AlphaTALKS Wall Street Breakfast, Dec. 19: What Moved Markets This Week

A second round of stimulus remains elusive but major stock indexes still managed to gain this week. The Nasdaq (COMP) added 2.8% while the S&P 500 (SP500) was up 1.5% and Dow Industrials (NYSEARCA:DIA) gained 1%.Positive news on coronavirus vaccines buoyed markets early in the week before initial jobless claims dampened enthusiasm. There was volatility on quadruple witching Friday and a sell-off to close the week.Winners & LosersCybersecurity companies were among the biggest winners this week after news of Russia-linked hackers breaking into federal agencies. Solarwinds (NYSE:SWI) was one of the main companies affected by the hack and saw its shares sell off dramatically.Bitcoin was a big gainer, briefly surpassing the $24,000 milestone. “Bitcoin proxies” like Marathon Patent (NASDAQ:MARA), Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT), and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) all saw significant rallies.Energy was a loser, with the iShares Global Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:IXC) dropping more than 5% this week. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), Baker Hughes (NYSE:BKR), and HollyFrontier (NYSE:HFC) were among notable names to record losses in that sector.Surprisingly, some of the pharmaceutical names linked to coronavirus vaccines had tough weeks. Shares of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) dropped by 9%, partly due to a downgrade, while BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) gave up twice that amount. Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) was off 7.5%.Of course Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was also a winner, with shares rallying to an all-time high ahead of its inclusion in the S&P 500.What Caught Our Eye(s) This WeekStephen: Bitcoin worth $400K says Guggenheim's Scott Minerd;Kim: HBO Max headed to Roku, seven months after launch;Brad: Aphria and Tilray to merge, creating a near-$4B market cap cannabis player;Nat: Why Investors Should Be Buying MLPs Hand Over Fist TodayAbout This PodcastAlpha TALKS Wall Street Breakfast is a weekly roundtable covering what moved markets this week (WMMTW), featuring a panel of Seeking Alpha editors.Hosted by Nathaniel E. Baker, Senior Editor, Strategic Contributors, and featuring:Bradley Olesen, VP News;Kim Khan, Senior News Editor;Stephen Alpher, Managing Editor News, co-host of Seeking Alpha's Alpha Trader podcast.AlphaTALKS videos, featuring highlights of this podcast, publish every Friday by close of trading. Watch this week's here.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices