📈 Blackstone goes Swifty

Wall Street cheered best Fed day since 2009, Intel unveils Mortgage rates slide <7% for first time since August, Intel unveils new AI chip to compete, Disney prepares for battle as activist Peltz seeks two board seats, and Blackstone goes all-in on Taylor Swift fandom with holiday video…

Author

Smart Owl
December 15, 2023

☕️ Good Morning.

The Fast Five → Wall Street cheered best Fed day since 2009, Intel unveils Mortgage rates slide <7% for first time since August, Intel unveils new AI chip to compete, Disney prepares for battle as activist Peltz seeks two board seats, and Blackstone goes all-in on Taylor Swift fandom with holiday video…

Here’s your 5-min briefing for Friday:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 12/14/2023.

MARKETS

  • US stocks rose due to the 10Y yield’s decline below 4% and a surprise gain in retail sales

    • The Dow led indices with a 0.43% gain

    • 30Y yield fell 14.5 bps

    • 10Y yield fell 11.6 bps

    • 2Y yield fell 9.9 bps

  • European stocks rose as a result of optimism about a potential US rate cut and the decisions by the UK and EU central banks to keep rates unchanged

EARNINGS

  • Costco reported better-than-expected fiscal Q1 adjusted earnings and revenue and announced a special cash dividend of $15/share (link)

  • What we're watching this week:

    • Today: Darden Restaurants

  • Full calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

Five ETFs of major assets each up at least 1% in broad rally. Traders branch out of tech megacaps, boosting small-cap stocks.

Steve Schwarzman dons rainbow jacket, Jon Gray proposes a tour. Video skirts line between self-promotion and self-parody.

  • US economy still resilient as retail sales beat expectations, layoffs stay low (link)

  • Gen Z voters said Biden is doing "too little" on student loans (link)

  • Mortgage rates in US slide below 7% for First time since August (link)

  • JPMorgan strategist sees a big credit ‘reckoning’ in 2024 (link)

  • Property crash draws short-sellers. Better late than never (link)

  • Top EVs are losing tax credits next year as U.S. boots China from supply chain (link)

  • Intel unveils new AI chip to compete with Nvidia and AMD (link)

  • Amazon courts sellers at China summit as Temu and Shein gain momentum (link)

  • Citi shuts muni business that once was envy of rivals (link)

  • Starbucks closed 23 U.S. stores to deter unionizing (link)

  • Google to test new feature limiting advertisers' use of browser tracking cookies (link)

  • Disney prepares for bitter battle as activist Peltz seeks two board seats (link)

  • Tesla is cutting prices again, in a different way (link)

  • World Central Banks signal victory over inflation is in sight (link)

  • Wall Street is skeptical that shoppers can keep spending in 2024 (link)

  • GM’s Cruise unit is laying off 24% of workforce (link)

  • Elon Musk can’t stall SEC investigation, judge says (link)

  • Congress passes $886B defense policy bill (link)

CRYPTO

  • Hardware wallet-maker Ledger was hacked, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars being drained from users’ wallets (link)

  • JPMorgan is cautious on crypto in 2024 (link)

BULLISH BITES

🐂 Poetic: Bull was on the loose in Newark causing delays for NJ transit riders.

🦕 Relics? American colleges are losing their students and money.

 🌺 Home away: Mark Zuckerberg is building a Hawaii compound suitable for the apocalypse.

🚙 Future things: Cars that change colors—and other new auto tech on the way.

FEATURED TRADES

Macquarie gives MSFT a $430 price target due to Copilot AI

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company that develops, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products, services, and devices. Its portfolio includes the Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office suite, Azure cloud services, and more.

Ticker: $MSFT | Price: $366.30 | Price Target: $430 (+17%) | Timeframe: N/A

☁️ Cloud | 🤖 AI | 💻 SaaS | 📈 Bullish Idea

Read the full article here. Read time: 1 min

DAILY SHARES

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