Coinbase shares are up another 8% in premarket trading Thursday.
Why it matters: The company’s direct listing was billed as the crypto event of the year — and the groundswell of investor interest is hugely validating for both the crypto economy and the companies that have cropped up to support it.
But the Coinbase listing was a seminal event that tested the appetite of a broad range of investors. And clearly, there’s hunger for exposure.
“The Coinbase debut is a really important event in the maturation of the crypto industry. It has built a strong business and the market is believing that,” Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital, a crypto asset broker, told my CNN Business colleague Paul R. La Monica. “This is just the beginning.”
The debut has made a lot of people very rich. At Wednesday’s closing price, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s 39.6 million shares are worth just under $13 billion.
What’s next: Markets are already buzzing about the debut of additional crypto stocks like Coinbase rival Kraken. But the nascent industry also faces a lot of uncertainty, with fierce competition and the looming threat of fresh regulation.
Top US banks just notched a blockbuster quarter
An improving economy, a full pipeline of deals and choppy markets? That’s the perfect recipe for big banks, which are posting eye-popping results for the first three months of the year.
CEO Jamie Dimon pointed to the “rapidly improving economy” as a major contributor. Defaults on loans are becoming less of a concern, while Americans are taking advantage of low interest rates as they race to secure mortgages for new homes.
Investment bankers have also been incredibly busy thanks to a flood of mergers and stock and bond sales, lining up a record quarter for fees.
Wall Street traders also thrived in a frenzied environment. (Remember GameStop mania? Yes, that was last quarter.) Goldman Sachs’ trading revenue rose 47% to $7.6 billion during the first three months of the year, its highest level since 2010.
Investor insight: Goldman’s shares jumped more than 2% after it reported results, while JPMorgan Chase’s stock dropped almost 2%. So far this year, shares are up 27% and 19%, respectively.
Did China’s economy expand a record 19% last quarter?
All signs indicate that China’s economy is on fire. But the size of the blaze deserves attention.
The reading is skewed given that activity plummeted a year earlier. But the estimate, which is based on the median forecasts of 47 economists, bolsters the view that China will run much hotter this year than the conservative government forecast of more than 6% growth.
See here: The International Monetary Fund expects China, which was the only major economy to avoid recession last year, to grow 8.4% in 2021.
Why it matters: China and the United States are the twin engines expected to power the global recovery. That means investors, economists and policymakers will be watching first quarter GDP data very closely when it’s released on Friday.
Up next
Also today: US retail sales for March arrive at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with last week’s initial unemployment claims.