Part of the raison d’etre of Stock Market Watch is to fill in the gaps left by the mainstream media. However, the fortuitous discovery of a COVID-19 vaccine some 48 hours after (former) President Trump lost by a significant margin of (postal) votes, delivered a rally which ensured many of the weekend “tips” in the newspapers turned out to be spot on.
In particular focus were Aston Martin (AML) up 11%, S4 Capital (SFOR) up 3% and Cineworld (CINE), all marked as potential takeover targets. The latter was up 40% as traders savoured the prospect of being coughed / sneezed upon in a dark, confined, unventilated space while watching “No Time To Die.”
Indeed, many of the stocks in the hospitality and dining space posted sharp double-digit percentage rises, as the market anticipated a semblance of normality returning sooner rather than later. Notables in this respect included food delivery and restaurant technology platform BigDish (DISH) up 13%, and Restaurant Group (RTN) up 30%, with Revolution Bars (RBG) up 35%.
There was an equally positive read across for Escape Hunt (ESC) shares, following the announcement of a Coronavirus vaccine. Suddenly, the idea of being locked in a themed room and having to solve clues and puzzles to escape in a race against time, seemed to be much more attractive than Lockdown II. Shares of Escape Hunt were up 38% to 15.25p.
In similar vein it would appear that memories of the Diamond Princess were magically transformed into the Love Boat, with shares of cruise ship operator Carnival (CCL) up 37% off the back of a potential end to the pandemic.
If the prospect of middle- aged investors being able to return to the ocean waves was a plus, the Saga generation could also enjoy the prospect of “Can’t get you out of my head” songstress Kylie Minogue becoming a shareholder in Magic Media Works, an investee company of tech investor Asimilar (ASLR). The news here was that the former Neighbours star is joining MMW as a Roxi “curator,” alongside such luminaries as Robbie Williams, Sheryl Crow and Alesha Dixon on the in-home shared music entertainment experience.
Despite a rather sharp fall in the gold price, it was recent stock market winner Wishbone Gold (WSBN) which managed to stretch another 9% higher to 11.75p. This was in the afterglow of the exploration company saying last week that it had identified four magnetic targets of considerable size covering 2.4km by 400m on its Patersons Range Project in the Havieron and Telfer region of Western Australia.
Of course, with a potential COVID-19 vaccine on the table, the now extensive array of coronavirus plays / testers / beneficiaries were on the back foot. There were rumours of forced liquidations in other recent stock winners to pay off margin calls in the “COVIDS”. It remains to be seen whether the declines of around a third in many of the leading companies such as Novacyte (NCYT), Avacta (AVCT), Genedrive (GDR), Omega Diagnostics (ODX) and Synairgen (SNG) are one day flush outs, or part of an extended decline?
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