF was down as 0.6% as of 11:19 a.m. in New York on Tuesday. It’s up 9.8% this year.(Updates ETF price in last paragraph)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.

  • China overtakes US to host most dollar billionaires as 2020 stock market rally defied Covid-19 and minted wealth at a record pace

    One in every two newly minted dollar-denominated billionaires last year were in China, the first country to exit from a nationwide pandemic lockdown and the only major economy to have expanded last year, according to a list by Hurun Report. China surpassed the United States last year to become the first country with more than 1,000 dollar-denominated tycoons, with 1,058 billionaires last year compared with 696 in the US, according to the latest Hurun Global Rich List 2021. Of the 610 newly minted tycoons globally, 318 were in China, compared with 95 in the US based on January 15 valuations, Hurun said. "The world has never seen this much wealth created in just one year, much more than expected for a year so badly disrupted by Covid-19," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chief research and chairman of Hurun Report. "A stock markets boom, driven partly by quantitative easing, and flurry of new listings have minted eight new dollar billionaires a week for the past year." Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. The richest individuals on the planet became collectively richer in 2020 while the world was mired in unprecedented economic slumps caused by the worst public health crisis in decades, with the collective wealth of the 0.01 per cent swelling by 32 per cent to US$14.7 trillion. Their ranks also grew to encompass 3,228 known billionaires across 2,402 companies in 68 countries, according to the report. Elon Musk is the world's wealthiest centibillionaire. Photo: Reuters alt=Elon Musk is the world's wealthiest centibillionaire. Photo: Reuters China had six of the world's top 10 cities with the highest concentration of billionaires, with Beijing at the top of the ranking for the sixth consecutive year as home to 145 of the ultra rich. Shanghai was in second place with 113 billionaires, edging out New York with 112. Hong Kong was in fifth place with 82 billionaires, behind Shenzhen's 105. Elon Musk was the world's wealthiest centibillionaire, as the 622 per cent surge in Tesla's stock price in 2020 bolstered his fortunes to an estimated US$197 billion, more than Amazon.com's founder Jeff Bezos at US$189 billion. Colin Huang Zheng, founder and CEO of the online group discounter Pinduoduo. Photo: CNS via Reuters alt=Colin Huang Zheng, founder and CEO of the online group discounter Pinduoduo. Photo: CNS via Reuters Zhong Shanshan, founder and chairman of the water bottler Nongfu Spring, was one of the newest members of the multibillionaires' club, with US$85 billion in estimated wealth in seventh place. His bottled water company's initial public offering (IPO) was one of the Hong Kong's hottest stock sales, locking up a record HK$677 billion (US$87 billion) in capital, about a third of the city's cash in circulation, in subscriptions by enthusiastic retail investors. Zhong, based in the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou, was Asia's new richest person, booting Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries off his spot with US$83 billion, Hurun said. "Asia has, for the first time in perhaps hundreds of years, more billionaires than the rest of the world combined," said Hoogewerf. "Wealth creation is moving to Asia." Ma Huateng, also known as Pony, was the world's 14th-wealthiest billionaire, with his rank rising by eight spots as the net worth of the founder and chief executive of Tencent Holdings rose 70 per cent to US$74 billion. The family of Jack Ma, whose Alibaba Group Holding owns this newspaper, fell four notches to 25th spot with their wealth growing 22 per cent to US$55 billion. (Left to right): Henderson Land Development's Martin Lee Ka-shing, Co-Chairmen; Lee Shau-kee, Former Chairman; and Peter Lee Ka-kit, Co-Chairmen. Photo: Sam Tsang alt=(Left to right): Henderson Land Development's Martin Lee Ka-shing, Co-Chairmen; Lee Shau-kee, Former Chairman; and Peter Lee Ka-kit, Co-Chairmen. Photo: Sam Tsang Wealth creation was helped by the boom in global equity markets, led by Nasdaq's 44 per cent increase and a 35 per cent gain in the Shenzhen stock market. India and Japan rose by over 20 per cent, the report said. The US dollar depreciated 7 per cent against the yuan and weakened by 9 per cent against the euro, it added. Only three Hong Kong billionaires made it to the top 50 in China, as Old Money fortunes by the tycoons Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land Development, Li Ka-shing of the Cheung Kong Group and Henry Chen of New World Development were dwarfed by their mainland counterparts. Electric vehicles (EVs), e-commerce, blockchain and biotechnology were the fastest growing industries in the past year, the report revealed. The list saw billionaires whose wealth were amassed from EVs more than tripling their fortunes, with the fastest wealth creator being Li Bin of EV maker NIO, up 10-fold to US$10 billion. E-commerce platform Pinduoduo's founder Colin Huang Zheng was propelled into the top 20, with his estimated wealth surging 286 per cent to US$69 billion, Hurun said. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2021 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2021. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

  • Even after GameStop, Tesla remains the most shorted stock in the world

    GameStop rocketed to notoriety this year after commentators on the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets helped send the struggling video game store’s stock up almost tenfold in one week. The Reddit crowd was trying to combat enormous interest in GameStop by short sellers, who borrow stocks and sell them in the hopes of repurchasing them at a lower price later and turning a profit. If a stock’s price goes up, investors who shorted it are on the hook for potentially limitless losses, and GameStop’s irrational rally forced those betting against its stock to cover their losses.

  • If You Invested $1,000 In Disney 10 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

    Have you ever wondered what your returns would be today if you invested in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) 10 years ago? The Walt Disney Company is a global entertainment conglomerate that was founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy Disney. This mass media entertainment company operates under the names Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Productions. The Walt Disney Company first made shares available to the public on the stock market in 1940. Back then Disney offered 155,000 preferred shares at $25 each and 600,000 shares of common stock at $5 per share. On March 2nd, 2011 Walt Disney stock prices were set at $43.02 per share. Today exactly ten years later Walt Disney share prices have skyrocketed up to $194.98. If you'd invested $1,000 in Walt Disney Company back in 2011, then today that investment would be worth $4,998.15. You would have seen a 17.43% return on your investment with a total profit of $3,398.15. The Walt Disney Company has continued to inspire the world through various iconic films, innovative technologies, and theme parks which are located across the country. Disney common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and you can buy and sell shares directly through The Walt Disney Company Investment Plan. In 2020, The Walt Disney Company was forced to shut down its theme parks, and Disney Cruise Lines due to the coronavirus. Theme park revenue dropped by 53% down to $3.59 billion this past year. The Walt Disney Company had a rough year in 2020 due to the global pandemic forcing them to shut down many operations, but recently the company has been trending upward on the stock market. Disney stocks have shown to be a great investment due to streaming services performing well. Disney recently reported that their Disney + subscribers were up 73.7 million and all of their streaming numbers have been quite impressive. On March 18th The Walt Disney Theme Park called A Touch Of Disney will be welcoming guests again. The DisneyWorld Theme Park also may be opening back up soon due to Covid-19 case counts continuing to drop in Orlando, Florida. Disney has managed to dominate the streaming market with the introduction of Disney Plus, which has a vast library of amazing films and TV shows to choose from. In the past 3 months Disney Plus has added over 21 million subscribers to the platform. If Disney builds upon their momentum, 2021 may see the same amount of success from previous years if not more. See more from BenzingaClick here for options trades from BenzingaLet's Take a Look At Some Upcoming IPOs This Week: Investors Should Track These Public OfferingsLet's Take A Look At This Weeks Highest Performing ETFs: AdvisorShares, Amplify, MicroSectors© 2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.