Midday Report: US Stocks Extend Gains as Holiday Spending Rises

US stocks rallied Monday, on pace for a fourth straight daily gain and another S&P 500 record as COVID-19 infections continued to rise after the long Christmas holiday weekend.

The S&P 500 gained 1.1% to 4,775.90 by the early afternoon, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 1.2% to 15,835 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.7% to 36,184.50.

Technology and energy led the way, with all sectors higher.

MasterCard’s (MA) US holiday sales data showed an increase of 8.5% for the period from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 compared with the 2020 holiday shopping season.

Travel-related stocks were under pressure amid widespread US flight cancellations as omicron variant cases continued to rise. Staffing shortages have led to the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights since Christmas Eve,…


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GoDaddy, Boeing, Moderna and more

GoDaddy logo

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Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.

GoDaddy — The web hosting company saw its shares jump nearly 9.2% following a Wall Street Journal report that activist investor Starboard Value has taken a 6.5% stake in it, worth roughly $800 million.

Boeing — Shares of air travel-related stocks declined following thousands of canceled flights over the holiday weekend amid staffing shortages. Boeing retreated 1%, while Delta, United and American Airlines shares also traded lower. More than 2,000 flights were canceled from Christmas Eve through Sunday evening. Carriers cited the spread of the omicron Covid variant among crews as behind the cancellations, with bad weather also affecting flights.

Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal…


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Gaimin has an innovative solution to a modern computing problem

The world needs more computing power.

It’s not an assumption, it’s a fact. Scientists have been watching for years as we neared the limits of computing — at least with respect to speed and power.

On Jan. 23, 2018, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, stated that, “the world is running out of computing power.”

In an all-connected digital world, computing power is everything. Animated movies need additional power to be able to render. The stock exchange creates astronomical demand at the global level with constantly updating prices and transactions.

Then came cryptocurrency. While cryptocurrency is gaining momentum on the world stage, it is simultaneously swallowing up massive amounts of computer power resources. In…


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Calendar for the week of Dec. 27 – Virginian-Pilot

Hogs for Hope, noon-6 p.m., Hank’s Filling Station, 4301 Colley Ave., Norfolk. Hope House Foundation is hosting its ninth annual event, including pig pickin’, oyster roast and live music. All-you-can-eat menu includes pulled pork, oysters, hoppin’ john, collards, chili and cornbread. Proceeds benefit the foundation, which supports people with disabilities. Cash bar. $35. Buy tickets at hankshogsforhope.com.


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Starboard Invests In GoDaddy: SMB Hosting Provider Under Pressure?

Activist investor Starboard Value has amassed a 6.5% stake in GoDaddy stock, and may plan to push the the cloud computing, hosting and domain registrar company to boost its business performance, The Wall Street Journal reported.

GoDaddy’s market valuation is roughly $12.7 billion. The company has successfully extended beyond domain registration services to offer cloud and e-commerce services designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The evolution included acquiring Host Europe Group for roughly $1.8 billion in 2016.

GoDaddy has been particularly attentive to web developers, while also showing the WordPress content management community lots of love. The WordPress focus includes acquiring WP Curve in 2016 and Pagely in November…


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