Stocks extended their rally into a fourth day as investors parsed through a flurry of corporate results amid signs the U.S. labor market may be gradually improving. The dollar rose. The S&P 500 climbed to a record, led by banks and tech shares, as the Russell 2000 Index jumped 2%. EBay Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. surged on upbeat forecasts, while Netflix Inc. gained after raising the price of its service in Japan. GameStop Corp. had another day of heavy losses, with this week’s plunge exceeding 80% as retail traders flocked to other corners of the stock market such as small drug developers. A widely watched segment of the Treasury yield curve steepened to levels last seen in 2015.

PayPal Holdings said consumers flocked to its service in the final months of the year as they hurried to finish their holiday shopping and started using the company's wallets to buy and sell cryptocurrency. The firm added a record 72.7 million active accounts in 2020, more than it forecast just three months ago, with the addition of 16 million accounts in the fourth quarter alone. That helped overall revenue climb 23 per cent to US$6.12 billion during the quarter, topping analysts' estimates.

Ford Motor plans to invest $29 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025, the company announced Thursday when it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. Ford said its plans include $7 billion in self-driving vehicles and $22 billion in electrified vehicles, up from $11.5 billion through 2022. But not all the announced cash in EVs is new. The company is including previous investments of roughly $7 billion since 2016, bringing Ford’s new investment commitment to $10.5 billion through 2025.

ANT Group Co and at least a dozen banks are paring back their years-long cooperation on consumer lending platforms that fuel the spending of at least 500 million people across China. Regulators have signaled their intention to curb online loans in recent months, prompting banks and Ant itself to discuss lending caps, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing a private information.

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) continued to be hit by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, running up a net loss of S$142 million in its third quarter. The national carrier, in an exchange filing on Thursday, disclosed that its net loss for the three months ended Dec 31, 2020 was a reversal of the net profit of S$315 million recorded in the prior-year period. It said in its business update: "International air travel demand remained severely constrained in the quarter, as border controls and travel restrictions continued to be in place in many countries amid new waves of the Covid-19 infection."

GUOCOLAND's half-year net profit has more than halved year on year to S$22.9 million, thanks to higher tax expenses on its project in Shanghai, China. On Thursday, Guocoland reported that its net profit fell 69 per cent from S$74.5 million for the six months ended Dec 31, 2020. Topline dropped 44 per cent to S$319.6 million, from S$572.1 million a year ago. Earnings per share was at 1.20 Singapore cents, versus 5.86 cents a year ago.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR