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The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were little changed at midday Friday, heading to the close of a volatile week for markets that began with a global sell-off.

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 after the tech firm beat profit and sales estimates and raised its earnings guidance as it saw higher demand for its security and cloud computing offerings.

Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) gained after the video game maker also posted better-than-expected results and gave an upbeat outlook as net bookings rose.

Sweetgreen (SG) shares soared after the salad restaurant chain cut its losses, exceeded revenue forecasts, and raised its guidance as it added locations.

Intel (INTC) shares dropped as the chipmaker reportedly canceled an event scheduled for September after reporting wider-than-expected losses and announcing layoffs.

Shares of Insulet (PODD) slumped as the manufacturer of the Omnipod insulin delivery system missed earnings estimates amid concerns about the number of new products reaching the market.

Mondelez International (MDLZ) shares dropped as the snack food maker missed revenue estimates as consumers turned to lower-priced brands.

Oil and gold futures advanced. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell. The U.S. dollar lost ground to the euro, pound, and yen. Prices for most major cryptocurrencies were higher.

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Muslim faithfuls across Kano State on Saturday, August 10, observed the national special prayer and Qur’anic recitation against hardship and hunger in the country.

Daily Trust reports that the session was observed at decentralized locations across the state.

📷: @daily_trust

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Bitcoin (BTCUSD) briefly rose above $61,000 early Friday, riding on the heels of Thursday's stock market rally, but the cryptocurrency gave up some of those gains to trade on either side of the $60,000 mark depending on where stocks were trading.

This comes after the cryptocurrency crashed below $50,000 for the first time since February on Monday amid one of the worst days for stocks in recent history.

Much like Monday's price drop came in the midst of global market turmoil more generally, the price recovery and eventual reversal has mimicked what has taken place in traditional equities markets.

Notably, bitcoin's correlated movements with traditional equities markets have shown that the cryptocurrency can still act as a risk-on asset at times, despite the hope that it can operate as a safe haven in times of economic uncertainty.

According to Pearson correlation data from , bitcoin moved more in tandem with the S&P 500 than gold this week, despite the "digital gold" nickname that has been frequently applied to the asset.

That said, many bitcoin holders were not phased by this week's price action. "In crises, markets sell what they can, not what they want," Strike CEO Jack Mallers posted on X on Monday. "#Bitcoin is down because it was the only market open to sell on Sunday night, not because the only fixed supply money we have is now less valuable."

The U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-trade fund (ETF) market also saw strong inflows of $194.6 million on Thursday, according to Farside Investors. However, flows are still negative on net this week, with $77.3 million leaving the funds.

Things have looked better for the spot ether ETFs this week, with $120.6 million of inflows, as outflows from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) have slowed down, even as ether prices (ETHUSD) continue to fall. Ether is trading close to $2,500.

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said most of those at the helm of affairs should be behind bars.

Obasanjo spoke at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while receiving six members of the House of Representatives who are co-sponsors of bills on single term of six year, rotational of presidency between the north and the south as well as rotation of governorship slot among the three senatorial districts of each of the 36 states.

According to DailyTrust, he said: “Our main problem is ourselves and until we take care of ourselves it doesn’t matter we may have one term of four years one term of six years, one term of seven years if it’s the same people and same mentality and way we do things then it won’t change.

Yes, the system; yes, democracy. We have to rethink democracy. We have to rethink form of government. But what about the character of the people in government? With all due respect most of them should be behind the bar, some should even be in the g@llows and that is the truth.

Now if these are the people that are ruling us then what do you expect? It doesn’t matter whether you or whatever you make it, it will not, so the point is the character of the people that are coming to government. Their attributes, the sort of people they truly are.

So, we need to really think about how we select leaders, what should be the character of a leader we select? What should be their track record ? Where should we find them? Are they role models? And I think those are the first things we have to think about.”

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Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM), better known as Zoom, provides video and web conferencing services as well as voice, chat, and content-sharing services for use across many kinds of devices.

The company was founded in 2011 and saw tremendous growth when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a large-scale, global shift toward remote work across many industries. Zoom had more than 191,000 Enterprise customers as of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, Investor interest in Zoom soared along with the company's surge in profits and revenue.

