What Moved The Markets This Week 📈
Payrolls Surge 303K, Microsoft To Unbundle Teams & Office, Tesla Robotaxi Coming In 2024, Rubrik To IPO Under 'RBRK', Disney Wins Proxy Fight, Uber Partners With Waymo, and PAYX + BB Earnings
Sunday Morning Markets
Trading Week 14, covering Monday, Apr 1 through Friday, Apr 5. Your weekly financial markets update, in less than 5 minutes.
The Week In Review ⏪
US Markets 🇺🇸
Payrolls surge 303K
Tesla vehicle deliveries plunge 9%
Disney wins proxy fight against Nelson Peltz
Intel reports $7 billion loss on foundry business
Earnings from Paychex, Blackberry, Conagra
Global Markets 🌏
Biden and Xi discuss foreign relations
China factory activity shows growth
Eurozone inflation unexpectedly drops to 2.4%
BYD to launch new EV truck this year
Tech ⚡
Microsoft to unbundle Teams & Office
Tesla to unveil its robotaxi in August
Amazon cuts hundreds of jobs from AWS
Uber and Waymo partner for food deliveries
US Markets 🇺🇸
Payrolls surged 303K in March, widely beating the consensus forecast of 200K. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% for the month and 4.1% for the year, in line with estimates. The unemployment rate declined to 3.8%.
JOLTS job openings edged higher to 8.76 million in February after the Labor Department revised January’s numbers down to 8.75 million. The job openings to unemployment ratio fell to 1.36 from 1.43.
ISM reports that both manufacturing and services expanded last month. Its Manufacturing PMI jumped to 50.3% (vs 48.5% estimate) while its Services PMI remained in growth territory at 51.4% (vs 52.8% estimate).
Tesla’s first-quarter vehicle deliveries plummet 9% as the company cites factory shutdowns, shipping diversions, and the arson attack at Gigafactory Berlin as part of the reason for the faltering sales.
Disney wins proxy fight against activist investor Nelson Peltz after a shareholder vote, handing CEO Bob Iger a major victory over one of Wall Street’s most aggressive investors.
UPS to replace FedEx as USPS’s primary air cargo provider in a roughly $2 billion hit to FedEx’s top line. USPS was the largest customer for FedEx’s air-based Express segment.
Intel’s foundry business sees a $7 billion operating loss for 2023 as the segment’s revenue declined 31%. The company has been investing heavily to catch up to its chipmaking rivals, TSMC and Samsung.
J&J to acquire Shockwave Medical in $12.5 billion deal as it aims to broaden its portfolio of heart-related medical devices. This follows J&J’s acquisitions of Abiomed and Laminar for $17 billion and $400 million, respectively.
Medicare Advantage plans to see 2025 base pay fall in a blow to the health insurance companies grappling with higher medical costs. UnitedHealth, Humana, CVS, and Centene’s shares fell an average of 8% this week.
Global Markets 🌏
Biden and Xi talk about conflicts in Ukraine and Taiwan as the two world leaders aim to manage the strained U.S.-China relationship. Xi emphasized that “Taiwan is the first red line that must not be crossed.”
China's factory activity expanded at fastest pace in 13 months in March with the Caixin Manufacturing PMI jumping to 51.1. Meanwhile, the Caixin Services PMI rose to 52.7, notching the 15th straight month of growth.
Eurozone inflation unexpectedly slowed to 2.4% in March, setting the stage for the ECB to cut rates in June. Excluding food & energy, core inflation cooled from 3.1% to 2.9%, also coming in below expectations.
Economic activity in Europe begins to recover, led higher by services. The HCOB Composite PMI rose to 50.3 with the southern European economies leading the way while Germany and France continue to lag.
Taiwan hit by its strongest earthquake in 25 years, killing ten people and injuring thousands. Taiwan’s earthquake monitoring agency said the quake was 7.2 magnitude while the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 7.4.
BYD to launch its first electric pickup truck this year as the Chinese EV giant aims to compete with the likes of the Ford F-150 Lightning, Toyota Hilux, and the Tesla Cybertruck.
McDonald’s will buy all 225 stores from its Israel franchise following months of dramatically lower sales due to pro-Palestinian boycotts. The restaurants have been owned by Alonyal Ltd. for more than 30 years.
Tech ⚡
Microsoft to separate Teams and Office globally following continued antitrust scrutiny. This comes just six months after the company unbundled the two products in Europe in a bid to avert a possible EU antitrust fine.
Tesla will unveil its robotaxi on August 8th, CEO Elon Musk said on X. Robotaxis represent a major new business for Tesla as investors grow wary of the company’s slower growth and declining margins.
Rubrik files to go public under the ticker “RBRK” as it aims to become the first cybersecurity company to IPO in more than two years. The company’s S1 showed ARR of $784 million as of the end of January.
Uber and Waymo partner to deliver food orders autonomously for the first time in Phoenix. With Waymo deliveries, standard fees will apply but customers will not be charged for tips.
Amazon cuts hundreds of jobs in cloud computing unit as the tech giant aims to rein in costs. Amazon also announced the removal of “Just Walk Out” cashier-less technology at Amazon Fresh grocery stores.
Microsoft & Quantinuum claim breakthrough in quantum computing. Using Quantinuum’s ion-trap hardware and Microsoft’s new qubit-virtualization system, the team was able to run 14,000 experiments without a single error.
Apple is developing personal robots for your home as well as an advanced tabletop device. The tech giant continues its search for the “next big thing” after scrapping its decade-long electric vehicle plans in February.
FDA authorizes Prenosis’s AI tool to diagnose sepsis, becoming the first of its kind. Sepsis occurs when the body has an extreme response to an infection and is notoriously challenging to diagnose.
Earnings Reports 💰
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Weekly Poll 🗳️
SMM Product Hunt 🧠
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Week Ahead 📅
Monday
UK - BRC Retail Sales (MAR)🇬🇧
AU - NAB Business Confidence (MAR)🇦🇺
Tuesday
JP - Consumer Confidence (MAR)🇯🇵
Earnings: Tilray💰
Wednesday
US - CPI Inflation (MAR)🇺🇸
US - FOMC Meeting Minutes🇺🇸
CA - BOC Interest Rate Decision🇨🇦
CN - CPI Inflation (MAR)🇨🇳
Earnings: Delta💰
Thursday
US - PPI Inflation (MAR)🇺🇸
EU - ECB Interest Rate Decision🇪🇺
CN - Balance of Trade (MAR)🇨🇳
Earnings: Constellation, CarMax💰
Friday
UK - GDP (FEB)🇬🇧
Earnings: JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo, Blackrock💰
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