AlphaTALKS Wall Street Breakfast, Oct. 24: What Moved Markets This Week

Big PictureBroader stock market indices failed to gain traction as a new stimulus package remained elusive. Earnings drove individual stocks. Communications services was one of the clear sector winners as shares of social media companies rallied.The economic recovery appears to be gathering pace. Initial jobless claims this week fell below 800,000 for the first time since March, but markets look to be in holding mode until the election on Nov. 3.Winners & LosersSocial media stocks, measured by the Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ:SOCL), gained over 6% for the week. The broader technology sector was one laggard, with the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:IYW) dropping 2%. Intel shares were down almost 11% on Friday alone.Snapchat (NYSE:SNAP) shares gained 38% this week after the company beat earnings estimates. Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) was up more than 16% after receiving an analyst upgrade. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) also reached an all-time high this week, rallying more than 9%.The media spending landscape is improving with the broader economy. TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) raised guidance on political ad spending and saw its shares rally almost 10%.Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) blew past earnings but shares gave up 2% on the week.Seeking Alpha Articles & News Coverage That Caught Our Eye This Week:Streaming services, the new TV Normal, spend heavily on marketing (Kim)New Jersey follows California's suit in banning gas car sales (Brad)Bitcoin continues surge as PayPal launches crypto service in run at Square (Stephen)FTC huddling as end to Facebook antitrust probe nears - report (Nat)Last WordWe discuss the rising number of COVID-19 cases, which no longer seem to be troubling the market. A vaccine may be coming, with investors bidding up a number of secondary and tertiary stocks.About 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, Contributing Editor, 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