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Nasdaq and S&P 500 soar to end month at record highs, Senate approves bill to avert government shutdown - sends to Biden, the Fed’s favored inflation gauge meets expectations, jobless claims jumped, IRS targets wealthy ‘non-filers’ with new wave of compliance letters, and Microsoft introduces Copilot AI for Excel…

Author

Smart Owl
March 01, 2024

Good morning.

The Fast Five → Nasdaq and S&P 500 soar to end month at record highs, Senate approves bill to avert government shutdown , the Fed’s favored inflation gauge meets expectations, IRS targets wealthy ‘non-filers’ with wave of compliance letters, and Microsoft introduces Copilot AI for Excel…

Calendar:

  • Today, 3/1: Consumer sentiment (final), 10:00a ET

Your 5-minute briefing for Friday, March 1:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 2/29/2024.

PRE-MARKET

MARKETS

  • US stocks advanced yesterday after inflation data came in line with expectations

  • The S&P and Nasdaq closed at record highs, with the Nasdaq recovering fully from its November 2021 decline

  • All three major indexes capped a fourth-straight positive month

  • Markets are pricing in a 65% chance of a Fed rate cut in June

EARNINGS

  • Dell shares jumped ~20% after beating Q4 earnings and revenue estimates that showed strong demand for its AI servers (link)

  • Best Buy beat Q4 earnings estimates but warned of another year of softer sales (link)

  • Birkenstock reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue thanks to higher pricing and rising US demand (link)

  • Full calendar here

NEWS BRIEFING

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index and S&P 500 broke records Thursday afternoon.

Non-filers making between $400,000 and more than $1 million with unfiled federal returns from tax years 2017 to 2021 will receive the initial round of letters.

  • Fed policymakers look past 'bumpy' inflation toward rate cuts (link)

  • US inflation eased to 2.4% (link)

  • Fed’s favored inflation gauge eases to slowest pace in more than two years (link)

  • Bond giant PIMCO expects term premiums to rise again (link)

  • Fed's QT may play out till 2025 (link)

  • US Senate approves bill to avert government shutdown, sends it to Biden (link)

  • Tesla to earn billions by opening charging network to Ford, other EVs (link)

  • NYCB fall over 20% after disclosing ‘internal controls’ issue and a CEO change (link)

  • Vanguard CEO Buckley to retire by year-end, CIO Davis named president (link)

  • ECB is expected to cut rates in June (link)

  • Congress temporarily averted US government shutdown (link)

  • Morgan Stanley opens Abu Dhabi office (link)

  • PE-owned German bank hit after 25% of US office loans default (link)

  • Microsoft introduces Copilot AI chatbot for Excel and Outlook (link)

  • Disney family rebukes Nelson Peltz, praises Bob Iger in shareholder letters (link)

  • New York shut down a Ponzi scheme run by a Harvard MBA (link)

CRYPTO

  • Grayscale is lobbying the SEC to approve options on its spot Bitcoin ETF (link)

  • Crypto hedge fund managers forgo sleep to cope with market surge (link)

  • Pig-butchering scammers have likely stolen over $75B from victims around the world (link)

  • BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF netted $612M of inflows on Wednesday (link)

  • Bank of America and Wells Fargo are offering spot Bitcoin ETFs (link)

You Can Sponsor this Newsletter details here.​

BULLISH BITES

🎲 Gaming: Frenemies in the corporate-loan market.

🎯 Mad men:: The Pentagon is using targeted ads to find its targets.

👞 Style guide: How to dress like Michael Caine.

🍷 House account: What it costs to get VIP status at one of NYC’s hottest restaurants.

DAILY SHARES

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