Author: Cattolica Investment Club

Nov 18th, 2023 - OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman will step down and be temporarily replaced by Mira Murati due to concerns about his lack of transparency with the board, which has expressed a loss of confidence in his leadership. With the acknowledgment of the change Greg Brockman resigned as chairman but confirmed his role in the company, reporting to the CEO. Despite OpenAI's recent success with ChatGPT and its significant funding from Microsoft, Altman's exit led to Microsoft's shares declining. The market reaction reflected concerns or uncertainties about the future of the partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI under new leadership. It is important to note, however, that stock market reactions are often volatile and influenced by a variety of factors. Market fluctuations following leadership changes may not always represent a…

Nov 17th, 2023 - It was a positive day for the US stock market: Nasdaq closed at 15837.99 (+0,03%), S&P 500 at 4514,02 (+0,13%) and Dow Jones at 34947,28 (+0,0052%). One of the biggest news today is that union workers at General Motors (GM) have agreed to the deal proposed by the United Auto Workers (UAW), according to results posted by the union, by a fine margin (54.7% yes). The deal was about the strike of GM workers that started in September after unsuccessful negotiations with the company for the contract renewal. Workers demanded higher salaries and improvements to working conditions. The final days were contentious, with several major plants refusing the contracts. This strike will now cease, providing GM stability and a chance to recover its prior production levels.…

Nov 16th, 2023 - Many stocks fell today after prospects of sales didn’t meet expectations, however some grew after good quarters results, with the S&P closing at 4.508,24 points (+0,12%), the NASDAQ at 14.113,67 (+0,07%) and lastly Dow Jones a decreasing at 39.945,47 (-0,13%). Portfolio holding Palo Alto Networks (PANW) (0.2 units @ $245.03) dropped 6% after hours following the announcement of a billing climb of 16% instead of the expected 18%, despite surpassing expectations on earnings and closing at -5,42%.(R.Krause) Burberry (BRBY) sank almost 10%, making its biggest one-day percentage loss since September 2022, after the announcement that it will struggle to meet its revenue target as it is being hit by global slowdown in luxury spending. It was down -11,15% at close. (S.Shankar) Portfolio holding Novo Nordisk (NVO)…

Nov 15th, 2023 - Stocks started with an increase to Wednesday, S&P 500 with 0.3%, Nasdaq with 0.2%, and Dow Jones with 0.6%. The day following a favorable consumer price index report, which increased investor's expectations on FED being done, raising rates were supported by Today’s data on the producer price index, which showed a decrease of 0.5%  in October, contrasting with the expected 0.1% increase. 
       Of the 11 S&P sectors, eight were in positive territory, led by Materials and Energy. Utilities, Consumer Discretionary, and Health Care were the three losers. Wall Street is also closely monitoring developments in Washington, where lawmakers are working to prevent a government shutdown. The next step is for the Senate to vote on the measure.  Last month, mortgage rates reached a more than two-decade high, but started to dip earlier this month. Mortgage rate demands climbed to the highest…

Nov 14th, 2023 - Today, among the top-performing companies on FTSE MIB there was Diasorin, one of the  main Italian corporations that operate in the biotechnological sector. In fact, stock price closed  at 91€, with an increase of 6.88% from the starting level after a relevant news regarding its  management was released to the public: Diasorin CEO Carlo Rosa was found not guilty after he was accused of committing insider trading during the 2020 Covid lockdown in Italy,  favoring a small group of investors.  October was not one of the best performing months for Airbnb, considering its legal troubles  in Italy due to tax evasion with a consequent fine of 779 million euros imposed by Italian  authorities. But now things seem to have changed. In fact, while the company announced…

Nov 13th, 2023 - Stocks moved lower at the beginning of the day, following a US outlook downgrade by Moody’s, from stable to negative (Mercado). The broad market index (S&P 500) slipped 0.08%, the Nasdaq also ended the day 0.22% lower, however the Dow Jones rose 0.16%. Portfolio holding Nvidia (NVDA) (0.215 units @ $467.57) added 0.59$ after it announced its most recent AI chip. The H200 chip, twice as fast as the previously unveiled H100. This is the chip that a lot of firms have been waiting on to further improve their own artificial intelligence, so this rise in share price could have been forecasted. Boeing shares (BE) climbed 4.01% following an announcement from Emirates Airlines, stating they were going ahead with a $52 billion order for 95 Boeing…

Nov 12th, 2023 - Oracle (ORCL,0.4 units) and Microsoft (MSFT) have entered into a multi-year agreement to enhance artificialintelligence (AI) services. Microsoft is leveraging Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) alongside Microsoft Azureinfrastructure for AI model inference, powering Bing's everyday conversational searches.. This collaborationenables Oracle to empower new global experiences, improving access and speed for Bing's search resultsthrough the combined use of both AI infrastructures.Novo Nordisk (NVO, 1 unit) announced the primary results of SELECT, its landmark cardiovascular outcomes trialinvestigating the effects of once weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg in adults with established cardiovascular andoverweight disease. The trial shows a groundbreaking 20% reduction in cardiovascular events over five years inoverweight adults reducing risks of heart-related events and mortality. Novo Nordisk aims for label updates in theUS and EU, with an expected 2024 decision…

Nov 11th, 2023 - This week AstraZeneca has entered into the obesity drug market by acquiring ECC5004, an experimental weight-loss pill, sparking competition with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Although AstraZeneca's move initially impacted Eli Lilly's stock negatively, the company maintains a first- mover advantage with a more sophisticated obesity pill in development. The GLP-1 drug market, known for blood sugar control and weight loss, is lucrative, and Eli Lilly's robust pipeline, including orforglipron, is highlighted. Analysts frame the competition between Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk as a "market-creation" dynamic, possibly leading to a structural duopoly in the obesity drug market. Eli Lilly's confidence in treating Alzheimer's further enhances its positive outlook. Investors may experience short-term fluctuations in both companies' stocks due to increased competition, but long-term prospects hinge on…

Nov 10th, 2023 - Groupon shares tumbled 39.5%, a day after the company posted their third-quarter results that were not matching with analysts’ expectations. The company’s CEO also admitted that the business continues to be challenged, but he also added that he is pleased that there is an improvement in the financial performance of Groupon.   Plug Power shares lost more than 40% of their value today after third-quarter results missed analysts’ estimates. The hydrogen fuel cell developer issued a going concern notice about its potential inability to fund operations over the next year. The main reasons behind this collapse are significant difficulties for the company to the accessibility of hydrogen. Due to these factors, JPMorgan downgraded Plug Power price target.  Synaptics gained 13.7% after beating analysts’ expectations in its third-quarter…

Nov 9th, 2023 - Shares rose again today, following a stabilization in Treasury Yields. The Dow Jones climbed 1.15%, the S&P 500 instead climbed 1.56%. The tech heavy NASDAQ however added 2.05%, giving it its best day since May. Groupon shares tumbled 34.82%, a day after the company posted their third-quarter results, which didn’t match analysts’ expectations. The company’s CEO also admitted that the business continues to be challenged, but he added that he is pleased there is an improvement in the financial performance of Groupon.  Plug Power shares lost more than 40.47% of their value today after third-quarter results missed analysts’ estimates. The hydrogen fuel cell developer issued an ongoing concern notice about its potential inability to fund operations over the next year. The main reason behind this decline…