GameStop, New Home Sales, AstraZeneca: 3 Things to Watch By Investing.com

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com — The rotation from growth to value took a pause on Monday as interest rates let out some steam and put the attention back on the big tech companies.

As evidence the U.S. economy continues to reopen, the Transportation Security Administration screened 1.5 million travelers on Sunday, the most since March last year. Partiers are flocking to warmer weather climates, such as South Florida, where local officials had to impose a curfew to control crowds.

But evidence of a new wave of infections both in the U.S. and overseas could derail progress. German authorities agreed to extend another national lockdown through mid-April. France, Poland, and Italy also have lockdowns. This is putting a damper on oil prices as investors worry about demand for fuel.

Meanwhile, U.S.-China trade tensions appear to be on the rise again after the U.S. imposed sanctions against two Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses.  

It’s a light day for data and earnings. Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. GameStop earnings compare to the market’s valuation

The much-followed meme stock is scheduled to report first quarter earnings after the closing bell on Tuesday. It’ll be its first report since the Reddit stock trading crowd anointed the video game retailer the granddaddy of short squeezes. Analysts tracked by Investing.com expect EPS of $1.35 on revenue of $2.2 billion.

GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) shares trade nearly 10 times more than they did at the start of the year (based on Friday’s close), with a market value of more than $13 billion. It has a new strategy to focus on ecommerce thanks to investor and board member Ryan Cohen, the founder of Chewy Inc (NYSE:CHWY). But that work has just begun.

2. More home sales data

New home sales data will be released Tuesday at 10:00 AM ET (1400 GMT) and analysts expect the February numbers to show a 6.5% decline from the prior month.

Investors will be looking at the numbers to compare them to Monday’s existing home sales, which showed a drop in the number of homebuyers who were listing their homes at this time. With limited supply, prices jumped 15.8% in February and the median price of a home sold was $313,000, the highest February price ever. 

3. Pharma stocks get a look

AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) is getting its chance to shine after a rough few weeks facing questions about its two-dose Covid vaccine. On Monday, the company said its late stage trial proved 79% effective overall and 100% effective preventing serious illness and hospitalization. It plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization in the coming weeks.

That would make it the fourth vaccine in the U.S., alongside Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) as millions more Americans become eligible every day. Shares of AstraZeneca bounced 4% on Monday.