New York Times (November 18)
UBS expects “the global A.I. capex tally” will “hit $423 billion this year…and reach $1.3 trillion by 2030.” But Big Tech’s “debt-fueled spending spree” is raising concern. “Not long ago, huge investment pledges pushed the A.I. rally to new heights. But the need to borrow so many billions is beginning to rattle stock and bond investors.” For example, “shares in Oracle, and some of if its bonds, have sold off sharply in the past month in a sign of investors’ growing concerns about its long-term A.I. financing plan.”
Tags: $1.3 trillion, $423 billion, 2030, A.I., Big tech, Bond, Borrow, CAPEX, Debt-fueled, Financing, Investors, Oracle, Shares, Spending spree, Stock, UBS
Barron’s (July 19)
“This market risk is a slow-motion wreck waiting to happen.” And yet the U.S. market remains sanguine, largely tuning “out the past week’s tariff drama.” Freya Beamish, Chief Economist at TS Lombard, is “cautioning investors against complacency because multiple ‘low-grade shocks’ can take their toll like that of a frog in boiling water.” The impact of tariffs, deportations and “the series of low-grade shocks the market is struggling to digest” will eventually appear and “investors may be underestimating their impact on inflation.”
Tags: $4 to $5 billion, Carmaker, Demand, Fell, GM, Quarterly results, S&P 500, Stock, Tariff costs, Worries
Fortune (July 23)
The response of CrowdStrike has been “underwhelming,” symbolized by CEO George Kurtz’s failure to apologize immediately. With a bug that “hit less than 1% of Windows devices,” CrowdStrike “unleashed global chaos” last Friday. The fallout “grounded more than 6% of the world’s commercial flights. It also halted surgeries, broadcasts, money transfers, 911 call centers, train systems, stores, hotel reservations, mobile apps, and some government services. As of yesterday, many were still scrambling to recover.” CrowdStrike’s comeuppance may come as it enters “a risky period,” with its stock hammered “by almost a third” and angry customers reexamining their ties to the cybersecurity company.
Tags: Apologize, Apps, Broadcasts, Bug, CEO, Comeuppance, CrowdStrike, Customers, Cybersecurity, Failure, Flights, Global chaos, Hammered, Hotels, Kurtz, Money transfers, Recover, Response, Stock, Stores, Surgeries, Trains, Underwhelming, Windows
Market Watch (May 25)
“On May 28, a new rule will go into effect that will affect almost every stock, bond, and ETF trade in U.S. markets,” requiring settlement within one day. Reducing failure to deliver (FTD) “risk is one of the reasons that industry players have been pushing to get to a T+1 settlement cycle since the 1990s, when the settlement cycle was still at T+5. Over the years, the U.S. has moved to a T+3 settlement cycle, then T+2 and now finally T+1.”
Tags: 1990s, Bond, Effect, ETF, Failure to deliver, May 28, Risk, Rule, Settlement cycle, Stock, T+1, T+2, T+3, T+5, Trade, U.S. markets
Wall Street Journal (May 4)
“Companies will need to jump through more hoops to buy back their stock.” A new rule adopted by the SEC will require “more disclosure from public companies about share repurchases starting in the fourth quarter,” including daily data on buybacks, whether directors or officers sold shares within four days of a buyback, and the rationale for the buyback. The SEC believes this will “make it easier for analysts to compare the timing of buybacks and insider trades, or to identify buybacks designed to boost executive compensation or earnings per share.”
Tags: Analysts, Buybacks, Directors, Disclosure, EPS, Executive compensation, Hoops, Insider trades, Officers, Public companies, Q4, Rationale, SEC, Share repurchases, Stock, Timing
Mortgage News Daily (March 15)
“As of Tuesday, the global financial market was able to say it had gone ‘2’ days without a systemic banking contagion flare up. But that number dropped to ‘0’ in the overnight trading session as investors aggressively sold Credit Suisse stock.”
Tags: Aggressively, Banking contagion, Credit Suisse, Financial market, Flare up, Global, Investors, Overnight, Stock, Systemic, Trading session
Reuters (January 1)
“Heavy falls in stock and bond markets over the last year have cut the combined value of the world’s sovereign wealth and public pension funds for the first time ever – and to the tune of $2.2 trillion.”
Tags: $2.2 trillion, Bond markets, Heavy falls, Public pension funds, Sovereign wealth, Stock, Value
Fortune (December 31)
“Tesla Inc. shares have fallen so far, so fast that some individual investors are piling in.” but the company still faces “mounting challenges” and remains expensive. “Even after this year’s record 65% drop, the electric-car maker’s meteoric surge during 2020 and 2021 has left it with stock-market value of $389 billion, more than Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co., Stellantis NV and Ford Motor Co. combined.”
Tags: $389 billion, Electric car, Expensive, Ford, GM, Individual investors, Market value, Mounting challenges, Stellantis, Stock, Surge, Tesla, Toyota
Investment Week (May 9)
“BP’s latest plan to buy back $2.5bn of stock this quarter has pushed forecasts for FTSE 100 firm buybacks to be on track for a record high in 2022. FTSE 100 firms are now planning £37bn of share buybacks this year, compared to the prior record of £34.9bn in 2018.”
MarketWatch (July 13)
“U.S. stock indexes on Tuesday morning edged slightly lower from Monday’s record closes, as investors assessed a hotter-than-expected consumer inflation report for June, which suggests to some that the Federal Reserve may need to consider removing some of its monetary policy measures to avoid an overheated post-COVID economy.”
Tags: Consumer inflation, Economy, Fed, Investors, June, Monetary policy, Overheated, Post-Covid, Record closes, Stock, U.S.
