iPhone sales in China fell -24% in the 1st 6 weeks of 2024, per Bloomberg. Apple is now in the #4 slot of smartphone makers, given competitors’ promotions and major patriotic buying of products from groups like Huawei, which is now in the #2 slot. After having to shed its EV car dreams and focus more on AI, Apple doesn’t need more hits. Longtime investors have NVDA envy.
Profit beat, inventory mgmt was solid, and they expect full-year comp sales at 0-2%, which is better than its recent slowdown, so the stock is up. Inflation has been keeping shoppers from opening their wallets on discretionary stuff like clothes and electronics. Remember that Walmart was optimistic. You’ve got Nordstrom and Ross after the close today. Gap, Vic Secret, Kroger and Costco later this week.
AMD is down because the AI chip it designed to get through tech restrictions was found to be still too powerful. US officials are really working to keep out tech from China. They’re saying AMD has to get a license to sell the low-power chip or find a new solution, per CNBC.
China is sticking to its 5% growth target, which now is forcing the country to issue 1 trillion yuan ($139 bn) of ultra-long bonds, which it only did a few times in the past when it was in a sh*t-hit-the-fan type of situation. This centralized spending is supposed to reignite the party, as provinces are pressured with massive local debt, per Reuters. GS’ wealth mgmt. CIO is warning against investing in China, per Bloomberg? You may be off by a year. Also, investors may be able to more safely bet on Taiwan…because the country has less of a chance to invade when it is struggling internally.
Folks who want to inject for weight loss…I mean diabetes…can’t seem to get their hands on the drugs. Per the FT, Lilly is working hard to increase capacity as it rolls out a rival drug to Novo’s winner. I also read this morning that employers are putting more restrictions on who’s covered to get these drugs because so many people are on them that their healthcare costs have increased too much. As I sit here drinking my Spicy Lemon (thank you, CostCo juice cleanse) and planning my next workout, I still am not jealous. This seems like the biggest experiment on the US population after the covid vaccines. Just sayin’.
Gold is at an all-time-high because of (i) geopolitical risks and (ii) bets on Fed cuts and (iii) risk mgmt re nosebleed equities.
American is buying 260 Boeing jets, including 85 Max aircraft, per Bloomberg. Anyone else read the recent stories about the internal emails at Boeing? A polite summary is that they don’t trust the folks designing the Max.