Taiwan’s TSMC (TW:2330) jumped over 3%, while South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) and SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) rose 1.6% and 3.7%, respectively, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the three firms will be allowed to maintain and upgrade their chipmaking infrastructure in China. The three, which are among the biggest chipmakers in the world, had initially gotten a one-year waiver to keep their Chinese infrastructure after the U.S. introduced export controls designed to limit Beijing’s access to the latest chip equipment. But the WSJ report said that this waiver had been indefinitely extended. All three firms have chip fabrication centers in the country, and rely on it heavily as a market and as a supply chain hub. The news of the extended waiver quells some concern

Tesla (TSLA) stock charged higher Friday following an announcement by General Motors that GM’s electric vehicles would be able to charge using Tesla (TSLA)’s charging network. That news following a similar announcement from Ford just two weeks before. The company’s stock was up about $12 a share, or 5% on the day, as of this writing. Both Ford and GM EV drivers will, for now, need special adapters to allow their vehicles to use Tesla chargers. Later, the automakers plan to build new electric vehicles that use Tesla-style chargers with no adapter needed. Users will presumaby pay for charging sessions, providing more revenue for Tesla. Tesla “is going to get, I don’t know, $2 billion to $3 billion of revenue just from these folks a year,” said Gary Silberg, a global automotive industry analy

US stocks have advanced so far this year but a slump in corporate earnings will stop the rally in its tracks by the end of the year, according to a team of Morgan Stanley strategists. Earnings per share (EPS) for the S&P 500 will fall 16% in 2023 as revenue growth slows and margins further contract, according to Andrew Sheets, the firm's chief cross-asset strategist and his team, as reported by Bloomberg. "While a deteriorating liquidity backdrop is likely to put downward pressure on equity valuations over the next three months, we also see EPS disappointment ahead as revenue growth slows and margins contract further," the strategists said in a Sunday note, per Bloomberg. US earnings now face downside risk, Sheet's team said, noting that the firm expects S&P 500 earnings per share

Elon Musk on Tuesday dismissed speculation that he might step down as Tesla's CEO and told the company’s annual shareholders meeting that the the electric car and solar panel company would start doing some advertising. “Say it ain’t so,” one shareholder asked Musk about stepping down as Tesla's leader. “It ain’t so,” he replied without further discussion. When another shareholder suggested that Tesla try advertising, Musk said he is open to it. “This has some merit,” he said to the shareholder at the meeting at Tesla's factory site near Austin, Texas. “We'll try a little advertising and see how it goes.” Tesla famously has avoided paying for advertising like its competitors, relying a lot on Musk's ability to generate free publicity — he has 140 million followers on Twitter, the social med

Tom Zhu has years of experience and the knowledge to fulfill his duties as Tesla’s Vice President of Automotive. He officially took up the mantle on April 2023. “Mr. Zhu joined Tesla in April 2014, and served in various operational roles before being appointed as Vice President, Greater China, where he led the construction and operations of Gigafactory Shanghai. Mr. Zhu holds a bachelor’s degree of commerce in information technology from the Auckland University of Technology and an M.B.A. from Duke University,” wrote Tesla in its SEC filing. Zhu quickly worked his way up Tesla, starting as the head of Tesla China when Gigafactory Shanghai was built. Under Zhu, Tesla’s Shanghai factory steadily ramped up Model 3 and then later Model Y production. Tesla China increased its income by over 100

A gauge of Asian shares fell as continuing concerns over the health of US banks snapped a four-day winning streak on Wall Street. New Zealand’s dollar rose after the central bank raised interest rates by more than expected. MSCI Inc.’s regional benchmark was set to end a six-day rally as it slipped about 0.4%, with finance stocks among the worst performers Wednesday. Contracts for US equities steadied after the S&P 500 dropped 0.6%. Chinese markets are closed for a holiday. The greenback weakened against most Group-of-10 currencies, with the New Zealand and Australian dollars leading the gains. New Zealand’s currency advanced to the highest level since mid-February after an unexpected 50-basis-point interest-rate hike from the central bank. The government bonds rose. Investors are also

Tesla faced an onslaught of headwinds last year. Supply chain problems and factory closures hindered production, while high inflation and rising interest rates hammered sales across the auto industry. Tesla managed to grow deliveries 40% to 1.3 million vehicles, but that figure fell short of its medium-term guidance calling for 50% annual growth. Fourth-quarter deliveries also fell short of the Wall Street consensus by a wide margin. Some analysts have explained that shortfall as a demand problem, but management brushed those concerns aside during the latest earnings call. CEO Elon Musk said the company was receiving orders at nearly twice the rate of production. Better yet, despite encountering a number of roadblocks throughout the year, Tesla reported impressive financial results. Revenu

• The Federal Reserve is expected to increase interest rates by a quarter point Wednesday, even with concerns about stress in the banking system. • The central bank is also expected to release projections about the economy and the path of rate hikes, though some economists say it may have a difficult time making those forecasts due to uncertainty. • Investors are also looking for assurances from the Fed that the issues with regional banks will be contained. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates Wednesday by a quarter point, but it also faces the tough task of reassuring markets it can stem a worse banking crisis. Economists mostly expect the Fed will increase its fed funds target rate range to 4.75% to 5% on Wednesday afternoon, though some expect the central bank could p

