US Stock Market Overview – Stock Close Mixed Lead Higher by Technology

US stocks were mixed on Wednesday with the tide turning slightly. The Dow was lower after leading stocks higher following the news on Monday that Pfizer had strong results from its COVID vaccine. On Wednesday the Nasdaq was the leader, with stocks like Apple leading the charge following news about new chips that it has placed in its Macs.

Sectors in the S&P 500 index were mixed, with technology leading shares higher and energy leading the way on the downside. The VIX volatility index, which measures the “at the money” implied volatility on the S&P 500 index, moved lower retesting the 22 levels seen on Monday. US yields edged slightly higher while crude oil prices were nearly unchanged after testing higher levels. Georgia announced on Wednesday that it would recount all of the votes for President. It falls in the .5% margin that would require a recount if requested. Biden is ahead in the vote total in George by slightly more than 14,000 votes.

Kodak Executives Sell Options they Did Not Own

Eastman Kodak reported that five former executives were able to collect millions of dollars by selling stock options they didn’t own. About 300,000 previously forfeited stock options were exercised by the former executives in July, according to a securities filing. Kodak said it incurred about $5.1 million in compensation expenses related to the options in the third quarter.

TikTok Request Delay in Sale

TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance a U.S. appeals court for additional time to work out a potential divestiture. The petition, filed by ByteDance Ltd. late Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said the U.S. government’s decision to force a TikTok deal was arbitrary and denied the company due process under the law.