Stock market news, reaction to the META report, GDP, Toyota and other stocks on US stock exchanges

Stocks sank yesterday after a poor reaction to the META report and a high US GDP deflator. But they were bought back throughout the session and the final drop was small.

And today, after a good reaction to the reports, MSFF and GOOG will buy out yesterday’s fall. There is also optimism in Asia.
That is, the reported storm in a teacup turned out to be nothing.

The US dollar remained stable - the foreign exchange market is not ready to play a tougher dollar and the Fed. And only in bonds does selling pressure persist - after the US GDP data, investors' fears of stagflation increased. US government bonds will rise only if there are fears of recession (not stagflation). And now few people expect this.
Today

Reports from AbbVie, Aon, Ball, Centene, Charter Communications, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, Exxon Mobil, HCA Healthcare, LyondellBasell Industries, Phillips 66, Roper Technologies, T. Rowe Price Group and TotalEnergies.

The BEA releases the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index for March. Economists forecast growth of 2.6% y/y, which is 0.1% more than previously. Core PCE inflation is expected to rise 2.7%, up from 2.8% in February. Persistently higher-than-expected inflation figures this year have pushed bond yields to their highest levels in five months and dealt a blow to the stock market.

• Toyota's global sales for the year increased by 7.3% to a record 10.31 million vehicles. Breaking the 10 million mark for the first time in a fiscal year thanks to strong performance in North America, Europe and Japan. Kyodo News writes about this. Thanks to the cheap yen.

• TikTok and Chinese company ByteDance spent $7 million this year to try to stop the US government from banning the social network in the country - CNBC.

• Bloomberg: By the end of 2023, ByteDance (TikTok) for the first time overtook Tencent in terms of revenue and profit:
- ByteDance's profit growth rate outstripped Tencent, Alibaba, etc.
- Profit before all deductions increased by 60%, amounting to $40+ billion
- ByteDance sales increased by $40 billion, amounting to $120 billion (META has $135 billion)
- ByteDance overtook Tencent in key indicators for the first time
- The company has become one of the fastest growing IT giants
- Douyin becomes a competitor to Tencent's WeChat within China.
- It is complemented by e-commerce services, food delivery, etc.

• MSTR shares fell 2% yesterday. The rumor didn't help.

• Morgan Stanley may allow its 15,000 brokers to recommend clients buy Bitcoin ETFs.

• Indian startup Swaayatt Robots has begun testing an unmanned taxi. In India. If they can do it on Indian rural and urban roads, they can do it everywhere.

• Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) shares fell 19%. The company posted a much larger-than-expected first-quarter loss and announced expanded plans to sell off its electric vehicles.

• Southwest Airlines (LUV) fell 7%. The company reported poorly.

• Caterpillar (CAT) shares fell 7%. The heavy equipment maker said it continued to see weakness in Europe and softening economic conditions in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China.

• META shares fell 11%. The company beat forecasts but slightly lowered expectations: Meta said it expects second-quarter revenue to be between $36.5 billion and $39 billion; the midpoint of the range fell slightly short of the consensus forecast of $38.2 billion. This year, Meta forecasts capital expenditures of $35 billion to $40 billion, up from the previous range of $30 billion to $37 billion - this is due to increased costs associated with artificial intelligence.
Forrester on Meta:
AI spending can be compared to a company's bet on the metaverse, but there are differences - there are real and practical use cases for AI.
The question remains whether the company can compete in the AI ​​race while maintaining a strong financial position. To that end, expect more "metaverse" resources to be redirected from Reality Labs to AI initiatives - FT.

• On the upcoming Bank of Japan meeting on Friday:
- In September 2022, Japan intervened to support the yen after it fell due to remarks by former Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda that emphasized the bank's determination to maintain ultra-loose policy.
“For this reason, current Chairman Ueda will refrain from making comments that could be misunderstood by the markets.” Moreover, he may try his best to sound more aggressive than usual.
- The Bank of Japan is expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

• UK utility companies are showing signs of default. Thames Water bonds collapsed to 60% after Kemble defaulted (the company's bonds are trading at 13% of par).

• Companies traditionally operate by raising large amounts of debt. And current interest rates are clearly not good for them.
The US Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into consulting firm McKinsey.
The criminal investigation concerns advice that McKinsey provided to drug manufacturing clients, including Purdue, Endo International and Mallinckrodt.

• NVDA supplied OpenAI with its first supercomputer, the DGX H200. Jensen Huang personally gave it to Sam Altman.
We are waiting for Chat GPT-5. NVDA shares rose 4% yesterday.

• NEM shares rose 12%. The company reported better than expected.

• Harley-Davidson (HOG) shares fell 15%. Its motorcycle sales have fallen and profits have shrunk.

• Airbus shares fell 2% yesterday. The company reported weaker than expected.

• Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) fell 8.5%. The drugmaker reported a smaller quarterly loss and better-than-expected revenue, but cut its profit forecast for the full year.

• Merck (MRK) shares rose 3%. The drugmaker beat expectations and raised its full-year sales and profit forecast. Sales of the cancer drug Keytruda rose 20% to $6.9 billion.

• Textron (TXT) shares fell 10%. The company reported weakly and will cut jobs in accordance with its restructuring plan.

• Anglo American shares rose 16% in London trading. The company received an all-share offer from BHP, the world's largest mining company. Anglo American, which has a market capitalization of about $35 billion, said its board was reviewing the proposal with its advisers. In a statement, Anglo American called BHP's offer "unsolicited, non-committal and highly conditional." The deal will be subject to Anglo American's allocation of stakes in two South African-listed units.

• RBRK shares rose 16% after the IPO yesterday. Stocks in the morning after reports.