The yen appreciated against the dollar, moving more than +1% after the BOJ’s Kazuo said he may end the world’s last key negative interest rate. The USD fell the most in 2 weeks.
At this point, who knows what is reality, but they put out improving data. So, stocks are up on the back of this data plus the weaker dollar. China posted strong credit data and better demand for mortgages and corporate loans. Also, the yuan bounced from a 16-year low after the PBOC told speculators to watch out.
Apple is extending its agreement with Qualcomm for semiconductors for three more years, meaning that Apple isn’t ready to make its own components yet. Their deal was supposed to end this year, so Qualcomm has a lifeline for a bit longer.
JM Smucker is buying Hostess for $5.6bn and getting access to additional long-shelf-life products like Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Zingers, Donettes, and other items that hopefully you’re not eating too much of; Per Reuters.
That’s what China’s EVs and Tesla are doing to EZ’s automakers like Volkswagen. Previously they were gaining power and share in Asia, and now they’re focused on the companies’ home turf. Just ask anyone who travelled to the EZ this summer… lots of new EVs around.
BBG put out a note on low NASDAQ equity risk premium. They caution investors that the risk premium on tech is the lowest since the dotcom bubble. Earnings yield less the benchmark rate is negative again. This happened before the GFC as well, but to a lesser extent. So, they flag that if earnings season isn’t a positive one, valuations are at risk.
The gov is after Google, calling out its supposed monopoly on search and deep ties to Apple. For anyone old enough to remember the bust of the MSFT antitrust action decades ago, there are similarities here that “rhyme.” MSFT installed Internet Explorer on its computers with Windows. Here Google made a deal with Apple 18 years ago to be its default search engine on phones. Obviously it was a great deal with the right partner. In this case, Google didn’t put up any tech barriers, though, and I know I use Google search because it’s good. For more, check out: FT, Politico.
OK, the coffee has not quite kicked in yet. Tesla is up after MS said its Dojo supercomputer could increase its market value by up to $500bn because of faster adoption of robotaxis and network services.
NOSO stated that short sellers earned ~$13bn in profits on small-cap shorts but lost $140 bn betting against mid-, mega- and large-cap stocks. Why? Because the gains were predominantly concentration in select names this year (Nvidia, Meta, Tesla, etc).