Daily Updates to watch out for!

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Amazon cloud computing unit suffered another outage, supposedly the third this month. Many companies were disrupted due to outages - Cloud has a firm reliance. Disruptions are common in Cloud Technology, but the wide adaption has made it noticeable though things should improve.

In 2021, Everyone’s ear might have heard the about Clubhouse, which was the star of the year! The idea was so mainstream that Twitter adopted it as Spaces, Spotify as Greenroom, and you already know about Discord. Let’s hope Clubhouse should become something like Snapchat and be a leader in the industry of its idea.

Two startups are creating new concepts like Fable - social reading to improve mental health. Honeycomb - private social app for families.

Someone’s beating Google as the most popular domain: TikTok TikTok surpassed Google as the most popular site in 2021 - Axios

Some gainers were:

Tesla: CEO Elon Musk said in an interview that he had sold enough to reach his goal of selling 10% of his shares

MagnaChip Semiconductor: The board authorized a $75M stock repurchase program. The stock was up by 7%

Paychex was up by 5% as * 2Q results were above consensus on revenue and EPS, and FY22 guidance was raised on revenue, EPS growth, EBITDA margin, and operating margin.

Some Notable decliners were:

CalAmp plunged itself by 26% as its 3Q revenue and EPS were both below consensus. Management did not provide 4Q guidance. It was downgraded to hold from buy at Craig-Hallum Capital, target to $10 from $14.

Alibaba by down by 5% as its Cloud Computing partnership with China’s MIIT was reportedly suspended due to accusations that it failed to report and address a security vulnerability.

Also, I’ll be posting about Elon Musk and Dorsey’s heat up about Web3 on the TSLA thread!

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GoDaddy - jumped 3.9% as WSJ reported that Starboard Value, an activist investor, had acquired a 6.5% stake in the company.

Apple - continues to face scrutiny now in the Netherlands, as changes were ordered to Apple’s App Store payment policies, the reason cited was breaking competition laws.

Moderna - The pharmaceutical company is resisting a shareholder request to offer vaccine technology to impoverished nations. Moderna must explain why its prices are so exorbitant in light of the government’s financial support, according to the financial support it has received.

Many Airline stocks and Cruise Line stocks declined owing to the surge in weekend cancellations and COVID-19 outbreaks in the ships respectively. The likes of United Airlines, American Airlines and Carnival, Royal Caribbean fell around 2%.

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Tesla delivered almost 1M cars this year, around 936K to be precise. That figure is almost up by 87% from 2020. While the company faces tough competition from various competitors like Mercedes-Benz’s vision for the future is an ultra-efficient, luxury EV with a 620-mile range. The blot on Tesla’s record was the recall of 475K+ vehicles for faulty rearview cameras.
With competitors like GM and Volkswagen building out their battery supply chains, there’s a lot of building Tesla has to do.

Verizon and AT&T have agreed with the Department of Transportation to postpone their plans to upgrade their 5G wireless services for another two weeks in an unusual turn of events.

Big Tech recorded revenues of $1.4T in 2021. With Facebook’s oh, Meta’s latest acquisition, the Oculus VR app became the most popular app in the App Store on Christmas Day. Owning hardware has been a vital missing element in Meta’s history, and it appears that the Oculus acquisition will pay off in the same way that Instagram did.

The NFT market became at $27B market and 2022 seems like the year NFTs will become mainstream as trading volume soars on OpenSea Ethereum NFT Market Soars in First Days of 2022 After OpenSea Marks Another $3B Month - Decrypt. There’s more good news for NFT lovers as Samsung announced that its new Smart TVs would allow users to purchase, display and browse NFTs. Samsung’s 2022 Smart TVs to support cloud gaming, video chat and even NFTs | TechCrunch

Some Notable Gainers were:

Gilat Satellite Networks, a mobile network operator in Asia, is expected to deploy Gilat’s 4G cellular backhaul over satellite tech. It was up by 21%.

Tesla was up by 13.5%. Based on Model 3/Y sales, Q4 deliveries were 16 percent ahead of expectations; analysts observed improvements came despite supply chain difficulties; the increased run rate shows that the 2022 delivery consensus is too low.

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Ford’s stock hit the highest level since 2001 after the automaker announced that it would almost double its planned production of the F-150 Lightning Truck. The F-150 has been the best selling truck in the US for 45 years!

Tesla’s opening of a showroom in East Turkestan [Xinjiang] despite the humanitarian crisis had massive outrage on social media while the automaker was also hit with a recall.

Sony Sony shows off SUV, will explore building electric cars as ‘Sony Mobility Inc’ | TechCrunch and BMW showcased their 2023 ix M60

Credits: BMW
The car looks dope!

Amazon announced a partnership with Automaker Stellantis NV Amazon to buy Stellantis EV vans, provide digital cockpits (msn.com)

Good news for Vegans - KFC is adding new Beyond Meat’s plant-based chicken to its menu!

Some Notable Gainers were:

Intel was up by 1.4% as Northland Capital Markets upgraded the stock to outperform from market performance, citing the company’s beginning to execute on a coherent strategy for the first time in years, with leveraged SIP capability, optimised fab resources, and the potential to close the performance gap with AMD in 2023 on 3nm.

