Palantir’s $22 Billion IPO; Tech Stocks Rebound

All three major U.S. stock indices finished higher on Friday, but even the day’s solid gains weren’t enough to stop the Dow Jones Industrial Average from logging its fourth straight week of losses.

A sell-off in large-cap tech stocks has largely led markets lower in September, as the high-flying sector took a breather from a swift rally off of March lows. Concerns about elevated new virus cases in Europe as well as a lack of stimulus relief also contributed to Wall Street’s recent swoon.

That said, tech stocks bounced back a bit on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite rising 2.3%. The blue-chip Dow also rose, adding 358 points, or 1.3%, to finish at 27,173.

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A European Silicon Valley? Spotify Technology (ticker: SPOT) CEO and co-founder, Daniel Ek, has pledged to invest 1 billion euros of his personal wealth in so-called “moonshot projects” in Europe over the next 10 years. He aims to jump-start an ecosystem of European entrepreneurs to help rival the talent, innovation and wealth creation seen in the U.S.

Hopefully Ek’s investments will prove more profitable (and therefore sustainable) than the moonshots Alphabet ( GOOG, GOOGL) has been pouring money into over the years. The “Other Bets” division of Google’s parent company — which has investments in self-driving car technology, drone delivery platforms, life sciences and balloons intended to beam down internet access — tends to post operating losses between $1 billion and $2 billion a quarter.

Palantir’s $22 billion initial public offering. The secretive data-mining company Palantir is expected to go public via a direct listing on Sept. 30, and new reports have the company’s debut valuation pegged around $22 billion. Most of the company’s revenue is derived from government contracts that tend to aid national security, intelligence and defense.

Cruise stocks get a boost from Barclays. Barclays thinks the miserable 2020 performance of cruise stocks may make them ripe for a turnaround, upgrading Royal Caribbean ( RCL), Carnival Corp. ( CCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings ( NCLH) to “overweight” ratings.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently have a “no-sail” order on cruise ships in the U.S. that’s effective until Sept. 30, so the lifting of that ban could be a catalyst for the beleaguered industry.

NCLH shot up 13.7% to finish the day as the single-best performer in the S&P 500.

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Palantir’s $22 Billion IPO; Tech Stocks Rebound originally appeared on usnews.com

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