Despite having lost over 99% of its value over the past year, $Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.(FFIE)$   continues to attempt its dead cat bounces lately, as the traders in the meme stock bet on short-squeezing of the struggling electric vehicle maker and engage in tug-of-war with the fundamentalists. I believe that any recovery in stock prices, at times over 70% intraday fluctuations from trough to peak, is going to be short-lived for a company that is plagued by weak demands and deteriorating balance sheet. In fact, Faraday Future's promise to turnaround the company, attain profitability and defend shareholder value has been fruitless so far, and its sustainability even as a going concern is a big

With an all-important FOMC meeting coming up on 31 Oct - 1Nov, I expect more volatility in the market in the coming days. While most investors are expecting an end to the rate hike cycle, as rising treasury and corporate bond yields are doing much of the heavy lifting for the Fed in reining in mega expansions and investments, some are bracing for another rate increase before the end of this year as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have led to renewed worries over rising fuel prices re-heating up otherwise cooling inflation. Nevertheless, the on-going geopolitical conflicts appear to be giving a lift to $Palantir Technologies Inc.(PLTR)$ , as it has reported growing orders from the defence industry. I’m c

$Walt Disney(DIS)$ will be announcing its previous quarter results after the market closes today. With the reopening of global economies and international borders, Disney may count on the return of visitors by flocks to its theme parks, though at the same time users of its Disney+ streaming platform will also be pampered with increasingly more outdoor entertainment alternatives as COVID-19 restrictions get lifted, leading to earnings pressure on its streaming platform. Furthermore, Disney+ continues to face intense and rising competition from the likes of the incumbent $Netflix(NFLX)$ and aggressive $Amazon

$XPeng Inc.(XPEV)$ and $NIO Inc.(NIO)$ received shots in their arms after posting upbeat August vehicle delivery numbers last Friday, lifting the stock prices of the Chinese electric vehicle duo, while their local peer $Li Auto(LI)$ has risen in chorus as well. The EV industry has heaved a deep sign of relief that EV buyers have not held back their purchases despite concerns over lagging recovery of the Chinese economy and consumer demands. Hopefully, there will be spillover effects on the global EV market, benefiting the likes of

Following $Rivian Automotive, Inc.(RIVN)$ 's and $Li Auto(LI)$ 's earnings releases for their previous quarters, $Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.(FFIE)$ , $XPeng Inc.(XPEV)$ and $NIO Inc.(NIO)$  shall be next in line to report theirs on 14, 15 and 21 November respectively. Despite my optimism on the prospects of electric vehicles amidst tightening emissions controls by many developing and develop

$Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.(FFIE)$  just announced that it has entered into an At-the-Market equity offering sales agreement under which the electric vehicle startup may, from time to time, offer and sell shares of its Class A common stock up to an aggregate value of $90.0 million. The news sent its shares tumbling more than 65% last week over the potential massive dilution. The company is now at a pivotal time as it focuses on ramping up its FF91 production and initial FF91 2.0 deliveries, while it struggles for survival amidst its financial distress. With deteriorating fundamentals and the stock overhang from impending massive dilution, it remains to be seen whether the company can be rescued by

First fall in China's annual exports in 7 years has found casualties across the broad market, but especially the Chinese EV startup trio $NIO Inc.(NIO)$ , $XPeng Inc.(XPEV)$ and $Li Auto(LI)$ , that are also encountering slowing EV demands in the domestic market. Likewise, $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ , which counts China among its major export markets, is also feeling the heat. Prevailing price war in the EV industry to increase share of the stagnant market does little to help the fledgling EV

As we approach the final two weeks of this year's trading, bid farewell to 2023 and look forward to a prosperous 2024, hopefully the tech bull run will complete the last 2 laps of 2023 and continue its relentless charge in 2024! This has so far been an eventful year for $Sea Ltd(SE)$ as it revamps itself to regain its past glory amidst rising competition not least from the latest partnership between TikTok Shop and Tokopedia in Indonesia, challenging Sea's leadership position in the largest market in Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, the CEO has announced his confidence that Sea will post its first profitable year since its listing on NYSE. Hopefully, the company's pivot to focus on profitability will pay off and reward it

With interest rates expected to stay higher for longer until inflation exhibits signs of sustainable cooling to the Fed's long-term target of 2%, borrowing costs are poised to remain prohibitively high, especially for startups of Tesla-wannabes the likes of Xpeng, Li Auto, Nio, Rivian and Faraday Future that are still burning hoards of cash to support huge investments in their electric vehicle ventures and EV technology developments. Nevertheless, I remain cautiously optimistic of the long-term prospects of the EV market amid growing awareness of global climate change, increasingly tightening of emission controls and soaring fuel prices on the back of escalating geopolitical conflicts, and I believe that the EV market is going to overtake the market for conventional vehicles in a decade o

Emerging from a crypto winter following the collapses and bankruptcies of multiple cryptocurrency platforms barely more than a year ago, cryptocurrencies are now coming back with bitcoin charging fast and furious past $60,000 this week, and approaching its all-time-high record set in late 2021, as the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is buoyed by market optimism spurred by the launches of several spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds that have enabled wider participation by retail investors and higher volumes in bitcoin trading. In fact, bitcoin has recently re-joined the trillion dollar club and its market cap of bitcoin is already surpassing that of Meta Platforms. I expect that hopes of a pivot by the Fed to ease the prevailing restrictive monetary policies this year and the

