Bears surrendering again with S&P 500 rally defying all bad news
Potential dip buyers were seeing plenty of bleak headlines as U.S. stocks sold off last week. Growth was slowing. Another wave of virus infections was raging. The Federal Reserve mulled tapering monetary stimulus. And few stocks were supporting the market.
With fears growing that the worst was yet to come, hedge funds stepped up selling. During the first four days of last week, they dumped stocks at the fastest pace in four months, with short sales outpacing long buys by a ratio of 10-to-1, client data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s...

Asia stocks eye cautious start amid growth concern: markets wrap
Asian stocks look set for a cautious open Friday as the delta virus strain and the prospect of reduced central bank stimulus weigh on the economic outlook, hurting commodities and bolstering the dollar.
Futures were modestly higher in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. U.S. contracts fluctuated after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 rose overnight in a choppy session, while Treasuries climbed and the dollar hit a nine-month high. Commodities have slumped, flashing a warning about the impact of Covid-19’s resurgence on the global recovery.
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Record stock sales from money-losing firms ring the alarm bells
Since the end of March, almost 100 unprofitable companies, including GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., have raised money through secondary offerings, twice as many as coming from profitable firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
During the past 12 months, almost 750 money-losing firms have sold shares in the secondary market, exceeding those that make profits by the biggest margin since at least 1982, data compiled by Sundial Capital Research show.
In fact, the previous two periods in which unprofitable firms domi...