Weekly Market Recap | Jan 20 – Jan 26

IPO’s in the week

• Toppoint Holdings (NYSE American: TOPP), established in 2014, specializes in transporting recovered paper, scrap metal, and wooden logs for large waste companies, recycling centers, and commodity traders. With operations extending to major ports such as Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, the company is poised to offer 2,500,000 shares at $4.00 per share on 1/22/2025.
• Diginex (Nasdaq: DGNX), a Hong Kong-based software company founded in 2020, specializes in helping businesses and governments streamline ESG, climate, and supply chain data collection and reporting. The company plans to offer 2,250,000 shares at $4.10 per share on 1/22/2025.
• Decent Holding Inc. (Nasdaq: DXST) is a holding company that, through its subsidiaries, provides wastewater treatment, ecological river restoration, and river ecosystem management services. The company also offers microbial products for water quality enhancement and pollutant removal, primarily serving customers in China. Decent Holding plans to offer 1,500,000 shares at $4.00 per share on 1/22/2025.
• CTRL Group (Nasdaq: MCTR) is an international team of designers, researchers, software developers, and healthcare experts dedicated to helping healthcare companies and providers leverage new technology to improve health outcomes. The group creates effective, engaging, and safe products and services and plans to offer 2,000,000 shares at $4.00 per share on 1/22/2025.
• Skyline Builders Group Holding Limited (Nasdaq: SKBL), an Approved Public Works Contractor in Hong Kong, specializes in public civil engineering projects, focusing on road and drainage works. The company is set to offer 1,500,000 shares at $4.00 per share on 1/23/2025.
• Columbus Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: COLAU) is a blank check company formed to pursue mergers, capital stock exchanges, asset acquisitions, or similar business combinations with one or more operating businesses. The company plans to offer 6,000,000 shares at $10.00 per share on 1/23/2025.
• Venture Global (NYSE: VG) is a leading long-term, low-cost provider of U.S. LNG, sourced from resource-rich North American natural gas basins. The company operates across the entire LNG supply chain, including production, natural gas transport, shipping, and regasification. Venture Global plans to offer 70,000,000 shares at $25.00 per share on 1/24/2025.
• Ascentage Pharma Group International (Nasdaq: AAPG) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative first- and best-in-class therapies to address unmet medical needs worldwide. The company plans to offer 7,325,000 shares at $17.25 per share on 1/24/2025.

Markets this week

1. The S&P 500 gained 87.12 points, or approximately 1.45%.
2. The Russell 1000 increased by 4.09 points, or about 1.24%.
3. The Russell 2000 rose by 21.34 points, or about 0.93%.
4. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) lost 1.44 points or 8.84%.
5. The BTC USD Index gained $3,735.73 or 3.70% during 5 trading days.
6. The ETH-USD Index gained $100.62 or 3.14% during 5 trading days.
7. Gold gained $31.40 or 1.14% during the week.
8. Silver rose by $0.24 or 0.78% during the week.
9. WTI(West Texas Intermediate) Crude Oil dropped $3.59 or 4.59% during the week.
10. Brent Crude Oil declined by $3.46 or 4.28% during the week. 

• For the first time, over half of U.S. stock trading is happening off-exchange, driven by retail investors, with off-exchange activity reaching 51.8% in January.
• Federal regulators, including the Federal Reserve and FDIC, are removing diversity and inclusion pages from their websites following Trump’s orders.
• Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF (VOO) is on track to become the world’s largest, with $18 billion in inflows in early 2025, increasing its assets to $626 billion, just short of SPY’s $637 billion.
• The Bank of Japan raised rates to 0.5%, signaling the move in advance to avoid market disruption. Analysts warn repeated messaging could distort markets.
• A group of banks led by Morgan Stanley is set to offload up to $3 billion of debt used to finance Elon Musk’s buyout of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
• A JPMorgan survey found nearly half of MBS investors expect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to be privatized by 2028, while a quarter believe privatization will never occur.
• The U.S. Treasury’s shrinking cash balance could reduce debt sales and save taxpayers money as the debt ceiling is reinstated.
• Higher municipal bond yields are attracting investors, positioning the muni debt market for a strong year in issuance and retail demand. Still, potential tax changes remain a threat.
• Beacon Roofing Supply is seeking interest from potential buyers to counter an $11 billion takeover bid from rival QXO Inc., according to sources.
• Donald Trump’s memecoin surged to $15 billion before dropping below $8 billion, diverting attention from major cryptocurrencies.
• Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is building a three-gigawatt data center in India, set to be the world’s largest, to meet growing AI demand.
• Donald Trump signed an executive order promoting dollar-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC to bolster dollar dominance while halting work on a central bank digital currency.
• China missed its 2024 fiscal spending target by 5%, with total spending at 38.6 trillion yuan, as a housing slump strained local government finances.
• Ghana’s trade surplus hit a record $5 billion in 2024, driven by a 50% increase in gold exports, reaching $11.6 billion.
• Nissan may delay its electric vehicle production ramp-up in the U.S. due to uncertainty over the future of EV tax credits under President Trump’s second administration.
• Steelmakers in Canada and Mexico are refusing new U.S. orders amid concerns that President Trump may reimpose 25% tariffs on imports.
• ING expects heavy debt sales in Eastern Europe in 2025 due to ongoing budget deficits and elections, with countries likely needing to borrow more than planned.
• Wes Gray’s firm, ETF Architect, is driving a surge in tax-efficient ETF conversions, aiming for $5 billion in assets by 2025 as hedge funds and family offices join the trend.
• South Africa’s coal exports rose 10% in 2024, reaching 52.1 million tons, marking the first increase since 2017.
• Corporate insiders are selling shares at a record pace, with the buy-sell ratio for January at its lowest since 1988, despite a strong S&P 500 rally.