The markets experienced some nice gains last week. The US saw the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 3,01% and 3,75% respectively. Surprisingly, the NASDAQ lagged behind and gained 1,77%. Europe did even better, with Euro Stoxx 50 gaining 4,98%. The AEX did a little worse, but still grew by 1,56%.
In the meantime, things have been rather chaotic in the US, where tensions have been escalating since the death of George Floyd by police officers. Riots started in Minnesota, and have now spread to other cities as well. It looks like an absolute war scene, with shops looted and destroyed, and even the Minnesota police station burned down to the ground. The National Guard has now been deployed to ease tensions, but if that will work remains to be seen.
On a more exciting note, history with made last week, with SpaceX being the first company to launch astronauts to the ISS. This was the start of the US regaining its pride in the aerospace industry, as the US has had to buy tickets from Russia for quite some time. If all goes according to plan, commercial flights may already start at the end of 2020. The coolest part it that the Falcon 9 rocket is reusable, which greatly reduces the costs associated with space travel. For the first 50 kilometers, the Falcon 9 rocket boosts the Dragon (where the crew is seated) to leave Earth’s atmosphere. By then, the Falcon 9 rocket disconnects and goes back to Earth. It then lands on an autonomous drone ship called ‘Of course I still love you’. An incredible piece of engineering, if you ask me.
Finally, the most humorous news of last week. Most would say that Trump and Twitter make a lovely couple, but as of last week, they are in a fight. For the first time ever, Twitter flagged a post of the president with a fact-check notice. Then, to add fuel to the fire, it completely censored a tweet of the president because it ‘glorified violence’. In the tweet, president Trump was talking about the riots in Minnesota, and tweeted ‘…when the looting starts, the shooting starts’. Trump immediately took action against the company by signing an executive order to “limit internet companies’ legal protections to publish content from others without the risk of getting sued for defamation’’. Twitter’s stock dropped 6% on the news.
Finally, the Flow Traders investment competition update. No changes in the top three since last week, with Clear Water Group still leading the charge. The largest climb was made by CMG Investments, who jumped seven places to the 28th spot. The largest drop was made by Mayfair Investors, who got kicked out of the top ten by dropping nine places.
