MARKET MOVERS
- Elon Musk countersues Twitter over the merger. The Tesla CEO countersued Twitter on Friday, intensifying the conflict between the Tesla CEO and the social networking company he agreed to buy, but the lawsuit is not yet available to the public. It wasn’t clear why Musk asked the court to keep details of his countersuit confidential. This was after the judge ruled on a schedule of the five-day trial which is set to start on Oct. 17.
- Luxury brands send a confusing economic signal. Shoppers are still pumping cash into Hermès handbags. On Friday, the Paris-listed maker of $10,000 Birkin bags said sales in the first half of this year increased 23% compared with the same period of 2021, and operating margins hit a record high. Other European names reported similar trends earlier this week. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton said sales increased by 21% year over year in a half.
- Uber unveils new features for its drivers. Drivers across the U.S. will be able to see exactly how much they’ll earn and where they’re going before they accept a trip. They’ll also be able to see more than one trip request at a time by using a new feature called Trip Radar. The company also announced the Uber Pro debit card and checking account, which offers drivers up to 7% cash back on gas at select stations.
- Boeing gets FAA clearance to restart 787 Dreamliner delivery. The Federal Aviation Administration approved Boeing’s plans to inspect and repair tiny manufacturing flaws in the Dreamliner’s carbon-composite frame, two people familiar with the plan said late Friday. It paves the way for the end of a drought that drained cash and dented the planemaker’s reputation for quality. Read more here.
- The U.S. reaches a $1.74 billion deal with Moderna for updated Covid-19 shots. The deal Friday, which follows an agreement to buy 105 million doses of updated vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE, is expected to give the federal government enough shots for a booster push as early as September. Under the latest deal, the U.S. government has the option to buy up to an additional 234 million doses from Moderna. Read more here.
- Rent increases sharply year-over-year. The ApartmentList measure is up 12.4% YoY as of July, down from 14.1% in June. This is down from the peak of 18.0% YoY last December. Rents are still increasing, and we should expect this to continue to spill over into measures of inflation in 2022. The Owners’ Equivalent Rent (OER) was up 5.5% YoY in June, from 5.1% YoY in May - and will likely increase further in the coming months.
- The mortgage serious delinquency rate decreased in June. Fannie Mae reported that the Single-Family Serious Delinquency decreased to 0.81% in June from 0.87% in May. The serious delinquency rate is down from 2.08% in June 2021. This is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. These are mortgage loans that are "three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure".
- Apple's revenue in Q3 2022 is way smaller compared to 2021's Q3. Apple's 2021 Q3 was a growth of 36% over the year before whereas 2022's revenue growth was just 2% year-over-year. Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood say the reason for this slowdown is that people already bought their gadgets during the lockdown. The thing you need when you're stuck at home is gadgets. Now that everybody's outside again, people are buying plane tickets instead. Source(27:08)
WHAT TO WATCH
- Cathie Wood says growth stocks will outperform as the bear market ends. She thinks that typically growth stocks will outperform as we move towards the end of a bear market and of a recession because they are the new leadership. It looks like, at least so far, we bottomed on an intraday basis based on our flagship strategy on May 12. We actually bottomed before the Nasdaq and the S&P did, she added. Read more here.
- Cardano announced another network upgrade delay. The team posted a YouTube update yesterday announcing its latest programming postponement. The Vasil boost was originally rolled out on the software testing platform for Cardano in early June. And earlier this month, the developer team had publicly stated that the enhancement was on track to go live on the blockchain at the end of July with no further delays expected.
