09Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments
AI regulations get approved, as Oracle gains traction

AI regulations get approved, as Oracle gains traction

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 9th, 2023 - EU Approves Regulations for Artificial Intelligence The European Union recently agreed on comprehensive regulations to oversee the realm of artificial intelligence (AI).During the discussions among key EU institutions, considerable focus was placed on technologies like ChatGPT, and the use of biometric identification tools such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. Differing viewpoints emerged among countries like Germany, France, and Italy. These nations advocated for a more indirect approach, preferring self-regulation by the responsible companies, although guided by government-introduced codes of conduct. Their concern primarily centered on the potential negative impact of stringent regulations on Europe's competitiveness in the global tech landscape. This legislation categorizes AI into varying risk levels, ranging from "unacceptable" technologies that warrant prohibition to lower-risk classifications. These AI tools amazed everyone, however, the…
Read More
08Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments
What is risk: How is financial risk evaluated

What is risk: How is financial risk evaluated

Educational in Portfolio Management
Risk is one of the main features that characterizes the entire financial world, and it heavily influences the type of security that investors will invest into as well as the particular kind of strategy they will follow while doing it. With respect to this last concept, it is important to know that risk is strongly correlated with the return on an investment. In fact, the potential return on a particular investment increases as the risk that affects that operation grows. This also means that, in the worst case scenario, the potential loss will be considerably higher. The standard deviation is the main measure of risk used when examining a particular type of instrument. When the standard deviation value for the security is very high, the corresponding volatility level of the…
Read More
08Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

A positive Friday on Wall Street while the CMA keeps an eyes on Microsoft and OpenAI

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 8th, 2023 - Friday’s indices performances: Nasdaq closed at 14403.97 (+0.45%), S&P 500 at 4604.37 (+0.41%) and Dow Jones at 36247.87 (+0,36%).  The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is reviewing the multi-billion partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI, examining if it constitutes a merger situation and potential control acquisition. Following this partnership, Microsoft has now a seat in OpenAI’s board, but it is a non-voting position.  The main reason why the CMA has started an investigation is because, as the CMA itself said, there have recently been a number of developments in the governance of OpenAI, some of which involved Microsoft. They are obviously referring to Sam Altman’s firing from OpenAI, subsequent hiring by Microsoft, and subsequent re-employment by OpenAI. This move seems like an operation guided by Microsoft…
Read More
08Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Stocks end losing streak, with AI giants reaping rewards from new products

Daily in Portfolio Management
Stocks grew this Thursday, allowing the Dow Jones and S&P 500 to break three-day losing streaks. The Dow Jones closed at 36.117,38 (+0,17%), the S&P 500 closed at the height of 4.585,89 (+0,80%) and, lastly, Nasdaq grew the most, closing at 14.339,99 (+1,37%). Alphabet (GOOG) (0.8 units @ 133.93) shares jumped 5%, following the announcement of the Gemini AI model, which will compete with products from OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta. The stock is on pace to reach its best day since Aug 29, despite questions on whether the company will monetize the technology. Executives said Gemini outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, but didn’t say how it compares with OpenAI’s latest model GPT-4.  The stock closed with a positive growth of 5.34%.(A.Capoot) Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares rose over 8% after the company…
Read More
07Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Decline continues, as Google and Nvidia make announcements

Daily in Portfolio Management
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones decreased by 70.13 points, marking a 0.19% decline, ending the day at 36,054.43. The S&P 500 experienced a 0.39% decline, closing at 4,549.34, and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.58% to 14,146.71. Job openings decreased by 6.6% to 8.7 million in October, below the estimated 9.4 million, marking the lowest level since March 2021. The data fueled expectations of a loosening in the hot labor market. Due to declines in mortgage rates, the demand for refinancing home loans increased by 14% from the previous week. Portfolio holding, Google (GOOG) (0.8 @ $133.93), announced its largest and most capable AI model, Gemini. The company plans to license this new AI model through Google Cloud for use in their applications. Gemini is considered a rival to OpenAI’s…
Read More
06Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Nio benefits from its earnings reporting, while Moody’s downgrades China and Eli Lilly innovative drug hits weight loss markets.