The top shareholders of Zoom are Eric. S Yuan, Santiago Subotovsky, Kelly Steckelberg, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and Fidelity Investments.

The company had a trailing 12-month (TTM) revenue of $4.56 billion, a TTM net income of $718.55 million, and a market capitalization of $17.32 billion as of August 2024.

This list reflects direct ownership. It doesn't include indirect ownership of shares or shares accessible through stock options.

The term "insider" refers to people in senior management positions and members of the board of directors, as well as people or entities that own more than 10% of the company's stock. It has nothing to do with insider trading in this context.

Eric S. Yuan owned 22,692,536 Class A and Class B shares of Zoom as of March 31, 2024.

Yuan is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Zoom which he founded in 2011. Yuan held several executive positions at Cisco before Zoom where he was responsible for collaboration software development. He was also the founding engineer of WebEx at Cisco which sells conferencing and videoconferencing services.

Yuan helped grow sales to $800 million at WebEx. The net worth of Yuan and his family is $3.8 billion which puts them at #756 on the Forbes billionaires list.

Santiago Subotovsky owned 6,644,384Class A and Class B Zoom shares as of March 31, 2024.

Subotovsky is a general partner at venture capital firm Emergence Capital and is the founder of AXG Tecnonexo, an e-learning vendor in Latin America. He's also served on the boards of companies including Airkit, Civitas Learning, CrunchBase, High Alpha, and Openpath.

Kelly Steckelberg owned 943,911 Class A and Class B shares of Zoom as of March 31, 2024.

Steckelberg is Zoom's chief financial officer. She previously served as COO, CFO, and CEO of the dating site Zoosk. Forbes named her to its America's Self-Made Women Net Worth list with a net worth of $415 million in 2021. Forbes indicated that much of that money was derived from Zoom stock options.

Institutional investors hold the majority of Zoom shares at 68.95% of total shares outstanding as of August 2024.

Vanguard Group is the largest institutional shareholder of Zoom, holding 23.4 million shares as of Aug. 6, 2024. This represents 8.8% of the total shares outstanding.

Vanguard is an investment management firm that operates numerous mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with a client base that consists of individuals, financial institutions, and retirement plans. The company has $8.6 trillion in worldwide assets under management.

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) has $71.73 billion in total assets as of August 2024. The fund largely invests in internet and computer-related companies. Zoom represents about 0.13% of the fund's total holdings.

BlackRock is the second-largest institutional holder of Zoom, holding 15.17 million shares as of Aug. 6, 2024.

Like Vanguard, BlackRock is one of the largest investment firms in the world, managing many funds for a variety of clients. The company reported $10.5 trillion in total assets under management in the first quarter of 2024.

The iShares US Technology ETF(IYW) invests in internet and tech stocks, like Zoom. The fund has $18.08 billion in total assets as of August 2024 and Zoom represents 0.14% of the fund's portfolio.

FMR, LLC is the legal name of Fidelity Investments, a major institutional asset manager. Fidelity holds 7.63 million shares of Zoom as of Aug. 6, 2024.

Fidelity holds Zoom shares in mutual funds and investment portfolios on behalf of its clients. The company has $14.1 trillion in assets under administration as of June 30, 2024.

The Fidelity Cloud Computing ETF (FCLD) invests in tech stocks similar to Zoom. The fund has $74.49 million in assets under management as of August 2024. Zoom represents 1.97% of its total portfolio.

The top five major institutional shareholders of Zoom are Vanguard, BlackRock, Fidelity, Newlands Management Operations, and State Street Corporation.

No, Zoom isn't government-owned. It's a publicly-traded American company owned by its shareholders. Its founder and largest shareholder is Eric S. Yuan, a Chinese-American businessman.

Zoom is free for personal use although it has certain restrictions such as how many people can join a call and how long the call can last. It shouldn't significantly affect consumers' budgets even in a tight economy.

Zoom benefited during the global pandemic when work and social interactions moved over to video conference calls. The company's value and profits grew during that time, making it an attractive investment for many institutional holders and increasing the net worth of some of its high-ranking employees. Zoom had a market capitalization of $17.32 billion as of August 2024.

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