$NIO Inc.(NIO)$ has just been given a vote of confidence after it received a $2.2 billion strategic equity investment by CYVN, an investment vehicle based in Abu Dhabi. This follows a series of strategic partnerships and reforms that have been announced by the Chinese electric vehicle startup trio that includes $XPeng Inc.(XPEV)$ and $Li Auto(LI)$ , besides Nio. However, these measures could not mask the softening domestic demands for EV in their local and largest market, that is also not helped by the prevailing price war that has resulted in narrowing profit margins for al

With rising awareness of global climate change, heightened pump prices and tightening emission controls in many countries, the trend of transition from conventional vehicles to EV appears to be irresistible. At the same time, the EV market is increasingly competitive, and with limited product lineups for choices, pricing has become the main tool to increase market share. As more electric car makers engage in price war to defend their market shares, it erodes the profit margin for every car maker. Elon Musk's warning that $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$  is almost reaching its "natural limit of cost down" is probably reflective of the overall industry too and cannot be more true that EV makers will have to innovate and diff

As the clock ticks down on the upcoming FOMC review, the market is increasingly pricing in an eventual end to the prevailing monetary tightening cycle to rein in record inflation not seen in decades, although some investors may be bracing for another surprise hike as escalating geopolitical conflicts have led to soaring crude oil prices, that are threatening to derail the otherwise inflation cooling trend. With expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates and prevailing rout in the bond market that has sent yields to breaking heights recently, high borrowing costs are likely to weigh on high-growth technology stocks. $Sea Ltd(SE)$ and $Grab Holdings(GRAB)$&

Foreign direct investment has been net outflow in China as overseas investors withdrew $11.8 billion out of the country between last July and September, after business confidence was shaken by deflation and weak demands as the Chinese economy struggles to regain footing in the aftermath of the zero-Covid policies. Recovery was not helped by subsequent repeated crackdowns on its technology sector and a deepening debt crisis that has plagued the property scene in the country. Fundamental investors were not rewarded for their beliefs of deep valuations of the Chinese stocks, as the cheaps became cheaper. So drastic has been the retreat of foreign investors that the Chinese government has recently been seen contemplating measures to stabilise the market. The market has heaved a sigh of relief

As the market braces for the decision by the FOMC in the coming days for reiteration of its higher-for-longer interest rate monetary policy to further cool inflation towards its long-term target of 2%, investors will also be closely watching the latest quarterly earnings and outlook on 2 November by Apple, the bellwether of US technology sector, for signs of the health the overall economy, as demand slowdown after successive rate hikes threatens to tip the world's largest economy into a recession. With mixed earnings announced by other big techs, neither the bulls nor the bears are calling the shots on Apple's earnings. With lacklustre demands for its latest product launches, such as latest iphone 15, rumored restrictions of use in the public sector of its largest market in China, rising c

ASML and $Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSM)$ are scheduled to post their latest quarterly earnings results on 18 & 19 October respectively. Both semiconductor companies are leaders in their respective fields. ASML is the only lithography equipment manufacturer capable of producing Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) scanners that indispensable for the most advanced semiconductor technologies with the smallest geometric features that power advanced microchips in the latest mobile phones and other electronic devices. On the other hand, TSMC is the leading semiconductor foundry offering manufacturing as a services to hundreds of semiconductor design companies, including $A

While $Palantir Technologies Inc.(PLTR)$  and $C3.ai, Inc.(AI)$   may not be as well-known as NVidia and Microsoft, I like the duo for carving out their niches in the big data analytics and enterprise AI spaces. Among the first movers in rolling out AI solutions, Palantir and C3.ai are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demands for AI applications. In fact, known for its close collaborations with the US government, over the last couple of years the company has made a deliberate effort to expand beyond the public sector, and indeed the strategy is paying off as Palantir has been enjoying impressive growth in the priva

With the next Fed review on monetary policy round the corner next week, volatility has returned to the stock market which gave up earlier gains in the week to end the week lower yesterday. Despite some encouraging signs emerging of cooling prices, inflation has remained sticky amidst a robust labor market and is not helped by recent rebound of crude oil prices as the OPEC+ slashes production, citing global demand slowdown. With inflation rate still well above the Fed’s long-term target of 2%, though a hard-landing of the economy appears unlikely with still strong job data, the risk of stagflation is becoming more real, and the Fed is between a rock and a hard place on its next monetary policy. I expect the Fed to stay put on interest rate, while watching for more economic data and the infl

With the United Auto Workers’ strikes threatening to shut down production lines of major conventional car makers, if its demand for wage increases as high as 40 percent is not met, no signs of a deal closure are in sight yet despite negotiations progressing in earnest, a clear beneficiary is the electric vehicle industry which has resisted unionisation. The brewing storm for the incumbents may hence be good news for electric vehicle startups the like of $Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.(FFIE)$ and $Rivian Automotive, Inc.(RIVN)$ that are in need of any catalyst to bolster their weakening fundamentals. A clear winner would be <

$Sea Ltd(SE)$  gained more than 17% last week since Indonesia first announced rules that took immediate effect to prohibit social commerce companies from facilitating direct e-commerce payments on their platforms. This has dealt a major blow to Sea’s greatest competitor TikTok Shop in Indonesia, where it is the social media’s largest market for its e-commerce feature. TikTok is required to segregate its e-commerce feature from its popular video-scrolling service, non-compliance of which will risk being barred from business in the country. TikTok Shop has been fast growing popularity among a young, flourishing fan base in Indonesia that is Southeast Asia’s biggest e-commerce market, and has been posing increasingly