AT&T was up by 2% as a positive Q4 preannouncement, including 1.3 million postpaid net adds; ended the year with an additional 2.6 million fibre customer locations, versus a prior expectation of 2.5 million; and ended the year with 73.8 million total global HBO Max and HBO subscribers, versus prior guidance for year-end subscribers in the 70-73 million range.

Some Notable Decliners were:

SGH Inc fell by 15.5% though 1Q results were above expectations on the top and bottom lines, and 2Q guidance was likewise above forecasts, but the stock was down on concerns of falling gross margins.

Adobe was down by 7% as it was downgraded to neutral from buy at UBS, target to $575 from $635.

Google was down by 5% due to some news from Germany.

That’s all for now folks!

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A lot is happening in the tech world as CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2022 is happening, and here’s something that Google promised.

Google has stated that its Chromebook and Android devices will link seamlessly, have better integration, and be easier to set up. Despite the absence of a fixed timeframe, this sequence of feature upgrades will happen throughout 2022 and will empower Android and Chrome OS users with additional capabilities (some of which Apple and Samsung users have enjoyed for a while). Chromebooks and Android smartphones, for example, will be able to swap audio between devices in the coming months instantly.

If you’re someone who uses Instagram a lot, you may notice some changes in the following weeks. While Instagram has already said they want to bring back the chronological feed, this new information shows that three alternative feed choices will be accessible. Users will have two options for seeing posts in chronological order with the “Home,” “Favorites,” and “Following” feeds, or they may stick with the app’s existing method of cycling through information based on interest alone.

Meta has halted an effort to develop an operating system that would power its forthcoming VR/AR devices. Meta reportedly cancelled a 300-person VR / AR operating system project - The Verge

Nike sues Lulemon as the company was accused of patent infringement over the firm’s Mirror fitness device. “Mirror” is a wall-mounted gadget that leads users through a range of high-intensity cardio routines and classes. While Lululemon purchased Mirror in 2020, Nike says that Lululemon is infringing on many of its patents, including one for a cardio tracking gadget is designed in 1983.

Samsung has created a Metaverse replica of its iconic New York “837” physical shop in collaboration with Decentraland, an Ethereum-based virtual world platform. Even though the experience will only be accessible for a limited time, Samsung’s decision demonstrates the company’s commitment to the digital asset market. Samsung has already stated that it intends to expand the virtual reality experience to other platforms in the future. The firm just revealed that users would be able to purchase and trade NFTs with certain smart TVs earlier this week. Samsung’s virtual shop is one of Decentraland’s most significant brand takeovers, and the business is enthusiastic about the Metaverse’s capacity to “transcend physical and geographic limitations.”

There was some issue pushing out today’s update bear with me for the time lag

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Google and Facebook were fined by France for pushing tracking cookies on users. The companies were $170M and $68M respectively as they made it confusing for users to reject cookies. A deadline of 3 months was given to the companies so as to change their ways of working.

• For Facebook, French users first have to click on a button labelled “ Accept cookies” (emphasis ours). Such labelling “necessarily generates confusion,” says CNIL, leading users to believe they have no choice in the matter. CNIL is a watchdog.

• With Google, the problem is one of asymmetry rather than mislabeling. CNIL notes that the company’s websites (including YouTube) allow users to accept all cookies with a single click. But, to reject them, they have to click through several different menu items. Clearly, users are being steered in a particular direction that just so happens to benefit Google.

Goldman Sachs analyst Zach Pandl said that Bitcoin will take market share away from gold in 2022 as digital assets become more widely accepted. Read more here: Goldman Sachs says bitcoin will compete with gold as “store of value” - What’s Hot - Vested Community

Some Notable Gainers were:
Discovery by 19% as Bank of America upgraded the stock to buy from neutral; the analyst believes the merger with WarnerMedia will create the most dynamic global media company; also highlighted the potential for larger cost synergies than expected and incremental revenue opportunities in the areas of advertising, distribution, and the combination of streaming services.

Global Payments was up by 11% as Deutsche Bank boosted its target price, Susquehanna raised projections, and BofA made constructive remarks.

That’s all for now folks!

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Zynga the maker of Farmville is being acquired by Take-Two Interactive (the company behind the Grand Theft Auto) has announced the deal which will be worth $11.04B in a cash-and-stock deal. You should have a look since this is the largest deal ever in the gaming sector. The deal would take the market cap to $30B. The deal will be closed in the first half of the year. While some industry insiders expected Take-Two to make a big move into mobile gaming and close the gap between EA. Who knows these may come up to do something in the Metaverse.

Meanwhile, for the Crypto lovers BTCS Inc., a blockchain technology startup has announced the first-ever Bitcoin dividend paid by a Nasdaq-listed business. The “Bividend” is the result of BTCS’ intention to “promote financial independence” and demonstrate “the disruptive impact of blockchain technology.” BTCS has even acquired the name www.bividend.com, which contains instructions on how to join Bividend. To be honest, I’m not shocked by this action because BTCS has a long history of “firsts”; after all, BTCS was the first pure-play cryptocurrency and blockchain public business in the United States. BTCS is trading at $4.56 a share with a $0.05 dividend.

