Category: Portfolio Management

Nov 23rd, 2023 - Today the New York Stock Exchange is closed, as it is Thanksgiving Optimism towards Black Friday, happening this week, is decreasing as retailers cast doubt on holiday spending. Many companies reduced their outlooks or forecast after dynamics of a slowdown in spending came to light. There’s a widespread sense of uncertainty in consumer spending, after months of persistent inflation, which cast an overwhelming feeling of volatility and lack of confidence in consumer markets. This comes around just at the beginning of holiday spending, which in the last years saw an incredible growth following expansionary fiscal and monetary policies. (G.Fonrouge)In the last couple of days the drama surrounding OpenAI and the departure and return of Sam Altan have been in the headlines of all news’ outlets. This…

Nov 22nd, 2023 - On Wednesday, Dow Jones gained 0.53%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.41%. Nasdaq composite increased by 0.46%. Yield rates fell to the lowest level since September! On Wednesday morning, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.369%. Later on, it bounced back and was last trading at 4.433%. The investors remained optimistic about FED not raising the interest rates in December. However, the FED indicated that they are decisive on keeping the restrictive monetary policy, which means that a rate cut is not expected any time soon.  One of our Portfolio holdings, NVIDIA (NVDA) (0.215 @467.57) reported their quarterly earnings which beat Wall Street’s expectations. They announced $4.02 earnings per share compared to expected $3.37. They also topped revenue expectations with  $18.12 billion announced vs $16.18…

Nov 21st, 2023 - One of the main news related to the US defense sector today is the 27 million dollars  contract, signed by the joint venture Bell-Boeing (TXT/BA), according to which the two  companies will provide platform engineering assistance during the development of the V-22  aircraft in Texas and Pennsylvania. Thanks to this important agreement, Boeing’s stock price  rose by 1.05% tuesday. A 3.6% growth was recorded by Metallic Minerals Corp. (MMG) shares. This change in price was mainly due to an important project carried out by the company: acquiring the Khoemacau copper mine and its previous owners, Cuprous Capital Ltd., for a total of $2 bln This investment is coherent with the increasing importance that MMG, whose main shareholder is China Minmetals, is giving to copper's future world…

Nov 20th, 2023 - The world of artificial intelligence looks very different today, indeed, after the extraordinary upheaval at OpenAI of the weekend, Microsoft (MSFT), the OpenAI’s biggest investor, announced on Sunday night that it would have hired Mr. Altman, the former CEO of the AI giant, to run a new advanced research lab. Microsoft late-night announcement restored its stock price, which had dropped after Friday’s news: Altman’s hiring can be considered as a major win for Microsoft and should lead to further gains for stock. The massive shakeup of the weekend affected Nvidia (NVDA)(0.215 units @ $462.20) as well since OpenAI and Microsoft are both big buyers of Nvidia’s GPUs but the company continues showing strength with a further accomplishment: it will keep selling their chips to the Chinese…

Nov 19th, 2023 - Sam Altman this morning unexpectedly published on twitter: “I am so back.” Hinting at a possible return, following the news that a day after OpenAI’s board of directors fired him, in a shock development, Investors in OpenAI are considering a countercoup to reinstate the former CEO. Venture capital firms, in collaboration with Microsoft (MSFT) and OpenAI employees, are exploring strategies such as a mass revolt by senior researchers, withholding cloud computing credits, and potential lawsuits to pressure the current management.   The Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation might not be over, despite market optimism. Susan Collins, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, expressed caution in an interview with CNBC, diverging from traders who anticipate a reduction in the benchmark interest rate. Collins stressed the need…

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…