What Moved The Markets This Week 📈
Credit Card Delinquencies Surge 50%, Consumer Debt Hits New All Time High, Google Rebrands Bard to Gemini, ESPN Announces Joint Streaming App With Fox and Warner, and UBER + NET + PLTR Earnings
Sunday Morning Markets
Trading Week 6, covering Monday, Feb 5 through Friday, Feb 9. Your weekly financial markets update, in less than 5 minutes.
The Week In Review ⏪
Credit card delinquencies surged 50% in 2023
Consumer debt hits all-time high at $17.5 trillion
Layoffs from Snap, DocuSign, Cisco
Toyota to invest $1.3 billion in Kentucky EV plant
Google rebrands Bard AI to ‘Gemini’
ESPN teams up with Fox & Warner for sports streaming app
Disney is investing $1.5 billion in Epic Games
China’s deflation problem is getting worse
Earnings from Uber, Palantir, and Cloudflare
US Markets 🇺🇸
Credit card delinquencies surged nearly 50% in 2023 as outstanding card balances hit $1.13 trillion with an average interest rate of 20%; both new all-time highs. Total consumer debt swelled to $17.5 trillion.
U.S. services activity expands for the 13th consecutive month according to the ISM’s purchasing managers' index (PMI). The composite index hit 53.4% in January, above the 52% forecast.
Fed officials signal a slower path ahead on rate cuts for this year. Fed governor Kugler, as well as Fed presidents Kashkari, Collins, and Barkin all gave cautious messages on their expectations for potential rate cuts ahead.
Toyota to invest $1.3 billion in new Kentucky plant to build a three-row fully-electric SUV. The vehicle is expected to go into production between late ‘25 and early ‘26 and will compete with the likes of the Rivian R1S and Kia EV9.
New York Community Bancorp shares crash after Moody’s downgraded them to junk on “outsized” exposure to CRE, which the lender has pledged to reduce in the coming months. NYCB 0.00%↑ shares have plunged 50% this month.
Cisco to cut thousands of jobs as it plans to restructure its business and focus on high-growth areas. In November 2022, Cisco announced a 5% workforce reduction which led to $600 million in severance and other charges.
Bill Ackman to launch a NYSE-listed fund for regular investors. The fund will invest in 12 to 24 large-cap, investment-grade, “durable growth” companies in North America and will take a 2% fee after the first year.
Global Markets 🌏
China’s economy sinks deeper into deflation as prices fall at the fastest rate in 15 years. China’s producer prices (PPI) dropped 2.5% in January from a year earlier, while consumer prices (CPI) fell 0.8% on an annual basis.
Reserve Bank of Australia keeps rate at a 12-year high of 4.35% and said that “a further increase in interest rates cannot be ruled out.” The Australian dollar and yields rose as traders trimmed rate-cut bets.
Canada's Ivey PMI rose to 9-month high in January as the seasonally adjusted index edged up to 56.5, from 56.3 in December. The latest reading indicated the sixth consecutive month of expansion after the index bottomed last July.
Novo Nordisk to buy drug manufacturer, Catalent, in a $16.5 billion deal. The Danish pharma giant aims to boost the supply of its viral weight loss injection, Wegovy, and diabetes shot, Ozempic.
Arm shares surged 60% this week adding over $40 billion to Arm’s market cap after the British chip designer issued a strong forecast. SoftBank still owns about 930 million shares or roughly 90% of its outstanding stock.
Ukrainian President Zelensky removes his top general in a major shift in the country’s leadership. By some polls, Commander Zaluzhniy is the most trusted public figure in Ukraine and is seen as a potential rival for Zelensky.
Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin in Russia with the video garnering over 175M views on X alone. In the interview, Putin alluded to the fact that if the U.S. stopped supplying weapons, he’d be open to peace talks.
U.S. strike kills Iran-backed Iraqi militia leader behind the deadly attack on American base in Jordan last week. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani accused the U.S. of violating his country’s sovereignty.
Tech ⚡
Google rebrands Bard AI chatbot to Gemini and launches a standalone Android app. Google also launched a $20 monthly subscription plan for power users who want access to Gemini Ultra 1.0, their most powerful model.
ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros team up in joint venture to launch a new sports streaming platform this year. The new app aims to be “the home base” for streaming all major sporting events. Each company will own a 33% stake.
Disney to invest $1.5 billion in ‘Fortnite’ maker Epic Games to create a “games and entertainment universe” that will feature games, shows, and characters from Disney’s catalog of content.
BetMGM strikes a sports betting deal with X to become their exclusive live-odds partner. BetMGM’s odds and branding will be integrated into the X platform, with each game linking BetMGM’s site and app.
Adam Neumann is trying to buy back WeWork, the company he co-founded in 2010 that ousted him nine years later. Neuman claims the deal has the support of “well-known capital sources” including Dan Loeb’s Third Point.
Snap to lay off 10% of its workforce, around 500 employees to “promote in-person collaboration.” DocuSign also announced a 6% layoff, or about 440 jobs, to improve the company’s “financial and operational efficiency.”
Bluesky gets 800K new users in its first day as the decentralized, open-source social media app opens to the public. Bluesky’s 4 million total users trail the likes of its main competitor, Mastedon, who has 8.7 million users.
Hawaiian Airlines debuts free WiFi from SpaceX’s Starlink, becoming the first major U.S. airline to offer the satellite-based service. “We think it is going to set an entirely new standard for connectivity on airplanes,” Hawaiian CEO said.
Earnings Reports 💰
See other breakdowns on our Twitter page.
Weekly Poll 🗳️
Week Ahead 📅
Monday
US - Fed 1YR Inflation Expectations 🇺🇸
EU - Economic Forecasts 🇪🇺
AU - NAB Business Confidence (JAN)🇦🇺
CN - Markets Closed (New Year)🇨🇳
Earnings Reports: Monday.com, ZoomInfo, Arista Networks, Cadence💰
Tuesday
US - CPI Inflation (JAN)🇺🇸
UK - Unemployment Report (DEC)🇬🇧
EU - ZEW Economic Sentiment (FEB)🇪🇺
CN - Markets Closed (New Year)🇨🇳
Earnings Reports: Shopify, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, DataDog, Zillow, Robinhood, Instacart, Lyft💰
Wednesday
US - Crude Inventories 🇺🇸
UK - CPI Inflation (JAN)🇬🇧
EU - GDP (Q4)🇪🇺
JP - GDP (Q4)🇯🇵
CN - Markets Closed (New Year)🇨🇳
Earnings Reports: Cisco, Hubspot, Twilio, Fastly💰
Thursday
US - Retail Sales (JAN)🇺🇸
US - Industrial Production (JAN)🇺🇸
US - NY Empire State Manf. Index (FEB)🇺🇸
US - Philly Fed Manf. Index (FEB)🇺🇸
US - Jobless Claims 🇺🇸
CA - Housing Starts (JAN)🇨🇦
UK - GDP (Q4)🇬🇧
CN - Markets Closed (New Year)🇨🇳
Earnings Reports: Applied Materials, DoorDash, TradeDesk, Coinbase, Draftkings, Toast, Roku, Opendoor💰
Friday
US - PPI Inflation (JAN)🇺🇸
US - Housing Starts & Permits (JAN)🇺🇸
US - UMich 1YR Inflation Expectations (FEB)🇺🇸
UK - Retail Sales (JAN)🇬🇧
CN - Markets Closed (New Year)🇨🇳
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