White House to Release Crypto Rules

MARKET MOVERS

• Tesla's 2021 full-year revenue is $53 billion up 71%. Q4 was a juggernaut $17 billion up 65% year over year. This was driven by their 71% increase in total deliveries. Model S & X production was down 19% year-over-year but Model 3 and Model Y is up 79%. Their revenue quality went up as their volume went up which goes to show how well it's run, says TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm. Source(3:08)

• Remote work continues to fuel longer luxury vacation stays. A younger group of people involved in the tech world has become part of a newer renter pool. Vrbo’s 2022 Trend Report reflects the continued trend of longer vacation home stays rising in popularity across all price points. The company said it’s seen a 68 percent increase in demand for 21- to 30-day stays on Vrbo.

• Affordable home sales surge while luxury sales faltered in Q4. Sales of homes on the lowest end of the price spectrum increased 11.3% year over year in the fourth quarter, according to Redfin. At the same time, sales of luxury homes dropped 16.3%. The surge can be attributed to a number of economic factors, including a strengthening job market among lower-wage earners and the prevalence of investors snatching up single-family homes. Read more here.

• The US housing market grew $6.9 trillion in 2021. The biggest annual gain in history, as per Zillow's analysis. A fresh data point showing just how red-hot America’s housing market has been as the pandemic’s work-from-home revolution sent people on a buying spree that collided with slim supply to send the value of the U.S. housing stock soaring.

• Apple swiped away supply chain worries and posted record revenues last quarter. They were up 20% from the previous year, beating Wall Street expectations. Apple can largely thank its iPhone. It made up nearly 60% of total revenues. The top five smartphones in the U.S are all iPhones, as were the top four in urban China. App Store purchases jumped nearly 25%. Wearables like AirPods also rose. Source(0:46)

WHAT TO WATCH

• White House to release executive action for crypto. The national security memorandum, expected to come in the next few weeks, would task parts of the government with analyzing digital assets and assembling a regulatory framework that covers cryptos, stablecoins, and NFTs. The State Department, Treasury Department, National Economic Council, and Council of Economic Advisers would be involved in the initiative. Read more here.

• Google plans $1 billion investment in a multi-year partnership with Bharti Airtel to help accelerate the growth of India’s digital economy, as it jostles for a position in one of the world’s fastest-growing internet markets. Google plans to take a 1.28% stake for $700 million. It also will invest up to $300 million for potential commercial initiatives.

• We're going to see a hot CPI number again next month and that's mostly because energy prices have gone up. Plus, the last CPI was surveyed after Biden's SPR oil release and that didn't last long. Now, you have crude going higher and it could go even a little higher before it peaks out, says Thomas Thornton, founder of Hedge Fund Telemetry. Source(29:14)

• Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. unveil joint $26 Billion EV plan. The funds, which were already announced separately by the carmakers last year, will be spent over five years on shared manufacturing platforms, batteries as well as operating systems. Nissan will lead the development of solid-state battery technology while Renault will launch a “software-defined” car by 2025.

• AMD's planned $35 billion purchase of Xilinx Inc. cleared the last major regulatory hurdle for one of the biggest deals in recent years in the semiconductor industry. AMD and Xilinx acknowledged China’s approval and said they expected the deal to close this quarter. The companies said they are waiting for the U.S. government to clear the transaction. The deal would put AMD on a more even footing with rival Intel Corp. Read more here.