Financial news from the USA, Australia and China. Company events and stock movements on US stock exchanges

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept rates steady on Tuesday, signaling persistent domestic price pressures - a common problem that other central banks around the world are grappling with. The RBA's rate decision capped an otherwise quiet day for Asia, and with weak European data the focus is back on political turmoil in the bloc, although futures suggest markets could get some respite from last week's setbacks.

• In the United States, retail sales in May are the main indicators to watch today, and no fewer than six Fed officials will also speak to the markets. Retail sales are expected to rise slightly month-on-month in May following April's surprise, although the overall picture will continue to point to a slowdown in consumer spending. As for the Fed's speech, policymakers will likely be singing the same anthem that Chairman Jerome Powell sang last week, and last week's favorable inflation report may provide some leeway to sound a little more dovish.

• Trade war: China begins its own investigation against EU products.
China on June 17 launched an investigation into the import of pork and derivative products from the EU at artificially low prices.
China plans to use hydrogen as a green energy source
It also sees it as the "fourth pillar" of its economy - Chinese source scmp com.

• UBS offers payments to investors affected by the bankruptcy of Credit Suisse Greensill funds - WSJ.
UBS said it would pay investors 90% of their remaining holdings in the funds, but the payout would not affect the group's results or capital.

• The IAEA supported Iran in nuclear research - Bild.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has supported nuclear energy researchers from Iran for years and sent them to Russia for training.

• German robotics is experiencing significant competition from China. Increasing competition from China is worsening the outlook for the German robotics industry, which is already struggling with falling orders amid a weak domestic economy.

• China built the world's largest solar power plant in Urumqi in less than a year. 3.5 gigawatts, 6.09 billion kWh per year for approximately $2 billion on an area of ​​13.3 thousand hectares. By the way, China is actively moving towards moving away from hydrocarbons. And the Russian Federation’s attempts to sell oil and gas to China look dubious.

• The Chinese premier focused on critical minerals and clean energy during his visit to Australia. Li Qiang will visit Malaysia today, the first visit by a Chinese premier since 2015.

• The New York Fed's Empire State Index, a measure of manufacturing activity in the state, contracted for the seventh month in a row. It remained in contraction territory with a reading of minus 6, better than economists' expectations of minus 10.5.

• France lost the title of the largest European stock market to Great Britain - Bloomberg.

• Caterpillar transferred its Russian assets to a company from Armenia. On June 14, the American machine manufacturer Caterpillar completed the transfer of its Russian assets to the Armenian investment fund Balchug Capital.

• The launch date for spot Ethereum ETFs has been moved to July 2, 2024.
Ripple launches its own stablecoin - Real USD.
A new cryptocurrency from the creators of USDT.
It is called Alloy (aUSDT) and will be backed by the price of gold. The token is called XAUT and is tied to physical gold bars.

• TSMC announced a 5% increase in prices for 3nm chip production.
And also for improved packaging technology cowos by 10-20% from 2025.

• The author of the parody account Not Elon Musk on Twitter/X asked users if they would install a Neuralink interface in their brain, which would allow them to control their new phone with the power of thought.
- Elon Musk himself responded to this publication, saying that in the future people will no longer need mobile devices, but only brain chips.

• Over the past 5 years, world prices for uranium have increased by 233%, which is three times more than the increase in prices for gold and copper.

• There are currently 61 nuclear power units under construction in the world. Another 90 are in the planning stages, and at least 300 are under discussion.

• Small companies are big business for Wall Street megabanks. With fewer large trades, banks including JPMorgan are getting more fees from smaller companies.

• Top management of Adidas is suspected of receiving bribes - Bloomberg. An anonymous source said that the management of Chinese Adidas received kickbacks from the company's suppliers and also worked with a marketing budget of 250 million euros.

• Most of the AI ​​functions of Apple Intelligence will not have time to be implemented in iOS 18, writes Mark Gurman from Bloomberg.
Siri will become only a little smarter - all the promised features will, at best, only work by 2025.

• The euro is trapped between a tight Fed and political instability in the Eurozone - Bloomberg.

• Google DeepMind is moving away from research work in favor of producing AI products, Bloomberg writes.
The division's main focus is now on Gemini.
Merging the two units risks destroying the culture that led Google to success in basic artificial intelligence research, experts say.

• OpenAI and Color Health have created an AI assistant to help with cancer screening and treatment - WSJ. In this model, Color Health uses the OpenAI API to create personalized cancer screening plans based on patient data. For example, personal risk factors and family history.

• Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker believes one rate cut in 2024 would be appropriate.

• Canada blocks Chinese rare earths deal as part of Trudeau-led crackdown - Bloomberg.
The Government of Canada will purchase rare earth reserves from Vital Metals Ltd. as part of a deal that will prevent the company from selling its products to the Chinese company.

• The US FTC sued Photoshop maker Adobe (ADBE) for hiding fees that made it difficult to terminate the contract.
ADBE shares fell 1% yesterday.

• Copper fell to an eight-week low after another weak data from China - Bloomberg.

• Tesla sues former supplier Matthews over trade secrets regarding EV battery production. Tesla has filed a lawsuit in California federal court against its former supplier Matthews International, accusing it of stealing trade secrets related to Tesla's battery manufacturing process.

• Elon Musk announced work on the 4th Tesla Master Plan. Called it epic. TSLA shares rose 5% yesterday.

• Merck's vaccine approval threatens one of Pfizer's best-selling products. Merck's shot, designed to protect against pneumonia and other bacterial infections, is designed to compete with Pfizer's Prevnar 20 vaccine.
PFE shares fell 2% yesterday, while MRK fell 1%.

• DELL shares rose 5% yesterday. Thanks to an aggressively bullish report from hardware analyst Morgan Stanley. He reiterated his outperform rating on stocks he calls "top picks." The analyst set a price target for Dell shares of $155, but said they could rise to $200. Yesterday they closed at $143.

• PLTR shares rose 6% yesterday. The stock received support from an Argus Research analyst. He initiated coverage of Palantir shares with a Buy rating, saying the company will benefit from growth in sales to commercial customers. His target price for the stock is $29, up 23% from Friday's close. Yesterday, PLTR shares almost reached $25.

• Lennar (LEN) shares are down 2% after the report. Lennar, one of the nation's largest public housing developers, said incentives for buyers helped fuel new orders in the spring.
The company beat expectations, increasing home deliveries by 15% YoY and increasing orders by 19% YoY.
Average prices of completed and newly ordered homes fell by 5% y/y.
Investors weren't pleased with the company's next-quarter guidance for new home deliveries and gross margins, which will be slightly worse than investors expected. Although the company's growth will continue.

• Demand for AI stocks continues. The situation is becoming more and more like FOMO.

• Value stocks remain weak amid rising interest rates on US government bonds.

• Quarterly expiration is ahead and the situation is intensified by gamma compression.

• Rising government bond yields helped the US dollar rise slightly.

• The curtailment of the carry trade increases demand for the dollar.

Today

- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) will host the HPE Discover event. CEO Antonio Neri will speak in Las Vegas along with Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang.
- Report on retail sales in the US for May.
- Nuvei (NVEI) shareholders will vote on the sale of Advent.
- Shareholders of Southwestern Energy (SWN) and Chesapeake Energy (CHK) will vote on the merger of the companies.
- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austin Goolsbee will participate in the Economic and Monetary Policy panel at the Marshall Hybrid Forum 2024.
- KBH developer report.