Financial reviews - Nvidia report, Biden is president again, ChatGPT-4, Ethereum growth, company reports
The week's two biggest events are almost upon us as Wednesday ended a two-day news vacuum that had left markets drifting without any clear direction. The first event will certainly be the long-awaited earnings report and accompanying comments from AI darling Nvidia, which will undoubtedly determine whether the Nasdaq breaks through the all-time highs it set this week or falls sharply.
The second event, at least from a global investor's perspective, is the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting. While the meeting comes ahead of last week's widely welcomed surprise decline in the US consumer price index, it will still be closely scrutinized for clues about the likely course of policy, especially as Fed officials have so far refused to be optimistic about inflation risks .
The US stock market has already “chosen” the winner of the 2024 presidential election. The US stock market is one of the best predictors of whether the incumbent party will win the presidential election. Biden has a 59% chance of winning. And the higher the stock market rises, the higher Biden's chances will be. However, these are just historical statistics. The Americans' choice may surprise. For example, right now they are still very concerned about inflation and therefore the polls are likely to favor Trump.
Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are planning to create their first joint strategy to produce and sell cars within the Southeast Asian bloc to counter China's growing presence in the electric vehicle market, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday.
The largest Chinese developer has attracted a new loan. That brings its total borrowing this month to more than $1 billion, part of ongoing efforts to ease pressure on liquidity due to the completion of residential projects.
South Korea began paying about $500 a month to people aged 9 to 24 years old. So that they leave the house and try to “restore their daily life” (school, work). As of 2022, there were about 338 thousand “solitary hermits”.
OpenAI earned $4.2 million from its mobile app after launching ChatGPT-4o Following the release of the updated model, subscription demand among mobile users has skyrocketed and has already led to the largest jump in mobile revenue in OpenAI's history. GPT-4o has become available for free to all registered users. OpenAI, Alphabet and other leading AI developers have made new commitments to the technology's safety. The UK government said in a statement. A total of 16 companies have pledged to ensure transparency in their approaches to AI safety.
Intel has opened the release window for its Lunar Lake laptop processors. The new x86 chips will arrive in the third quarter of this year, and they are designed to work with artificial intelligence in Copilot+ PCs, The Verge reports.
Ether (ETHUSD) +21%. The SEC has asked exchanges to expeditiously update applications for spot ETH-ETFs.
Alibaba Group Holding has reduced prices for its artificial intelligence service package by 97%. This prompted an immediate response from Baidu and potentially started a price war in China's nascent artificial intelligence market. Bloomberg
ASML and TSMC have assured US officials that they have ways to remotely disable the world's most advanced chip-making machines.
In the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The Dutch company can activate a shutdown that will act as a switch for its EUV. Bloomberg
Apple has challenged a €1.8 billion fine imposed by the EU for preventing fair competition from music streaming rivals including Spotify - Bloomberg.
Donald Trump's media company Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) ended the first quarter with a loss of $327 million. Trump Media insists that at this early stage of its development the company is focused on the long term, not quarterly results.
DJT shares fell 10% yesterday.
JPMorgan's retail business is thriving and its customers are doing well. Country's largest lender sees borrowers cutting costs but still spending - WSJ
Palo Alto Network (PANW) shares fell 3%. Forecast fourth-quarter billings were largely in line with forecasts, indicating the near-term impact of the cybersecurity company's efforts to consolidate its services onto a single platform.
Animation studio Pixar began laying off about 14% of its staff on Tuesday. As it scales back development of original streaming series.
Investors' focus is on Nvidia's highly anticipated earnings report.
Sales at Lowe's (LOW, -2%) fell less than expected as cash-strapped Americans continued to spend on minor repairs, while shares of Macy's (M) rose 3% after the department store chain's earnings beat lower expectations.
Reports from AutoZone (AZO) and Urban Outfitters (URBN) are also on the agenda.
First Solar (FSLR) shares rose 6.3%.
Analysts at UBS and Piper Sandler raised their target prices for shares of the largest US producer in the solar energy industry. UBS raised its target to $270 from $252, and Piper Sandler raised its target to $219 from $195.
LRCX shares rose 2%.
The chip manufacturing equipment supplier said its board of directors has authorized a $10 billion buyback program and a 10-for-1 stock split that will take place in October.
Investors are also listening closely to the speeches of Fed officials. As the lack of economic releases calms the rate cut debate.
Fed member Chris Waller said Tuesday he needs to see a few more months of favorable inflation data before cutting rates, echoing the position of other central bank officials who have advocated longer policy in recent weeks.
These developments come amid investor pressure for media companies to scale their streaming services and achieve profitability. At the same time, the companies face increasing competition from tech giants such as Amazon (AMZN) and YouTube (GOOG).
Global government bonds are experiencing a period of temporary calm. A significant rise or fall in global government bond yields looks unlikely in the near term as interest rates have peaked, but persistent inflation means rate cuts will be slow, analysts say. WSJ
By 2030, the S&P 500 will reach 8,000 and the Dow Jones will reach 60,000 - Ed Yardeni. This is 7% per annum plus 1.5% per annum dividends.
Citigroup (C) issued preferred shares at 7.125% per annum. Denomination $1000. They are perpetual and change% every 5 years with reference to the yield of 5-year Treasuries +2.69%.
Recently, interesting issues of preferred shares also include AES with maturity in 2055 at 7.6% per annum.
The market continues to stagnate in indecision and wait for fresh data for the next step. The bullish trend in the stock market remains in force.
The Federal Open Market Committee will release the minutes of its latest meeting.
Nvidia (NVDA) will report after the market closes.