Dow jones vs Papa John’s

Review

Within the U.S., COVID-19 infections have climbed in 35 states over the past 14 days.

Notwithstanding, both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes closed their best quarterly performance in more than 20 years, while the Nasdaq Composite demonstrated its best quarter since the 2001 dotcom crash. Stocks, thanks to the Federal reserve’s liquidity injections, recovered from the lows seen in late March when the coronavirus crisis brought business activity to a halt.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said the Treasury and Fed were looking at extending the Fed’s emergency lending facilities, but additional types of COVID-19 financial injections will likely need to be initiated by Congress under the next phase of stimulus.

The Fed’s Powell stressed that the ‘overriding goal’ of the central bank’s facilities is to help get the roughly 25 million workers who lost jobs during the pandemic back to work, while consumer confidence will be key in addressing a possible second wave of COVID-19 shocks.

Trends

Gold futures briefly hit a $1,800 mark per ounce, marking the precious metal’s first settlement above this threshold since September 2011. Gold also hit an intraday high of $1,804, its highest level since Nov. 8, 2011.

There’s an “explosion” in demand for gold, and investors continue to pile into gold-backed exchange-traded funds, with corresponding holdings at a record. Many factors contribute to this: risk of a more prolonged and more morbid COVID-19 pandemic, escalation of the U.S.-China economic and political tensions, but above all – unprecedented monetary stimuli carried out by world’s largest central banks.

It is the off-peak season for gold now, and the fact that gold grows breaking its seasonality is a very good sign for the bullion indeed.

Company

Papa John's second-quarter comparable sales at worldwide pizza restaurants were up 22.6%. At North America franchised restaurants, the figure was up almost 30%.

The pizza making company boasted that almost all traditional restaurants in North America remain open and fully operational. A number of its non-traditional restaurants located in universities and stadiums are temporarily closed. About 225 of its about 2,100 international franchised stores remain temporarily closed, mostly in Europe and Latin America, in accordance with government policies.

This is a very good news for the fast food company as many of its rivals struggle to stay open amid COVID-19 restrictions, which means Papa John’s is likely taking their market niches. Papa John’s stock climbed 1.25% yesterday, and its technical chart shows an apparent exit from the month-long sideways trend.