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☆ Chip stocks tumbled in 2022. How to play the sector in the new year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Semiconductor stocks suffered a series of blows in 2022 as demand for consumer discretionary items fell off a cliff and supply chain disruptions continued. Betting on semiconductor favorites Despite ongoing volatility, some analysts and investors are still betting on once high-flying names in 2023, even though the challenges of 2022 continue. One of those is Advanced Micro Devices, a chip stock commonly connected with PC and server chips that fell hard in 2022. Texas Instruments held up better than the rest of the semiconductor market in 2022, shedding a little more than 12%. Bailey is mostly shying away from former, rapid growth names, with small bets on ASML and Marvell for clients looking for possible higher growth.

☆ The year that brought high-flying Silicon Valley back down to earth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The tech industry, already dominant, only seemed destined to grow even bigger at the start of this year. The spread of the Omicron variant suggested a continued pandemic-fueled demand for digital goods and services, which had buoyed many tech companies. The result was a bloodbath unlike anything the tech industry has seen in the past decade. For years, Silicon Valley has held up its founders as visionaries who can see far into the future. “I do not think venture is cratering, or the tech industry is cratering as an industry.”But for now, at least, there appears to be no end in sight to the pain for Silicon Valley and those who work in it.

☆ Tesla's cratering share price goes beyond Musk's preoccupation with Twitter. The entire EV market is slowing down.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla's share price has been cut in half and a distracted CEO isn't the only issue. The wider EV market is facing a tough mix of challenges. At the time of writing, its share price sits at $126.31, down 60% since the beginning of the year. Tesla's woes are symptomatic of wider issues plaguing the EV market. Tesla's stock market value slid below ExxonMobil this week for the first time since 2020, falling to $435 billion on Tuesday-compared with the oil and gas company's $439 billion market value, according to the Financial Times.

☆ Snap up Tesla shares if Elon Musk's chaotic Twitter takeover drags the stock below $125, a veteran strategist says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's Twitter saga could make Tesla stock a bargain if it falls to $125, a trading strategist said. Tesla has tanked 38% since Musk bought Twitter, which is seen as a distraction for the EV maker's CEO. "It's a momentum name, it was a high valuation, and Musk lost his halo," T3 Trading's Scott Redler said. "I've been trading Tesla for years," the chief strategist told Fox Business. Tesla shares were up 2.48% at $141.22 in premarket trading Wednesday, after closing 8% lower at $137.80 on Tuesday.

Now, as the country rapidly relaxes restrictions, millions of people have been told to keep going to work — even if they’re infected. For three years, its stringent approach has kept Covid cases and deaths relatively low in the country. Covid control workers walk by a closed shop near a community with residents under health monitoring for Covid on December 4 in Beijing. Top leaders at the Central Economic Work Conference, a key annual meeting that ended Friday, said in a statement that stabilizing economic growth was the top priority for 2023. Officials nationwide had worked frantically to contain Covid cases ahead of the highly sensitive twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle, which saw Chinese leader Xi Jinping emerge more powerful than ever into his third term.

☆ Australia's sovereign wealth fund buys gold, commodities as shadow of 1970s looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Lewis Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Australia's A$200 billion ($134.28 billion) sovereign wealth fund is increasing exposure to gold, commodities, private equity and infrastructure as it warns the future will echo the low-growth, high-inflation era of the 1970s. Investors large and small are scrambling to adjust portfolios and philosophies undermined by the simultaneous cratering of equity and bond markets. Investors now faced a world corrosive to asset prices: more war, the risk of capital controls and confiscations, bigger government, and the spectre of higher inflation. In response the Future Fund is implementing six broad sets of changes, including more focus on dynamic asset allocation and liquidity. Traditional approaches have delivered strongly, but it is doubtful they are fit for purpose in the future," it said.