Daily in Portfolio Management
Nio Inc. (NIO) seized the attention of market operators worldwide after today release of its  Q3 earnings reporting. The main feature of the document was a remarkable decrease in  losses per share, dropping from 0.52$ in the second quarter to 0.37$ at the current exchange  rate between CNY and USD. Also, Q3 LPS were lower than the expected value (0.41$), even  though revenue failed to meet expectations (total reported value of 2.7B$ against 2.72B$  estimated). Thanks to this achievement, investors’ expectations about Nio’s future  profitability improved a lot, with its shares price recording a percentage increase of +1.5% just before 16:00 EST.  Portfolio holding Eli Lilly (LLY) (0.2 units @582.99) has just announced that ZepBound, its  revolutionary weight loss treatment, is finally available at US pharmacies. This represents not  only…
Read More
05Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Stocks of Spotify and Uber jumped after weekend news played out today

Daily in Portfolio Management
Today, Spotify (SPOT) announced a 17% cut to their workforce. The CEO, Daniel Ek, sent an email to its staff, explaining the reasoning for his move: the company wanted to significantly reduce its team size as a “hard but crucial step towards forging a stronger, more efficient Spotify for the future”. Indeed, he said that Spotify was taking a fundamental action to reduce costs, and added that the company took on way too many employees in 2020 and 2021, when capital was cheap and team expansion was an attractive investment. The music streaming service aims at being the world’s leading audio company. In order to pursue this goal it must adopt some specific strategies. Even though Spotify is already a monolith of the music industry, its economic growth has slowed…
Read More
04Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments
Moody’s Rating: A boost for creditworthiness

Moody’s Rating: A boost for creditworthiness

Corporate Finance
Moody’s, Standard & Poor, and Fitch are credit ranking agencies that assesses the creditworthiness of various entities, including countries and banks.  The creditworthiness of an entity, whether this is a bank or a country, refers to its ability to meet financial obligations, particularly with reference to repayment of borrowed money. It can be simplified as an assessment of the l entity’s likelihood of returning the money it owes.  Agencies like Moody’s, Fitch and S&P assess creditworthiness. These evaluate a country’s economic and financial situation, including factors like its GDP, fiscal policies and political stability and mainly government debt. Their credit rating reflects the risk associated with lending money to a country. The higher the credit ranking, the lower the risk of default. This makes it more likely that the country…
Read More
03Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Paramount and Apple: Potential Collaboration, Google Targets Microsoft, and Robinhood Debuts in the UK

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 3rd, 2023 - The stock of Paramount Global (PARA) experienced a 9% increase, while Apple (AAPL) (0.6 units @ 183.96) shares rose by 0.7% after reports emerged of discussions between the two companies regarding a potential collaboration in bundling their streaming services. The Wall Street Journal revealed that the talks involve creating a combined offering of Paramount+ and Apple TV+ at a lower cost than subscribing to them separately. The negotiations are still in the early stages, and the specific details of the potential deal are unclear.  Shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) (0.8 units, @133.93) that is as now the world's third-largest technology company by revenue and one of the world's most valuable companies, and shares of Microsoft (MSFT) tumbled after Alphabet’s Google called on European regulators to take Antitrust action against Microsoft for…
Read More
03Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Powell’s Remarks on Interest Rates and Pfizer weight loss pill flop 

Daily in Portfolio Management
Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, recently discussed the topic of interest rates and  inflation, cautioning against premature aggressive rate cuts. He suggested keeping policy restrictive  until there's certainty that inflation is on a clear path back to the 2% target set by the Federal Open  Market Committee (FOMC).  Even though current policy remains restrictive, Powell highlighted a balance between combating  inflation and preventing economic slowdown. His comments had a positive impact on markets, with  stocks climbing on Wall Street and Treasury yields dropping sharply.  The rise of interest rates by the Federal Reserve in response to high inflation significantly influenced economic activity and inflation levels. Powell mentioned that while these policies have had an impact, their effects might not have been fully realized yet.  Market expectations indicate a…
Read More