MARKET MOVERS
- Social media stocks sink to erase $180 billion on Snap warning. Shares in digital ad-dependent Snap tumbled as much as 41% to trade below its 2017 IPO price of $17. Snap cited the rapid deterioration of the economy as the reason. The selloff erased about $15 billion in market value. Combined, Meta Platforms Inc., Google-owner Alphabet Inc., Twitter Inc., and Pinterest Inc., have seen $181.1 billion wiped out. Read more here.
- Townhouse construction is increasing. Single-family attached starts in the first quarter were 16% higher than a year earlier. Over the last four quarters, townhouse construction has moved 25% higher than the prior total of the previous four quarters. There is a growing number of home buyers looking for a medium-density residential neighborhood.
- April's new home sales decline sharply to 591,000 annual rate. This is 16.6 percent below the revised March rate of 709,000 and is 26.9 percent below the April 2021 estimate of 809,000. It appears sales are being impacted significantly by higher mortgage rates. The good news is there are very few completed homes for sale. However, there are a large number of homes under construction (almost 6 months of inventory.
- Business leaders warn that the three-decade era of globalization is ending. One of the big things has to do with supply chains. Companies are moving production much closer to their customers. People are thinking much, much more differently about how they want to organize their operations, whether that is cases of people buying companies that are within their supply chain. Source(1:33)
- Walmart expands its drone-delivery service to reach 4 million households. The retailer is expanding drone deliveries across six states with the operator DroneUp, bringing its total network to 37 sites by year-end. The big-box retailer said it will be able to deliver items like batteries and Hamburger Helper to 4 million households in parts of Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
- Uber adds local Italian taxis to the ride-hailing app. Uber Technologies Inc. signed a deal with Italy’s largest taxi dispatcher that will add more than 12,000 drivers to the US company’s platform. The partnership between the ride-hailing giant and IT Taxi will bring the Uber app to more than 80 new cities in Italy starting from June.
- Zoom shares rally as profits top guidance. For the quarter, Zoom reported revenue of $1.074 billion, in line with the company’s guidance range of $1.07 billion to $1.075 billion. Zoom said it had 198,900 enterprise customers at quarter-end, up 24% from a year ago. The company had 2,916 customers with a trailing 12 months revenue of $100,000 or more, up 46% from a year ago. Read more here.
WHAT TO WATCH
- Stocks are poised for a near-term rally after S&P 500 flirts with a bear market. Analysts expect it will rally out and get a retest in late June and July. That period would coincide with the next two Federal Reserve meetings when the central bank is expected to raise interest rates. It also coincides with a typically negative historic pattern for the market. Read more here.
- Biden is exploring the release of diesel fuel reserves. Officials have drafted an emergency declaration as prices have soared to record highs in recent weeks, White House spokeswoman Emilie Simons said on Twitter on Monday. Such a declaration would allow for the quick release of some of the 1 million barrels of diesel in the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve if necessary.
- 6G will be here by 2030, says Nokia CEO. He says people will access it without using a smartphone. Asked when he thinks the world will move away from using smartphones to using smart glasses and other devices that are worn on the face, Lundmark said it will happen before 6G arrives. By then, the smartphone as we know it today will no more be the most common interface, he added. Read more here.
- The housing market is showing signs of a correction. Spiraling mortgage rates on top of record-high and still-rising home prices are leading many experts to predict the real estate market is on the verge of a correction—if it isn’t already in one. They anticipate home prices will flatten, or even go down a bit, in certain markets. Home sales have already been dropping; fewer buyers are seeking mortgages because they can’t afford to buy.
- Amazon is reportedly looking to sublease 10M+ square feet of warehouse space. The company also said that they could vacate even more by ending leases as shopping volume cools down. Jason Calacanis says that it's either Amazon miscalculated how much space they actually needed or the company became more efficient with their technology and how they utilize their space. Source(45:40)
- The cost of electric vehicle batteries may increase by 15% amid supply chain disruptions. Further efforts to diversify battery manufacturing and critical mineral supplies are needed to reduce the risks of bottlenecks and increased prices going forward. IEA warned that soaring prices for some critical minerals essential for battery manufacturing remain the greatest obstacles to strong electric vehicle sales. Read more here.