☆ Trump hits 7-year low in new national poll as Biden approval climbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Just 31% of registered voters surveyed hold a favorable view of Trump, versus 59% who have an unfavorable opinion of him, the poll found. That's the lowest rating Trump has received since July 2015, shortly after he launched his first presidential bid, according to Quinnipiac. Trump's declining marks were even worse among independent voters, the poll showed. Majorities of registered-voter respondents told Quinnipiac they would not like to see Trump or Biden as a 2024 presidential nominee. Asked for comment, a source close to Trump noted that a recent Morning Consult poll showed Trump holding court as the frontrunner, backed by 49% of potential GOP primary voters compared with 31% who favored DeSantis.

☆ The hidden upside of tech layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In the midst of a wave of wholesale layoffs, many tech workers are somehow bouncing back stronger than ever. Ayas and her colleagues analyzed the fate of laid-off tech workers by looking at data from Parachute and Layoffs.fyi, both of which compile information provided by out-of-work employees. Today, not only are laid-off tech workers finding jobs quickly, Revelio Labs found, but 52% are actually earning more than they were before. That's not to say that laid-off tech workers will continue to face great job prospects forever. If the layoffs continue, the economy will eventually become oversaturated with tech workers — at which point their job searches will take longer, and more will be forced to accept lower salaries.

☆ Ron DeSantis outflanks Trump on the right with his call for Covid vaccine probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Ron DeSantis was positioning himself to get to the right of the former president over the issue of Covid vaccines. DeSantis, who is mulling whether to challenge Trump in the 2024 Republican primary for president, deepened those suspicions Tuesday. That’s his record,” said Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump and an outspoken critic of DeSantis. The poll also showed DeSantis ahead of President Joe Biden in a theoretical general election matchup by 47%-43%, but Biden topped Trump 47%-40%. “So the only option for DeSantis to pose a challenge to Trump is to attack him on the vaccine.

☆ Link’s M&A chain breaks into pieces Down Under
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MELBOURNE, Dec 8 (Reuters Breakingviews) - It’s hard to feel bad for well-compensated bankers but Link Administration’s (LNK.AX) M&A advisers at Macquarie (MQG.AX) and UBS (UBSG.S) need some Christmas cheer. On Thursday their client pulled the plug on negotiations for a partial takeover by Canada’s Dye & Durham (DND.TO), effectively accusing its suitor of dithering. Macquarie and UBS did manage Link’s sale of a slug of its 43% stake in mortgage-settlement company PEXA (PXA.AX) and may help distribute the remainder to shareholders. If Link offloads its troubled London unit, the slimmed-down company, worth perhaps A$800 million, could yet attract new interest. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ How Big Tech Shakeup, Layoffs Leave Social-Media Creators Scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Brooke Erin Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Meanwhile, laborers who rely on social-media platforms for visibility, reputation burnishing, and income have been left reeling — from journalists and academics to freelancers and adult performers. Last month, a plus-size creator told me how self-censorship becomes a risk-reduction strategy for marginalized creators. As the journalist Paul Gallant argued, queer content creators face a continuous struggle to avoid "the wrath that comes from violating ever-changing and poorly explained terms of service." Even coverage of the influence on social-media creators has been more tuned in to those with the biggest followings. But the real pain from this tug-of-war for the future of social media will be felt by those who have long faced the greatest hurdles: marginalized creators.

☆ Regular people can pay for a day pass to swim in pools at Ritz-Carlton hotels. Here's the pitch deck ResortPass used to raise $26 million from investors like The Points Guy, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jessi
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The company raised $26 million in a Series B round from travel investors and entrepreneurial celebs. Its newly appointed CEO, Michael Wolf, walked Insider through the pitch deck he used to raise cash. "My existing investors had highlighted to me that the funding environment is the most difficult it's been in 20 years," Wolf told Insider. Wolf said hotels had been reaching out to ResortPass to get amenities such as flexible working space added to the app. Wolf walked Insider through the pitch deck he used to help raise the app's recent funding round below.

☆ When the chips go up: Big banks bet on S. Korea, Taiwan stocks for 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Harish Sridharan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Goldman Sachs says South Korean stocks are the bank's top "rebound candidate" for 2023 due to low valuations, made cheaper by a nosediving Korean won, and as companies benefit from an expected recovery in Chinese demand. "We think (Korean stocks) sold off too much in September and August." Morgan Stanley downgraded its view on Indian exposure in October, when it upgraded its recommendation for South Korea. Like South Korea, Taiwan (.TWII) is another heavily-sold and chip-maker dominated market - though tensions with China make some investors a bit less enthusiastic. Meanwhile, Taiwan and South Korea are both geopolitical flashpoints - but analysts argue at least some of that is already in the price.

☆ This indicator is offering a hopeful signal for global markets, despite turmoil in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

This is the daily notebook of Mike Santoli, CNBC's senior markets commentator, with ideas about trends, stocks and market statistics. Rising Covid cases in China and protests are shadowing economic sentiment but are otherwise hard to fit into the broader outlook. Global equity-market breadth has improved, with this Ned Davis Research chart of the percentage of MSCI All Country World Index components nudging into uptrends offering a more hopeful signal. Not yet definitive, but it suggests if nothing else that the typical stock on the globe has been finding some fresh demand in recent weeks. Sentiment is cautious, though less fearful versus six weeks ago, and it's still supportive but no catalyst on its own.

☆ Miami nightclub owners are struggling with slumping sales after losing top-spending crypto clientele in wake of FTX implosion and crypto downfall, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Miami club owners told the Financial Times business is slumping as the crypto industry takes a blow. Crypto, tech, and hedge fund leaders came to the city en masse during the pandemic. But in the wake of the FTX implosion, some of the city's top spenders have vanished. Now, with the downfall of companies like FTX, club owners and promoters aren't quite certain if big spenders will return, as the value of cryptocurrencies take a nosedive and major players like Sam Bankman-Fried hemorrhage vast amounts of their net worth. According to the FT, FTX paid $135 million to secure 19 years worth of naming rights to FTX Arena, home to the Miami Heat.

☆ Homebuyers just got their biggest weekly mortgage-rate drop in 40 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The average rate for a 30-year mortgage just saw its biggest weekly drop in more than 40 years. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage just saw its biggest weekly drop in more than 40 years, according to Freddie Mac. A better-than-expected inflation report last week led to the biggest single-day mortgage-rate drop on record, according to Redfin. If interest-rate volatility declines, mortgage rates could keep falling as well, narrowing the distance from the 10-year Treasury yield. If that spread reverts to the historical average, that would put the 30-year mortgage rate at about 4.5%.

☆ Goldman Sachs just announced its newest partner class. From trading to investment banking, here's the businesses that got the most, and least, love.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Roughly 1% of Goldman's employees reach partner status, and the perks are commensurate with the exclusivity of the title. This is the third partnership class picked under CEO David Solomon and also his largest, with 80 new partners named. Sales and trading: 27 partners (34% of total class)The takeaway: In many ways, this should come as no surprise. Investment banking: 21 partners (26% of total class)The takeaway: The second largest contingent of this class comes from investment banking, which is also somewhat expected. There's a lot to worry about in the world right now, here's one thing to put your mind at ease.

All eyes are turning to the latest U.S. inflation figures, but all tongues are wagging about the crash in crypto. U.S. rates market have been comfortable pricing an implied terminal rate above 5%, to be reached some time in the middle of next year, for over a week. Bitcoin sank 10% on Tuesday and 12% on Wednesday to a two-year low below $16,500. The web of holdings and investments between crypto and tech is murky, but real. Tesla shares sank to a two-year low on Wednesday, and Cathie Wood's ARKK Innovation ETF slumped to a five-year low - it is down 80% from its peak last year.

