(Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images) |
|
|
Love wearing pins on your lapel but hate that they're not AI-powered? Apple is developing a product for you: a mysterious AI-powered wearable device that looks like a "thin, flat, circular disc with an aluminum-and-glass shell," according to The Information. Similar to the phenomenon of "The Simpsons" predicting the future, the Netflix animated comedy "Big Mouth" satirized the idea of a pinnable tech accessory in the 2022 episode "The Apple Brooch," in which the Apple brooch was voiced by Jeff Goldblum. The S&P 500 continued to climb on Thursday, but the benchmark index is still lower than it was prior to President Trump's European tariff threats. Big Tech helped propel stocks higher, with every Magnificent 7 constituent gaining. The Russell 2000 continued its outperformance streak, beating the S&P 500 for the 14th consecutive session. November PCE, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, remained in line with economists' forecasts. 🧠 Trivia time… Give our Snacks Seven Quiz a try: |
|
|
- Musk now says he thinks the company's Optimus robots will be for sale to the public "by the end of next year." According to him, "That's when we are confident that there is very high reliability, very high safety, and the range of functionality is also very high."
- Musk also said in a post on X that Tesla's Robotaxis are now operating in Austin without a safety monitor. Tesla has been testing driverless cars in the area for about a month, and Musk had previously said the company would remove safety drivers by the end of 2025.
- On a separate topic, Musk was bullish on regulatory approval for what Tesla calls Full Self-Driving technology in markets outside the US. "We hope to get supervised Full Self-Driving approval in Europe, hopefully next month, and then maybe a similar timing for China," he said.
- He's said in the past that the pending regulatory approval for FSD in Europe is a key reason why Tesla's sales in the region have been tanking.
|
What is clear is that the move is good for Tesla's stock, which is currently up 3.5%, extending its gains after Musk's tweet. Morgan Stanley said yesterday that it considers the removal of safety drivers a "precursor to personal unsupervised FSD rollout." Unsupervised FSD is widely considered to be integral to the would-be autonomous company's value proposition. |
|
|
Speaking with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on a panel, Musk said the robots are currently doing "simple tasks" in Tesla factories, but is confident "they'll be doing more complex tasks and be deployed in an industrial environment" by the end of this year, before going on sale to the public in 2027. Musk forecasts a future with "billions" of AI robots that "saturate all human needs." |
|
|
- "We saw strong net flows into global equity funds last week, led by stronger inflows into US and EM equity funds (+$71 billion vs $2 billion in the previous week) — more than 35x-ed the flows," wrote Goldman Sachs' Gail Hafif, Brian Garrett, and Lee Coppersmith. "While equity flows increase, money market fund assets fell by $62 billion. This is the 3rd largest level in our dataset (!)."
- Retail traders are certainly in a mood to buy. "Retail investors continue to set new records this year — reaching an impressive $12.9B this week," JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain wrote. "This level is comparable to last year's buy-the-dip episodes (post-DeepSeek, March Momentum Unwind and the V-Shape recovery in April); but unlike those prior episodes, which faded quickly, the current 'new year' momentum has been sustained and has now pushed retail activity to an all-time high on a rolling monthly basis."
- Tuesday, when stocks slumped amid tariff and geopolitical tensions, was the third-largest trading day of the past year for retail, per Jain. An elevated retail presence has unsurprisingly coincided with a strong start to the year for more volatile pockets of the market.
|
While the current retail footprint in the market has evoked some comparisons to 2021 (well, by us at least), Cboe's Henry Schwartz, vice president of derivatives market intelligence, pointed out one sign in the options market that there's less exuberance than in those heady days: the share of single stocks whose calls trade at a higher implied volatility than puts is well shy of its early 2021 peak. |
|
|
"Improving macroeconomic conditions, firmer growth expectations, and a shift toward more cyclical outcomes have encouraged investors to take on risk," wrote Dave Mazza, chief executive officer of Roundhill Investments and portfolio manager of the Roundhill Meme Stock ETF. "As confidence has improved, market leadership has broadened beyond mega-cap growth into higher-beta, volatility-sensitive areas." Enthusiasm for stocks is great. Stocks usually go up. However, when everyone loves stocks, that makes them more vulnerable to (over)reacting to any negative catalyst that might arise. |
|
|
Paramount is now giving Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders until February 20 to consider tendering their stock to its hostile bid — but that's just the latest blustery nothingburger in a series of many. The thing that would persuade shareholders to support a Paramount bid is the same thing that persuades shareholders to do anything. |
|
|
- 🏈 AFC: In a development that has many asking, "What year is it?" the New England Patriots are solid favorites to win the AFC Championship over the Denver Broncos, which will be playing with a backup quarterback following Bo Nix's injury. The Pats have a 68% chance of winning, according to markets.*
- 🏈 NFC: The NFC West matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks will be a much closer game, based on what markets are saying, with the Seahawks having a 57% chance of winning and advancing to the Super Bowl.
- 🎬 Oscars: The Oscar nominees were announced yesterday, shaking up the race, with surprise nominations for Delroy Lindo ("Sinners") in Best Supporting Actor, Renate Reinsve ("Sentimental Value") and Kate Hudson ("Song Sung Blue") in Best Actress, and "The Secret Agent" in Best Picture. Right now the market's saying Jessie Buckley ("Hamnet") is the 89% favorite in Best Actress, Timothée Chalamet ("Marty Supreme") is the 74% favorite in Best Actor, and "One Battle After Another" is the 74% favorite in Best Picture.
|
*Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC. |
|
|
- Earnings expected from Nextera Energy, First Citizens BancShares, and Comerica
|
|
|
Was this email forwarded to you? Don't miss out on future stories — subscribe to Snacks and get your daily dose of financial news straight to your inbox. Craving more insights in your inbox? Subscribe to Chartr and The Wrap for quality reads. |
|
|
Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
|
|
SHERWOOD MEDIA, LLC, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment