Your Weekly Market Snapshot 📈

Jan 05, 2025

Sunday Morning Markets

Trading Week 1, covering Monday, Dec 30 through Friday, Jan 3. Your weekly financial markets update, in less than 5 minutes.

U.S. manufacturing PMI hits 9-month high at 49.3, signaling recovery with rising production and new orders. However, tariff fears and employment contraction cloud the outlook.
Pending home sales hit 22-month high in November, rising 2.2%. Gains in the South led growth, while the Northeast saw a decline, as buyers seemed to have adapted to high rates.
Tesla reports first-ever annual drop in deliveries, with 2024 totals at 1.79M, down from 1.81M in 2023. Rising competition and inventory buildup pose key challenges.
China-linked hackers breached U.S. Treasury systems, accessing employee workstations and unclassified documents in a "major" cyberattack. Treasury and CISA report no ongoing threat.
Delta tops U.S. airline rankings for punctuality in 2024 with 83% on-time arrivals, followed by United (81%) and Alaska (79%). Frontier (72%) and JetBlue (75%) ranked among the lowest.
Elon Musk defends H-1B visas as vital, while Vivek Ramaswamy calls for reform, deepening MAGA divides over tech’s reliance on foreign talent for critical computer science and IT roles.

Foreign phone sales in China nosedive 47%, hitting Apple hardest as competition from Huawei surges. Apple recently announced a rare discount on iPhones in China as they continue to lose market share.
Biden blocks $14.9B U.S. Steel sale to Japan’s Nippon, citing national security risks to critical supply chains. The move highlights rising U.S. protectionism. Shares of U.S. Steel fell 7% on the news.
Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 crash kills 179, as Korean investigators consider a bird strike and landing gear failure as potential causes. Boeing shares fell amid intensified and ongoing safety scrutiny.
Canada’s factory activity hits 22-month high, supported by increased export sales as U.S. clients accumulated inventory in anticipation of trade tariffs. Supply chain delays and rising costs remain challenges.
China’s manufacturing activity expanded at slower pace in December as the manufacturing PMI hit 50.1. Meanwhile, services and construction surged, lifting the nonmanufacturing PMI to 52.2.

Microsoft to spend $80B on AI data centers in 2025, with over half in the U.S. The move aims to strengthen its AI dominance amid rising global competition, especially from China.
Alibaba slashes AI model prices by 85%, including it’s visual language model, Qwen-VL. The move highlights intensifying competition among China’s tech giants to dominate the growing AI market.
Hindenburg Research accuses Carvana of ‘grift for the ages’ over unstable loans and accounting manipulation. Carvana denies the claims as its stock slid nearly 20% this week.
US sues fintech app Dave and CEO, alleging deceptive cash advance ads, hidden fees, and unclear cancellations. Dave denies claims and shifts to a new fee structure.
Nvidia completes $700M Run:ai acquisition after EU approval. The move enhances its AI capabilities as Run:ai plans to open-source software for broader ecosystem use.

No major earnings reports this week.

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