- Asian Stocks Fall, Yen Extends Gain Against Dollar: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Shares in Asia fell Monday as investors look ahead to US inflation data due Tuesday that is expected to show a further slowing in core prices. Equities in Australia, South Korea and Japan all declined. The Topix index of Japanese equities faced its biggest one-day drop since October, weighed down by the tech sector which lost almost 3%. - Biden Warns Israel Against Invading Rafah as Ramadan Begins
(Bloomberg) — US President Joe Biden warned Israel against an invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza as cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas remained deadlocked at the beginning of Ramadan. The US had been hoping for a breakthrough in the negotiations before Islam’s holy month, which began after sundown on Sunday. - Gold Pushes Toward Record as Test of $2,200 Looms on Fed Outlook
(Bloomberg) — Gold rose toward a record on expectations the US Federal Reserve will move to cut interest rates this year as inflation cools. Bullion for immediate delivery edged higher on Monday after rallying almost 5% last week, setting a nominal high on four successive days. Gains on Friday were supported by US data showing the jobless rate at a two-year high, which helped push the dollar and 10-year Treasury yields lower. - Japan’s Economy Avoids Recession One Week Before BOJ Meeting
(Bloomberg) — Japan revised economic data higher, reversing a quarterly contraction into positive growth and thereby avoiding a technical recession, an outcome that supports the case for the central bank to end its negative interest rate policy this month or next. Gross domestic product expanded at an annualized pace of 0.4% in the final three months of last year. - Biden’s Campaign Raises $10 Million After State of the Union
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign raised $10 million after last week’s State of the Union address in what his campaign manager called the largest 24-hour haul yet. Biden has been stockpiling cash while Donald Trump, his presumptive opponent in the November election, spent millions in a contested primary. - Japan Yield Curve Steepens After Jiji Report on BOJ Bond Buying
(Bloomberg) — Japan’s yield curve bear-steepens after Jiji Press reported that the central bank may abolish its yield-curve-control program and negative-interest-rate policy as early as this month. Yield on five-year note rises 2bps to 0.400%, the highest since mid-November. That on 10-year debt adds 2.5bps to 0.755. Thirty-year bond yield climbs 4bps to 1.825%. - Aramco Dividend Hike Hands PIF $5 Billion Quarterly Windfall
(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is set to earn about $5 billion in quarterly dividend payments from its stake in Aramco, after the government handed it more shares in the state-controlled oil company, which then said it would boost shareholder payouts. The hike in Aramco’s dividend, which is set to total at least $124 billion this year, comes days after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the transfer of an 8% stake in Aramco to the Public Investment Fund. - BeIN Crypto: Billionaire Bill Ackman Reveals Why He Will Buy Bitcoin
American hedge fund manager and billionaire Bill Ackman has sparked a stir in the crypto community with his recent remarks about Bitcoin. Ackman, the CEO of Pershing Square Capital, outlined a scenario where he might consider buying Bitcoin. Bill Ackman theorized that a Bitcoin price surge driven by increased demand and energy usage could lead to rising energy costs, inflation, a weakening dollar and further BTC demand. - A New Short-Volatility Trade Is Booming Across the ETF Complex
(Bloomberg) — Forget the artificial-intelligence frenzy — the most-exciting trade on Wall Street right now might just be betting on boring. As winners of the AI boom like Nvidia Corp. power benchmark stock gauges to record after record, a less remarked-upon phenomenon has been unfolding at the heart of the US market: Investors are sinking vast sums into strategies whose performance hinges on enduring equity calm. - Reddit’s Planned IPO Is Said to Seek Up to $748 Million
(Bloomberg) — Reddit Inc. and its investors are seeking to raise as much as $748 million in what would be one of the biggest initial public offerings so far this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The social media platform and some of its current shareholders plan a sale of 22 million shares for $31 to $34 each, identified because the information wasn’t public yet. - Coinbase Global Inc. has finally climbed back above its direct listing price Friday for the first
time in more than two years. The company’s stock rose 5.8% Friday to close at $256.62 a share,
its highest since December 2021.
When the biggest US cryptocurrency exchange went public in a direct listing in 2021, the reference
price was set at $250 per share. Though there was early enthusiasm for the stock — shares rallied to
an all-time high close of $350 in November 2021 — they ended their first 12 months of trading down 38%. Coinbase shares remained under pressure for the next few years as a crypto winter hit digital tokens and trading platforms came under increased scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In the last year, however, Coinbase has ripped higher lifted by the price of Bitcoin, —which surged to an all-time high Friday — and the SEC’s approval of exchange-traded funds that invest directly in the digital asset. Shares of the trading platform are up more than 300% in the last 12 months. - Broadcom Inc., a chip supplier for Apple Inc. and other big tech companies, suffered its
worst stock decline in four years after reporting disappointing revenue from its semiconductor
business, even as AI demand grew faster than expected.
The company’s semiconductor division posted revenue of $7.39 billion in the fiscal first quarter,
Broadcom said Thursday, missing the $7.7 billion projected by analysts. Still, the chipmaker remains
on track for $50 billion in sales during fiscal 2024, which ends in October. That’s in line with its previous forecast. Though an artificial intelligence boom is fueling demand for Broadcom equipment, the company is contending with slower sales in some segments, such as telecommunications. That’s hurting its chip business. Broadcom’s infrastructure software sales, meanwhile, beat analysts’ estimates. - Nvidia Corp. posted its biggest one-day drop in nine months as traders took profits
following a rally that saw the stock gain more than 19% in six consecutive trading days.
The chipmaker’s shares fell 5.6% on Friday, the biggest drop since May 31. In a sign of how far Nvidia has rallied this year, the drop erased about $130 billion in market value, ranking among the biggest single-day value destructions in US stock market history. - Marvell Technology Inc’s shares fell 11.36% after the chipmaker gave a first quarter forecast
that was weaker-than-expected.
The company reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.46 that was in line with estimates. The management sees first quarter adjusted EPS to be between $0.18 and $0.28, missing estimates of $0.41. However, the management still expects continued sequential growth in their data center revenue via its cloud optimized silicon programme for artificial intelligence in the first quarter of 2025. - Gap Inc. rose after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded expectations, a sign that efforts to turn the storied apparel retailer around are bearing fruit.
Gap’s earnings per share, excluding some items, were 49 cents, which is more than double the
average analyst estimate. The company also posted better-than-expected revenue and comparable
sales.
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