Investors remain on edge about potential additional cracks in the U.S. banking system, a day after the biggest American banks injected $30 billion into First Republic. Here’s what investors want to know. First Republic Bank's $30 billion injection from America's biggest banks to help shore up confidence in the California-based lender and the overall U.S. banking system isn't yet a mission accomplished. U.S. stocks continued to slide on Friday, with shares of financials under sharp pressure overall, but with shares of First Republic (FRC) down 33.8%, or 81% on the year so far, according to FactSet. "I think one of the reasons why First Republic is down today has nothing to do with the fact that people are still concerned about if it is going to go under," said Mark Stoeckle, CEO and senior

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Friday after Wall Street reversed losses on signals of a measured policy tightening approach from the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as on prospects of a solid economic recovery in China. Global markets have been buffeted by a raft of strong U.S. data over recent weeks, including U.S. jobless claims overnight, that suggested the Fed will need to raise rate further and for longer. But investors breathed a sigh of relief after Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said he favoured "slow and steady" quarter-point U.S. rate increases to limit risk to the economy. Markets are also watching out for China's annual meeting of parliament, which kicks off on Sunday, to set economic targets and elect new top economic officials. Emerging signs of a s

Alibaba reported solid third-quarter results and could not only beat revenue and EPS estimates but could increase operating income and its bottom line again. And while risks still exist, we should not forget that we are dealing with a great business that has a wide economic moat. Even when being cautious about Alibaba’s margins and growth potential, the stock is still deeply undervalued in my opinion, and one of the great bargains in the current market. Last week, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) reported solid third quarter results and could beat revenue as well as earnings per share. But after a first positive reaction of the stock, we saw a sell-off once again and in the end, the stock is trading for roughly the same price as before. And although Alibaba is trading about 60% ab

Tesla Inc and its Chief Executive Elon Musk were sued on Monday by shareholders who accused them of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles' Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies. In a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, shareholders said Tesla defrauded them over four years with false and misleading statements that concealed how its technologies, suspected as a possible cause of multiple fatal crashes, "created a serious risk of accident and injury." They said Tesla's share price fell several times as the truth became known, including after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the technologies, and reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Musk's Autopilot claims. The s

People encounter artificial intelligence (AI) on a daily basis, whether they realize it or not. AI makes search results and product recommendations more relevant, it allows smart assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa to understand speech, and it corrects spelling and grammar errors in office software and emails. But those use cases only scratch the surface. AI has the potential to disrupt virtually every industry, and it will likely be the most transformative technology in human history. For that reason, Cathie Wood's Ark Invest believes AI software could generate $14 trillion in annual revenue by 2030. Here are two growth stocks that could benefit from that trend. Upstart: AI-powered risk assessment for lenders The FICO score is the gold standard for assessing credit risk in the

Ark Innovation ETF has slumped 38% over the past year and 75% from its February 2021 peak. Famed money manager Cathie Wood, chief executive of Ark Investment Management, sold some of her stock-in-trade names and bought another one Tuesday. ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) - Get Free Report purchased 72,848 shares of semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) - Get Free Report. The stash was valued at $5.6 million as of Tuesday’s close. AMD has slipped 34% over the past year amid the descent by chip stocks. But it has rebounded along with the entire sector this year, moving up 18%. On the sell side, Ark funds dumped 33,704 shares of streaming platform Roku (ROKU) - Get Free Report, valued at $2.2 million as of Tuesday’s close. The stock has slid 41% over the past year amid inte

The company is the subject of a case that was heard by the Supreme Court that day. A family alleges that Alphabet's YouTube was responsible for pushing terrorist content out to users, a factor that contributed to their daughter's death.It's never a good day when your investment goes before the highest court in the land. What happened On Tuesday, Alphabet (GOOG -2.69%) (GOOGL -2.71%) investors could be forgiven for thinking they had vaulted backwards in time to the long tech bear market of 2022. Their company's share price dove by 2.6% on the day, a worse showing than the 1.9% drop of the S&P 500 index. Alphabet's core business unit was in the spotlight and not in a positive way. So what That day, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Gonzalez vs. Google, a case concerning Alphabet'

Low profits are driving it into the high-end segment but it faces curbs overseas. GUANGZHOU: Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD is expanding operations overseas, setting a unit sales target for 2023 with an eye toward overtaking American rival Tesla. Operating in more than 40 nations including Japan and countries in Southeast Asia and Europe, BYD plans to sell nearly two million EVs this year. “Our dream will come true as a result of research and development efforts over 20 years. We will change the global industrial structure for luxury cars,” said Wang Chuanfu, founder and chairman of BYD, at an online unveiling of its luxury Yangwang brand on Jan 5. Offering a luxury EV has been a goal of BYD for years after first entering the automobile market in 2003. BYD is set to release the Yangwan

Inflation surged in January by the most in three months, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. But despite the monthly increase of 0.5%, inflation continued to slow on a year-over-year basis to 6.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from December’s 6.5% but higher than economists’ projections of 6.2%, according to Refinitiv. It’s the seventh consecutive month that annual inflation has declined. There were no major Valentine’s Day surprises for the latest read on inflation. “It doesn’t necessarily change the trend,” said Erik Lundh, principal economist at the Conference Board. “It’s a bumpy road to go from where we were to where we want to go.” Monthly prices were largely pushed up by shelter costs, which accounted for nearly h

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point and gave little indication it is nearing the end of this hiking cycle. Aligning with market expectations, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee boosted the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage point. That takes it to a target range of 4.5%-4.75%, the highest since October 2007. The move marked the eighth increase in a process that began in March 2022. By itself, the funds rate sets what banks charge each other for overnight borrowing, but it also spills through to many consumer debt products. The Fed is targeting the hikes to bring down inflation that, despite recent signs of slowing, is still running near its highest level since the early 1980s. The post-meeting statement noted that