Positive morning, problems at Tesla, McDonald's, Boeing. OPEC oil quotas. The growth of Nvidia and BYD

• Equity markets started the week on a positive note this morning, helped in part by signs of pick-up in manufacturing activity in Asia, where a private Caixin survey showed China's main manufacturing index hit a two-year high. Factory activity expanded for the first time in a year in Japan and grew at its fastest pace in two years in South Korea. South Korean markets received an additional boost from news that there may be huge oil and gas reserves off the country's shores.

• Tesla is recalling more than 125 thousand cars due to a faulty safety system. Tesla is recalling 125,227 vehicles in the United States due to a defective seat belt warning system that may increase the risk of injury in a crash. This was reported by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, writes Reuters.

• A Tesla shareholder filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing CEO Elon Musk of insider trading when he sold more than $7.5 billion of the electric vehicle maker's shares in late 2022. Musk allegedly sold shares before potentially disappointing production and delivery numbers were released.

• The US presidential election could fuel the summer rally.

• Chip stocks dominate the S&P 500 for the first time. Chip stocks now dominate software stocks in the S&P 500 and have the largest overall sector weight.

• McDonald's has found itself in the spotlight as a victim of its own prices. The news of a (real) $18 Big Mac took social media by storm - the high price for a well-known chain of inexpensive fast food restaurants shocked everyone.
Consumers are complaining that Big Mac prices have doubled since the start of the pandemic.

• Safety and quality problems uncovered at Boeing after a door seal exploded earlier this year could shake travelers' confidence in flying. Said the top manager of a competitor company Airbus.

• Saudi Arabia's wealth fund is starting to add new conditions to documents it sends to bankers hoping to do business in the region - Bloomberg. He wants to know whether their firms have received a license for regional headquarters in the kingdom. The move signals the government is pushing international financial firms to increase their presence in the local market. Those who do not demonstrate sufficient commitment to the country may soon find it more difficult to win over big business. While banks initially hoped to circumvent these rules, the pressure has become increasingly difficult to resist - especially since Goldman Sachs Group became the first Wall Street giant to receive such a license.

• Homebuyers are starting to revolt over high prices across America. The key sales season has been disappointing so far, the economist says.
More and more home sellers are cutting prices - Bloomberg.

• OPEC+ agreed to continue production cuts to boost oil prices. WSJ. The expected deal took place on the same day that Saudi Arabia began selling shares of Aramco.

Asics shares skyrocketed along with dad sneakers. The 75-year-old Japanese sneaker brand is experiencing its finest hour. So are his shares.

• Hackers hacked the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin and stole more than $300 million worth of bitcoins. The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin reported unauthorized access to the company's accounts where bitcoin was stored. The exchange team noted that it will reimburse all losses and replenish the reserves of the first cryptocurrency.

• Nvidia Corp. plans to update its artificial intelligence accelerators annually. CEO of Nvidia Corp. Jensen Huang announced the Blackwell Ultra chip by 2025 and the next generation Rubin platform in development by 2026.

• Asset managers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to make investment decisions, track the habits of portfolio managers and identify profit opportunities. JPMorgan later this year plans to expand its use of a generative artificial intelligence tool that can identify questionable decisions by portfolio managers, such as potentially selling outperforming stocks too early, company officials told the Financial Times.

• Key drivers of US consumer spending are losing steam - Bloomberg. Americans are relying on credit while disposable income declines.

• The Fed is hoping for a slowdown, not a recession, in the US economy.

• The euro is at risk of weakening amid the upcoming ECB rate cut next week – Bloomberg.

• Japan spent a record $62.2 billion in a month on currency interventions to support the yen. This amount exceeded the figure for the entire 2022, when the Bank of Japan also intervened.

• On Sunday, Chinese electric vehicle leader BYD reported sales figures for May.
The company delivered 330,488 passenger cars (+38% y/y and +6% m/m).
Including 146,395 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) (+22% YoY and +8% MoM).
And 184,093 hybrid vehicles (PHEV) (+54% y/y and +4% m/m).
In 2024, BYD sold 1,266,934 vehicles, an increase of 27% YoY.
Export sales in 2024 were 176,409 vehicles, an increase of approximately 177%.
Today, TSLA shares may react to this data from BYD.

• Roaring Kitty said he owns $180 million worth of GameStop (GME) stock, nearly 2% of the company.

• The Institute for Supply Management releases the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for May. The consensus estimate is 49.6 (up from 49.2 in April).

• The Census Bureau will provide construction spending data for April. Economists forecast construction spending to rise 0.25% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.1 trillion.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, AMD Lisa Su and Arm CEO Renee Haas will give presentations at the COMPUTEX Taiwan conference. Microsoft, Intel and Qualcomm will also be represented there.

• Beginning of the four-day Cisco Live Global event in Las Vegas.