To The Moon

TIGER WEEKLY

Inflation in the spotlight for investors in the week ahead

Tuesday, 12 Mar. 2024

LAST WEEK'S RECAP

1. The US Market - Three major indexes closed the choppy week lower

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq briefly hit intraday record highs but started to lose steam late morning. Nvidia shed $128 billion in market cap on Friday, erasing gains it had notched earlier in the session. The AI darling finished down more than 5% in its worst session since late May.

All three major indexes finished the choppy week lower. The Dow posted its worst weekly performance since October, as Apple was down nearly 5% over the week, making it the worst performer in the 30-stock Dow.

Fed chief Jerome Powell had few surprises in his congressional testimony, continuing to make the case that there's no reason to rush rate cuts. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 275,000 in February, above forecasts, but sharp downside revisions from the prior two months more than offset that.

Bitcoin topped $70,000 briefly on Friday extending a massive run over the past few weeks. Gold have also stolen investor attention, with the precious metal scaling a new record of over $2,100.

2. The US Sectors & Stocks - TSLA lost nearly 30% YTD

The semiconductor index ETF (SMH) closed the week higher of 2.02% after touching an intraday record high on Friday. Despite the turbulent, Nvidia (NVDA) still finished up more than 6% over th

Apple (AAPL) was down nearly 5%,with shares down around 11% in 2024.

Tesla (TSLA) was a big loser, with its stock suffered 13.5% for the week, hitting a fresh 10-month low. Tesla delivered 60,365 vehicles from its China factory in February, marking a 19% year-on-year decrease, reported China’s Passenger Car Association (CPCA). Morgan Stanley slashed earnings estimates, saying Tesla could "potentially" lose money this year. The shares lost nearly 30% since 2024.

Broadcom (AVGO) handily beat expectations for its fiscal first quarter. But the stock finished 6.5% lower after the chipmaker kept its fiscal-year sales guidance unchanged at about $50 billion.

Marvell Technology (MRVL) delivered in-line results for its fiscal fourth quarter but guided well below estimates for the current period. MRVL was down 2.82% for the week.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) soared 7.12% on new obesity trial data. Its weight-loss pill, amycretin, lost more than 13% of their body weight over 12 weeks in a phase one trial.

Coinbase (COIN) skyrocketed around 25% again amid growing optimism for the cryptocurrency exchange's trading volume, BlackRock filed with the SEC to add bitcoin exposure to its $17.83 billion Global Allocation Fund, including its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF.

Marathon Digital (MARA) fell more than 11% for the week. The bitcoin miner on Tuesday reported it produced 833 bitcoin in February, up 22% from the prior year but down 23% from January. Marathon faces maintenance issues at two of its major facilities.

Costco (COST) reported its fiscal second-quarter revenue of $58.44 billion rose 5.7% from a year earlier but fell short of forecasts of $59.11 billion. Shares of the big-box retailer rose to a record high of $787 on Thursday, then the stock fell 7.6% after earnings.

Target (TGT) reported its earnings easily beat views, reversing two quarters of declines. However, the discounter's fiscal 2025 slightly below consensus. The shares still were up 9.29% over the week.

Palantir (PLTR) won a new, $178 million U.S. Army contract for project TITAN, a battlefield system using artificial intelligence. Shares of the data analytics software maker jumped 4.45%.

Eli Lilly (LLY) closed down 2.3% after the company said the Food and Drug Administration said the Food and Drug administration has delayed its decision on whether to approve the company’s Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab.

3. Singapore Market - STI slightly gained

Singapore stocks tracked regional gains to end the week higher. The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.36% the week after experiencing fluctuations.

Singapore defended its strategy of offering incentives to secure Taylor Swift’s exclusive concerts in Southeast Asia, saying the economic benefits of doing so outweigh any cost the city-state incurred in the process and that it was ultimately her choice where she wants to perform.

Sea Limited on Monday posted its first profitable year amid efforts to defend market share. Forrest Li, chairman and CEO of Sea, said the firm expects 2024 to be a profitable year as well.

Singapore ride-hailing firm Ryde to debut on NYSE to join a growing number of Singapore-based companies listed on the US stock market. The start-up is raising US$12 million from its initial public offering (IPO) through the sale of three million ordinary shares priced at USS$4 apiece, the company announced on Mar 6.

Singapore's Temasek Holdings is in discussions to invest in Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence company OpenAI, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

4. Hong Kong Market - HSI declined as geopolitical concerns

Hong Kong stocks slipped as investors worried about geopolitical concerns after a US Senate committee advanced a bill targeting Chinese biotech companies. The Hang Seng Index declined 1.4% to close at 16,353.39.

China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), opened its annual meeting last week. Premier Li Qiang set a GDP target of 5% and a consumer price increase target of 3%.

Wuxi Biologics (2269. HK) and Wuxi AppTec (2359. HK) tumbled, rattled by the progress of a U.S. bill targeted at blocking Chinese biotech firms from federal deals. The two were the top drags on the Hang Seng index. The U.S. Senate's homeland security committee on Wednesday approved a bill intended to block federal business with Chinese biotech firms.

Hong Kong's property market immediately celebrated the removal of decade-long curbs with a jump in transactions, property agents said, as authorities made a concerted bid to boost the city's depressed real estate market.

JD.com (9618. HK)jumped after the e-commerce company reported a better-than-viewed earnings and it announced a US$3 billion buy-back plan.

THE WEEK AHEAD

1. Macro Factors - CPI and PPI in mind

On Tuesday, the inflation reports will give investors a clearer picture of the interest rate outlook ahead of this February’s consumer inflation to consensus estimate is for a 3.1% year-over-year increase in the CPI read, matching the January figure. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 3.7%. The annual change in the core CPI is at its lowest level since May of 2021.

The February producer price index (PPI) , due out Thursday, could hurt equities if the reports come out hotter than expected. Expectations are for the PPI to increase 1.2% year over year, while the core PPI is seen rising 1.9%. This compares with gains of 0.9% and 2%, respectively, in January.

This Friday is the first triple witching day of the year, which can create a spike in trading volume and volatility, when the expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options all fall on the same day.