What Moved The Markets This Week 📈
W15 - Fed Expects A Recession This Year, CPI & PPI Inflation Data, Amazon & Alibaba Launch ChatGPT Competitors, Apple Mac Shipments Plunge 40%, and Delta Airlines + JPMorgan + BlackRock Earnings
Sunday Morning Markets
Trading Week 15, covering Monday, Apr 10 through Friday, Apr 14. Your weekly financial markets update, in less than 5 minutes.
The Week In Review ⏪
CPI & PPI inflation prints come in lower than expected
Fed is now predicting a recession in 2023
Apple Mac shipments drop 40% YoY
Major emission limits announced by EPA
Amazon & Alibaba launch rivals to ChatGPT
France’s Macron calls for Europe sovereignty from US
FTX considers relaunching its exchange
Earnings from Delta, JPMorgan, and Citi — see breakdowns below
US Markets 🇺🇸
Consumer prices rose 0.1% in March and 5% during the year, coming in below estimates. Core CPI reaccelerated during the month to hit 5.6%, led higher by housing. FedWatch predicts a 78% chance of a hike at May’s FOMC meeting.
Wholesale prices post largest monthly drop in 3 years as the PPI sank 0.5% in March, and slowed to 2.7% for the year, coming in well below estimates. The report shows progress on inflation, but energy prices have risen 13% in April.
The Fed expects a recession “later this year,” the FOMC meeting minutes show. They expect lending to tighten and credit conditions to deteriorate following the earlier collapse of SVB, and U.S. GDP to grow just 0.4% this year.
Apple’s Mac shipments drop more than 40% in the first quarter, according to IDC. Dell, HP, Asus, and Lenovo also saw double-digit drops in first-quarter shipments, reflecting weaker demand, but Apple’s quarter was significantly worse.
EPA set to unveil tough limits on auto emissions in a move to accelerate the transition to EVs. Under the new regulations, 56-60% of car sales sold by 2030 must be fully electric vehicles. Just 6% of cars sold were electric last year.
Amazon launches Bedrock to compete with ChatGPT and officially joins the AI race. Through Bedrock, clients can use language models from Amazon and startups AI21 and Anthropic, plus Stability’s model for turning text into images.
Rest of World 🌏
Softbank dumped $7.2B worth of Alibaba shares using forward contracts. It was just three years ago that SoftBank held a 25% stake in the tech giant worth over $100 billion, but now their position is down to just 3.8%.
Alibaba launches a rival to ChatGPT across its product suite. Tongyi Qianwen, which possesses Chinese and English language capabilities, will initially be deployed on DingTalk and Tmall. BABA 0.00%↑ shares fell 6% this week.
France’s Macron calls for European sovereignty and says it should separate itself from the United States’ policy stance on Taiwan. The French President had just spent 3 days in China and has since received backlash on his comments.
Crypto ⚡
Ethereum gets its long-awaited Shanghai update that will allow ETH holders to un-stake their tokens after two years of having them locked. The price of ETH climbed above $2,000 this week for the first time in eight months.
FTX considering relaunching its exchange sometime in the second quarter of 2024 after recovering $7.3B in liquid assets. The price of the FTX token surged over 100% following the announcement.
Earnings Reports 💰
See more breakdowns for Citi Group, UnitedHealth Group, and Carmax on our Twitter page
Weekly Poll 🗳️
Week Ahead 📅
Monday
US - Empire State Manf. Index (APR)🇺🇸
China - Industrial Production (MAR)🇨🇳
China - GDP (Q1)🇨🇳
Earnings Reports: Charles Schwab💰
Tuesday
US - Housing Starts (MAR)🇺🇸
US - Building Permits (MAR)🇺🇸
Canada - CPI Inflation (MAR)🇨🇦
UK - Employment Report (MAR)🇬🇧
Germany - ZEW Economic Sentiment (APR)🇩🇪
Earnings Reports: Netflix, Bank of America, J&J, United, Lockheed Martin💰
Wednesday
UK - CPI Inflation (MAR)🇬🇧
Europe - CPI Inflation (MAR)🇪🇺
Earnings Reports: Tesla, ASML, Morgan Stanley, IBM, Ally Financial💰
Thursday
US - Existing Home Sales (MAR)🇺🇸
US - Phil. Fed Manf. Index (APR)🇺🇸
Earnings Reports: Taiwan Semiconductor, AT&T, American Express, American Airlines💰
Friday
Canada - Retail Sales (FEB)🇨🇦
UK - Retail Sales (MAR)🇬🇧
Earnings Reports: Procter&Gamble💰
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