17Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Fed holds rates again, market surges and broadcom shines

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 17th, 2023 - In a resolute move, the Federal Reserve has maintained its interest rates for the third consecutive meeting, with Chairman Jerome Powell indicating that the benchmark rate is likely peaking for this tightening cycle. Presently, the rates stand at their highest since 2001, fluctuating between 5.25% and 5.50%. Powell anticipates a shift in 2024, hinting at three potential rate cuts, with more expected in 2025 and 2026. This announcement was well-taken by the US stock indices, marking their seventh consecutive week of gains. The S&P 500 closed at its highest since January 2022, Dow Jones has reached for the first time the milestone of 37000, and NASDAQ was nearly 8% away from its all-time high. After the FED’s meeting, interest rate sensitive indices outperformed the S&P 500.…
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16Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments
AI’s Impact on Employment: Evolving Work Dynamics and Human-Centered Approaches

AI’s Impact on Employment: Evolving Work Dynamics and Human-Centered Approaches

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 16th, 2023 - Recent statistics suggest a surge in AI-driven layoffs, with 37% of surveyed businesses reporting AI replacing workers in 2023 and 44% projecting future job cuts due to AI efficiency in 2024. However, this article aims to explore beyond headline figures, acknowledging discrepancies in technological adoption among businesses and underscoring the transformative potential of AI in reshaping job roles and organizational structures. Experts suggested avoiding direct alarmist interpretations of these statistics. Julia Toothacre from ResumeBuilder highlights the disparity in technology adoption among businesses, noting that smaller and traditional enterprises might not fully embrace AI. Moreover, insights from Alex Hood at Asana underscore the considerable amount of time spent on non-core work activities, suggesting that AI's capacity to streamline such tasks could lead to productivity enhancements. The concept…
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15Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

S&P 500 LOSES GROUND AND INTEL LAUNCHES A NEW GENERATIVE AI CHIP: GAUDI3

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 15th, 2023 - Friday’s indices performances: Nasdaq closed at 14813.92 (+0.35%), S&P 500 at 4719.19 (-0.007%) and Dow Jones at 37305.16 (+0.15%).  Intel (46.16, +2.17%) unveiled its new computer chips on Thursday, including Gaudi3, a chip for Generative AI software. Intel will launch Gaudi3 next year and it will compete with NVIDIA’s and AMD’s chipset and Intel is hoping with this new product to gain an important market share in the Generative AI sector, that for now has been dominated by NVIDIA.  Colgate-Palmolive’s rating has been upgraded by Bank of America to buy from neutral, and its target price increased from $75 to $90. To motivate their choice, analysts said: “In our view, CL holds potential to grow above its long-term targets over the next 12 months, which should…
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14Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Stocks rise as investors brace for peak season

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 14th, 2023 - The Dow Jones closed higher on Thursday at 54.23 with a growth of 0.43%. The S&P also grew, closing at 4,719.55 adding 0,26%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.19% to 14,761.56. GM’s stock (GM) jumped 5% after the announcement that Cruise is laying off 900 employees, about 24% of its workforce. The layoff consists mostly of commercial operations and related corporate functions. It comes as a consequence of the October 2nd accident, when a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise self-driving car after being hit by another vehicle. The layoff came just one day after the Cruise dismissed nine “key leaders” and will resize the company from the 3800 employees it had before Thursday’s cut. The stock closed the day at 36.25 with a growth…
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13Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Indices jump on dovish statements from the Fed

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 13th, 2023 - On Wednesday, the Dow Jones increased by 1.4%, closing at 370,090.24. The S&P 500 increased by 1.37%, closing at 4,707.09. Also, the Nasdaq had an increase of 1.38%, closing at 14,733.96. All of them hit their 52-week highs. The Federal Reserve held the rates steady as expected. For the first time, the Fed admitted that inflation has eased over the past year and they also signaled upcoming rate cuts for 2024. Fed officials see core inflation falling to 3.2% in 2023 and 2.4% in 2024. The producer price index (which measures inflation before it reaches consumers), reported by the Labor Department, didn’t change from October to November. Tesla (TSLA) has announced that they are recalling 2 million of their vehicles in the US after a risk…
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12Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Oracle’s negative results worry analysts, while Hasbro Job Cuts lead to a decrease in its stock price, whilst Google’s power is in danger

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 12th, 2023 - Today’s market performance of portfolio holding Oracle (ORCL) (0.4 units @111.10) was characterized by a huge sell-off, which caused a remarkable percentage decrease in the stock  price of -12.44%. This was mainly due to the negative reaction investors had in regards to Oracle’s results for the second quarter of its current fiscal year. Not only did sales for the period largely miss the target set by analysts by around $110 million, but revenue from key sectors like cloud services and license support also rose only by 12%, compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year. The latter is a very important factor to consider, taking into account that market operators are worried that Oracle will not be able to continue competing with the main…
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11Dec 2023 by Cattolica Investment Club No Comments

Macy’s shares surge after acquisition bid of $5.8 Billion

Daily in Portfolio Management
Dec 11th, 2023 - The real-estate investment firm “Arkhouse Management” and the asset manager “Brigade Capital Management” have jointly proposed a $5.8 billion acquisition of Macy’s; neither the two key investors nor Macy’s have publicly commented yet, the news comes from the Wall Street Journal, which reported it first. The offer, valuing Macy’s shares at $21 per share, represents a premium over the closing price of just $17 a share on Friday, although the stock had seen a significant decline, around 17%, from the beginning of 2023. The well known American department store chain is facing many challenges in competing with online retailers: Macy’s has made several efforts to revitalize its brick-and-mortar stores, including opening 30 new stores on strip mall locations, but hasn’t been able to take on e-commerce…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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