Could anxious investors treat bitcoin as their safe-haven amidst Coronavirus uncertainty? Yes. But that doesn’t make the cryptocurrency the only fish in the big pond of insurance assets.
Investors are now looking beyond the traditional narratives of a safe-haven. They are relying on unique assets to protect their capital. That explains why a soup company’s stock has surged more than bitcoin’s price heading into March 2020. US-based Campbell Soup Co is on cloud 9.
The NYSE-listed company has delivered 17.69 percent returns on a month-to-date timeframe. That is about 9 percent higher than Bitcoin – and circa 11 percent higher than Gold’s profits. Campbell said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal that retailers are stockpiling its canned products out of concerns that the Coronavirus pandemic will leave them quarantined at home.
The company this Wednesday confirmed a profit of $1.21 billion, with its share ticking $3.97 for the first time since August 2017.
Campbell’s gains included its stock’s best daily performance in the last two decades on Wednesday, wherein its valuation rose 10 percent. The overall move uphill came on the backing of the Federal Reserve’s emergency rate cut on Tuesday, as well as a rise in demand for Campbell’s products.
“We are attracting younger households,” said CEO Mark Clouse. “Frankly, this is a trend that many believed was not possible.”
More Bitcoin Competitors
Away from Bitcoin, investors are piling their upside sentiments in the companies that will likely benefit the most from the Coronavirus epidemic. Like Campbell, the stock value of Gilead and Pfizer have surged on a promise that they would find a vaccine to stop the virus.
Even video games are not behind, with Nasdaq-listed EA Sports returning about 5.30 percent profits already in March 2020. The trend is similar across companies that trade household items, be it disinfectants or the retail stores that sell them. Investors are bullish only because they believe people stuck at homes will buy these products en masse.
“They’re all related,” Jim Paulsen, chief market strategist for the Leuthold Group, told FT. “All of this is combined into a big corona trade.”
Camden-based Campbell Soup is increasing production as people stock canned supplies over coronavirus fears https://t.co/uA4FDsr4zi
— Billy Penn (@billy_penn) March 5, 2020
The Coronavirus trend is leaving bitcoin in the hands of more speculators. The cryptocurrency, which behaves both as a transaction medium and a hedging asset, serves little purpose to the very people who may end up quarantining themselves. Their money would rather go into items they might need to survive.
Therefore, the pressure of upholding bitcoin’s bullish bias falls on the big guy – the institutional investor – who may want to liquidate his/her risk-on positions to seek interim safety in the cryptocurrency. Even then, bitcoin would be competing with a lesser risky gold or bond.
Anybody ordered soup?