📈 Quants about to unleash

Quants poised to unleash a wave of cash in stock market, surprise jump in retail sales quells recession fears, Newsom calls for new oil refinery mandate, TikTok ‘finfluencers’ accurately called the AI rally, and Las Vegas casino accused of hosting criminals...

Author

Smart Owl
August 16, 2024

Good morning.

The Fast Five → Quants poised to unleash a wave of cash in stock market, surprise jump in retail sales quells recession fears, Newsom calls for new oil refinery mandate, TikTok ‘finfluencers’ accurately called the AI rally, and Las Vegas strip casino accused of hosting criminals…

Calendar: (all times ET)

  • Today: [none]

Your 5-minute briefing for Friday, August 16:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 8/15/2024.

PRE-MARKET

MARKETS

  • US stocks rallied as encouraging consumer data eased recession fears

    • S&P and Nasdaq rose for a sixth-straight day

    • Traders reduced bets for a 50 bps Fed rate cut to 24%

    • VVIX continues to trade above 100 despite VIX retreat

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 rose 1.2%

  • US corporate bond spreads tightened to pre-August levels

  • Dollar is down almost 15% versus yen since early July

  • Norwegian krone is trading near record lows versus dollar and euro

EARNINGS

  • Walmart shares rose 7% after a Q2 beat-and-raise thanks to steady consumer health though FY forecasts fell short of estimates (link)

  • Alibaba missed quarterly earnings and revenue estimates due to rising competition and cautious Chinese consumers (link)

  • Applied Materials issued a Q3 beat-and-raise on a surge in AI-fueled demand for its chip-making equipment (link)

  • Full calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

The largest unwind in US equities since the Covid-19 pandemic is over, and now trend-following quant funds are ready to return to the stock market.

Retail sales rose 1 percent in July, reversing a June slowdown and marking the largest increase in more than two years.

  • Indexes end higher as retail sales soothe slowdown fears (link)

  • Low weekly jobless claims, upbeat retail sales dispel recession fears (link)

  • Dollar holds gains on reassuring data (link)

  • Oil edges lower as market weighs diverging US, China outlooks (link)

  • Newsom calls for new oil refinery mandate in California (link)

  • TikTok ‘finfluencers’ accurately called the AI rally (link)

  • Las Vegas Strip Casino Accused of Hosting Criminals (link)

  • Lykos to lay off 100 employees after MDMA drug setback (link)

  • Toyota bets big on hybrid-only models as EV demand slows (link)

  • CodeRabbit raises $16M to bring AI to code reviews (link)

  • X begins rolling out support for passkeys on Android (link)

  • Lockheed Martin to buy satellite maker Terran Orbital in $450M deal (link)

CRYPTO

  • Illicit crypto activity surpassed $2 billion in 2024, with stolen funds up 84% and ransomware up 2% (link)

  • A key Bitcoin bull signal flashed for the first time in nearly two years, hinting at a potential price surge (link)

  • BitGo CEO reiterated wBTC's independence from Justin Sun as MakerDAO voted to reduce its exposure (link)

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