Market Update & Veterans Day Tribute
Today is Veterans Day—a moment to honor those who’ve served. In the markets, US stock futures climbed as investors reflect on a post-election rally and anticipate key economic data this week.
The S&P 500 recently hit an all-time high, buoyed by expectations of tax cuts and deregulation under Trump’s second term. Additionally, the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut supports investor sentiment, with eyes on Wednesday’s inflation report. Bitcoin also saw a record high amid expectations of a crypto-friendly stance from the new administration, further exciting the market.
Asian markets, however, showed mixed results. While Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped due to underwhelming stimulus from China, oil steadied as Hurricane Rafael weakened, easing supply concerns.
*NEW OP Wire Section- NEWS ON STOCKS WE TRACK MOST (NOSWTM)
Wedbush raised the firm’s price target on Tesla to $400 from $300 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The analyst believes the Trump White House win “will be a gamechanger” for the autonomous driving and artificial intelligence story for Tesla over the coming years. Wedbush estimates the AI and autonomous opportunity is worth $1 trillion alone for Tesla and fully expects that under a Trump White House, “these key initiatives will now get fast tracked as the federal regulatory spiderweb that Musk & Co. have encountered over the past few years around FSD/autonomous clears significantly under a new Trump era.”
Melius Research raised the firm’s price target on Nvidia to $185 from $165 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm, which cites higher estimates for its target increase, says it has “higher conviction in our long-term estimates for Nvidia vs. any other semis/systems company we cover.” Giving up on Nvidia here after its hit Hopper would be “like giving up on Apple at iPhone 1 or 2,” argues the analyst, who adds: “While it didn’t seem possible, we are even more excited about Jensen Huang’s next chip than we were before. It’s similar to the feeling around product cycles with Apple’s iPhone some 15 years ago, just on a different scale.”
Meta (META), OpenAI, Microsoft (MSFT), and other AI companies have created their own internal benchmarks for AI as new models approach or exceed 90% accuracy on public tests, The Financial Times’ Cristina Criddle reports.
Apple’s future growth may come from several new Watch- or iPad-level businesses, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports. The company has also launched an internal project to evaluate the smart glasses market and has named team veteran Molly Anderson as a new vice president of design, Gurman writes.
Weekend News – Catch up on the weekend’s top five stories with this list compiled by OP: 1. The U.S. ordered TSMC (TSM) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers that are often used in artificial intelligence applications starting Monday, Reuters’ Karen Freifeld and Fanny Potkin report, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Department of Commerce sent a letter to TSMC imposing export restrictions on certain sophisticated chips, of 7 nanometer or more advanced designs, destined for China that power AI accelerator and graphics processing units, the person said. The U.S. order comes just weeks after TSMC notified the Commerce Department that one of its chips had been found in a Huawei AI processor, as Reuters reported last month. 2. Toyota (TM) aims to make at least 2.5M vehicles a year in China by 2030, three people said, an overhaul that will see it bring its Chinese sales and production operations closer together and allow local executives a freer hand in development, Reuters’ Maki Shiraki reports. The plan, which has not been previously reported, represents a strategic pivot by the world’s top selling automaker in the world’s largest car market, underlining its ambition to claw back business lost to BYD (BYDDF) and other local players in recent years, the publication said. 3. Elon Musk created the perfect hedge for Tesla (TSLA) stock with his support of Donald Trump, Al Root writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. The president-elect isn’t a friend of electric vehicles. He has said they are a risk to the U.S. auto industry and promised to eliminate tax credits on EV purchases as well as emission “mandates” necessitating that auto makers build battery-powered cars, the author notes. But while several EV stocks underperformed after the election, Tesla rose 14.8% on Wednesday and added $119M in market cap. Clearly, the market is betting that Musk bought a great deal of protection for Tesla shares, the publication adds. 4. Sony’s (SONY) “Venom: The Last Dance” won the post-presidential election weekend at the North American box office with another $16.2M in its third outing for a domestic cume of $114.8M. Overseas, the movie earned about $33M for a foreign tally of $279.4M and $394.2M globally. 5. Camping World (CWH), Crescent Energy (CRGY), and Kodiak Gas Services (KGS) saw positive mentions in this week’s edition of Barron’s.
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