Finance

MicroStrategy shares jump as bitcoin proxy will join Nasdaq-100 index and ‘QQQ’ ETF

Published

5 months ago

December 16, 2024

Business Finance News

Michael Saylor, chairman and CEO of MicroStrategy, speaks during the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami on April 7, 2022.

Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of MicroStrategy were higher Monday after Nasdaq announced the bitcoin proxy will join the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index.

The stock last traded more than 5% higher in premarket trading.

Nasdaq rebalances its Nasdaq-100 index every year. The companies flagged for inclusion are mostly based on the market cap rankings as of the final trading day of November. The stocks also need to meet liquidity requirement and have a certain number of free floating shares.

The index inclusion, which takes effect Dec. 23, comes after MicroStrategy’s massive surge this year. In 2024, the stock is up 547% — far outpacing the S&P 500’s 26.9% advance — as the price of bitcoin scales to all-time highs. Bitcoin last traded around $104,650, up more than 1% on the day.

MSTR year to date

MicroStrategy has been building its bitcoin reserves for years, making it a proxy for the digital currency. The company currently owns more than 420,000 bitcoins.

The addition also means MicroStrategy will be included in the popular Invesco QQQ Trust ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq-100. This will likely lead to passive inflows for MicroStrategy stock, potentially giving it another boost.

“MSTR’s Bitcoin buying program is unprecedented on street, and makes it the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin (2% of supply equivalent to $44Bn market value),” Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani wrote Monday. “Inclusion in Nasdaq100 further improves MSTR’s market liquidity, further expanding its capital flywheel and Bitcoin buying program.”

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Finance

Insiders at UnitedHealth are scooping up tarnished shares

Published

15 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Business Finance News

Key Points

UnitedHealth Group saw some of its insiders step in and purchase declining shares this week.
Kristen Gil, a director at the firm, bought 3,700 shares worth roughly $1 million on Thursday.
Shares of UnitedHealth plunged nearly 11% to $274.35 on Thursday following a report in The Wall Street Journal that the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into possible Medicare fraud.

Finance

Federal Reserve will reduce staff by 10% in coming years, Powell memo says

Published

16 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Business Finance News

U.S. Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2024.

Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images

The Federal Reserve will look to reduce its headcount by 10% over the next couple of years, including offering deferred resignation to some older employees, central bank chair Jerome Powell said in a memo.

“Experience here and elsewhere shows that it is healthy for any organization to periodically take a fresh look at its staffing and resources. The Fed has done that from time to time as our work, priorities, or external environment have changed,” Powell said in a memo obtained by CNBC.

The central bank chief added that he has instructed leaders throughout the Fed “to find incremental ways to consolidate functions where appropriate, modernize some business practices, and ensure that we are right-sized and able to meet our statutory mission.” One method for shrinking the staff will be to offer a voluntary deferred resignation program to employees of the Federal Reserve Board who would be fully eligible to retire at the end of 2027.

The central bank said in its 2023 annual report that it had just under 24,000 employees. A 10% reduction would bring that number below 22,000.

The memo comes as the Trump administration has pushed for cost cuts across civil service agencies, spearheaded by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has previously called the Fed “absurdly overstaffed.” Powell’s memo did not mention Musk or DOGE as a factor in the decision to shrink headcount.

The planned staff cuts were first reported by Bloomberg News.

— CNBC’s Matt Cuddy contributed reporting.