☆ Here's a rundown of tech companies that have announced layoffs in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sofia Pitt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Days after Twitter's new boss Elon Musk slashed half his company's workforce, Facebook parent Meta announced its most significant round of layoffs ever. Last month, Meta announced a second straight quarter of declining revenue and forecast another drop in the fourth quarter. The tech industry broadly has seen a string of layoffs in 2022 in the face of uncertain economic conditions. Lyft: around 700 jobs cutLyft announced last week that it cut 13% of its staff, or about 700 jobs. In a letter to employees, CEO Logan Green and President John Zimmer pointed to "a probable recession sometime in the next year" and rising rideshare insurance costs.

☆ We wanted to ask Elon Musk about Twitter, Trump, and Tesla. But he seemed kinda busy, so we went with the next best thing: an AI version of him.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Marshall Gunnell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Since his recent acquisition of Twitter, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has been more media-averse than ever. So I decided to try the next best thing: I sat down to interview an artificial-intelligence version of Musk. Using neural language models, Character.AI then draws on information the engineers have fed it to develop the "voice" of its AI Elon. Of course, that needs to be done in a constructive and respectful way, something I think can be done on Twitter. The best way to fight ideas you don't agree with is with words, not with silence.

☆ Stocks are being punished more harshly for missing Wall Street’s expectations. What the numbers show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Karen Firestone | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Even the unfortunate roughly 5.3% decline for the S & P 500 in the third quarter belied the 12.8% cratering of equities between Sept. 12 and Sept. 30. October has followed the script, with all the major indices ahead for the month, led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average up nearly 14% and the S & P 500 ahead by about 8%. These stocks imploded about 13% and more than 30%, respectively, in the five days after the companies posted their results. Very little beyond that can move the needle for the S & P 500, but the current quarter has taught us something about market sentiment. Many stocks are oversold, but investors have extremely limited tolerance for disappointing expectations.

☆ Bank of England set for biggest rate hike in 33 years, but economists expect dovish tilt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has scrapped the controversial tax cuts at the heart of predecessor Liz Truss' fiscal policy agenda, meaning fiscal and monetary policy are no longer pulling in opposite directions. Deutsche Bank also expects a split vote on Thursday in favor of a 75-basis-point hike, taking the key interest rate to 3%. Deutsche Bank now expects the Bank Rate to reach 4.5% by May next year, down from its previous projection of 4.75%, on account of retreating fiscal stimulus and a push toward fiscal consolidation. watch nowBank of England Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy Ben Broadbent said in a recent speech that GDP would take a "pretty material" hit from such aggressive policy tightening. The Bank's August growth forecasts, which already pointed to a five-quarter recession, were based on a much lower Bank Rate of around 3%.

☆ Tech companies like Amazon and Meta are warning of tough times ahead — and only some are prepared
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

While Apple is a "bright spot," Meta, Alphabet, and others are in for a tough few months, analysts say. All signs point to choppy waters ahead — for tech giants, the people they employ, and the users they serve. So, if things are getting bad, how are the big tech companies likely to fare? AppleApple is in the best shape, a "bright spot" amid otherwise grim big tech earnings, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note. Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note Tuesday that there's potential for a rebound next year.

"From a markets perspective, you have to be cautious going forward," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. "They're the biggest stocks in the market, and we really haven't had much of anything good come out of any of them." The Fed has already raised rates by 300 basis points this year as it fights the worst inflation in decades. "The big technology companies like Amazon continued hiring to support a business that looks like the year 2021, and it's not 2021. Despite the big stock price drops, some investors see more pain for the big tech-focused names.

☆ Wall Street is fed up with Meta - but Zuck’s full steam ahead with his massive metaverse bet.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Since Meta reported earnings on Wednesday, its stock has shed more than 23%. Everyone on Wall Street is mad that Meta keeps spending so much. Investors and analysts took the day yesterday to digest the tech giant's latest earnings, and it's clear patience is wearing thin. Mega-cap tech stocks like Zucks' behemoth are facing a possible crisis, with other giants like Google parent Alphabet reporting slowdowns in digital advertising growth. Wall Street is grappling with the "revenge of the old economy" as tech and growth stocks crash.

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