MARKET MOVERS
- Investors rush toward stocks geared to a recession. Bespoke Investment Group notes that more than 90% of all stocks making 52-week highs last week were from the consumer staples, healthcare, real estate, and the utilities sectors. The rush toward stocks geared to tougher times and away from boomtime plays can also be seen in the near-50-percentage-point outperformance so far this year of Walmart shares over Home Depot.
- Biden administration resumes oil leases on Federal land. The Interior Department said it would make roughly 144,000 acres available for oil and gas drilling through a series of lease sales, an 80% reduction from the footprint of land that had been under evaluation for leasing. The announcement comes after weeks of pressure on the Biden administration to take action to address historically high energy prices.
- Credit-card spending is still rising. JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo saw double-digit growth in credit-card spending in the first quarter. First-quarter spending was up 23% on Citigroup Inc. credit cards, compared with a year ago. Spending rose 29% on JPMorgan Chase & Co. cards and 33% on Wells Fargo & Co. cards. Bank of America Corp. People like getting dressed up to go to dinner again in a restaurant.
Read more here. - Russia’s war is cutting global auto production. The crisis has shuttered factories in Eastern Europe and caused spikes in the prices of already precious raw materials. Russia produces about 40% of the world’s raw palladium — which is used to clean vehicle exhaust. The region is also a producer of nickel, which is used in electric vehicle batteries. Even common minerals and metals, such as iron, are affected.
Read more here.
- ‘Feeder cities’ grow as hot spots for renters, according to a new survey. The pandemic has shifted renter migration rends from gateway cities to feeder cities. Now that renters can work remotely, they are interested in a different set of amenities that feeder cities can better offer. More than 10% of renters who moved out of state ended up heading to Texas in 2021. Florida attracted 8.6% of relocating renters in 2021.
WHAT TO WATCH
- Twitter's board might end up being sued. There are two scenarios. Either the board will reject Elon's offer and all the board members will get sued because they did not pursue the best deal for the company or the poison pill will work and they will find another company to buy Twitter at an equal or higher price than Musk offered and they will choose that company that they regard as culturally safer than Elon. Source(48:50)
- TSMC warns of tight production capacity and prolonged chip shortage. They expect manufacturers to stock up more than usual on chips and other components after recent events disrupted the global supply chain, Chief Executive C.C. Wei said Thursday on a quarterly earnings call. He also said that the impact appears limited for this year, though the outlook is murky for next year and beyond. Read more here.
- Spotify rival Deezer nears deal to g public. The company is merging with a SPAC backed by the family behind luxury titan Kering SA, according to people familiar with the matter, as consumer demand for music continues to grow. Deezer is in talks to merge with Paris-listed I2PO SA. The blank-check company is backed by France’s Pinault family, the controlling shareholder of Gucci-owner Kering.
- America’s favorite truck is about to test Tesla’s dominance. With this month’s release of the F-150 Lightning, Ford hopes to electrify new and traditional truck buyers alike, and—eventually—to replace its industry-defining gas-powered line. The Lightning goes on sale in late April, with a price starting just under $40,000, and so far, things are trending extremely well. Ford was overwhelmed with nearly 200,000 reservations.
- Meta is racing to release its first AR glasses in 2024. Project Nazare is designed to work independently from a mobile phone with the assistance of a wireless, phone-shaped device that offloads parts of the computing required for the glasses to operate. In addition to Nazare, a separate, previously unreported pair of cheaper smart glasses codenamed Hypernova are also planned for 2024. Nazare is designed to operate independently of a smartphone Source(4:12)