Some Notable Gainers were:

Zynga well the first story above is the reason for the uptick that too by 40%.

Dell was up by 3.3% as the stock was upgraded to outperform by Bernstein.

F5 was upgraded to outperform in line at Evercore ISI, target to $275 from $240.

Taiwan Semiconductor was up by a percent as it reportedly received an advance payment for reserving production capacity from AMD and others.

Some Notable decliners were:

Comm by 7.5% as it was downgraded to in-line from outperform at Evercore ISI, $12 target.

Airbnb was downgraded to neutral from overweight at Piper Sandler, target to $169, from $215, it slipped by 3.2%.

PixelWorks was down by 16.5% as CFO Elias Nade resigned. Haley Aman, VP of Finance, was appointed to serve as CFO.

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Disney enters the Metaverse. It recently filed a patent with the US Patent Office for a virtual world simulator. What’s the concept? A computing platform with software code and a tracking system links to the computing platform while coupling with a projection device. It’s pretty haywire, but Disney CEO says that it aligns with its focus on storytelling. The technique would not require the use of headgear, instead will focus on customising individual experiences through user tracking and 3D picture projection.

I’m pretty surprised by the jump in companies investing in Metaverse, though Disney says it files various patents to explore developing technologies

While Meta names DoorDash CEO Tony Xu on its board, it’s the first change to its board after the rebranding, adding outside executive experience to the group. Xu brings in experience of running one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing companies.

Intel hires David Zinsner as CFO from Micron; he has more than 20 years of financial and operational experience in semiconductors and manufacturing.

Meanwhile, I love Machine Learning. Then I came across some Robotic Arms using ML to reach deeper into distribution; with the labour crisis, these arms are the automated picking systems to assist in the distribution within the warehouse.

Block’s (formerly Square) CEO Jack Dorsey has outspoken his support for Bitcoin and opposition to Weeb3. The recent job postings reveal the company’s plan to develop oper-source Bitcoin mining systems and hardware wallets in 2022. The first vacancy, for a custom digital design lead, confirms that Block is set to develop purpose-built ASICs for Bitcoin mining. Meanwhile, the second role, for the hardware wallet’s global fulfilment and logistics lead, shows that Block is aiming globally and seeks to distribute its hardware wallet to 100 countries. Dorsey has also popularised Bitcoin amongst NBA stars!

Some Notable Movers:

Impinj was up by % as the management expects 4Q revenue guidance to come in above consensus.

JD .com was up by % as it was initiated at overweight at Atlantic Equities at $100 target.

Rivian was down by 4% as the COO retired and vehicle production declined.

IBM declined by 1.6% as it was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at UBS, target to $124 from $136

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Checkout.com raises $1B at $40B valuations A full-stack payments company that acts as a gateway, an acquirer, risk engine and a payment processor, in short letting you process payments directly on your site or on your app. Its customers are global enterprise merchants with a large volume of transactions such as Netflix, Pizza Hut and Fatfetch. The company has processed billions of dollars in payments in 2021 and has been profitable for years. The injection of funds will add to its long-term growth and ventures into Crypto and Metaverse.

Uber got some competition in Brazil, the government’s taxi app - Taxi.Rio. Apple’s alternative payment service in South Korea. Apple submits plans to allow alternative payment systems in S.Korea - regulator | Reuters

Some Notable Movers were:

Wipro declined by 8.5% as 3Q revenue was above consensus while EPS was below. Management guided 4Q revenue from IT Service.

Paypal was down by 2% as it was downgraded to hold from buy at Jefferies, and the target was $200.

Infosys was up by 3% as 4Q revenue and EPS were above consensus. Management provided FY22 revenue growth guidance.

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Some Notable Movers were:

Taiwan Semiconductor was up by 5.3% as 4Q revenue and EPS were both above consensus. 1Q revenue guidance was above consensus. Management provided FY22 and L-T outlook.

Proterra was up by 2.1% as it announced a multi-year partnership with Vicinity Motor to supply its battery systems for electric buses and commercial vehicles; Proterra battery systems will power at least 600 commercial EVs by 2024.

Mimecast was up by 1.5% as Proofpoint offered Mimecast a $ 92.50 per share offer, according to sources. But Mimecast refused to trade over antitrust concerns.

Virgin Galactic was down by 19% as the business said it expects to sell convertible senior notes to raise up to $500 million. Preliminary fourth-quarter free cash flow was reported.

Elastic was down by 12% as Shay Banon, the company’s creator will move from CEO to CTO, with chief product officer Kulkani taking over as CEO; the company also expects to surpass its Q3 projection; analysts are largely enthusiastic about the change, but admit the changeover poses challenges.

Snapchat was down by a whopping 11% as it was downgraded by Cowen from outperform to market perform, citing near-term worries about lingering iOS changes affecting Snap’s measurement, targeting, and attribution for direct response ad units; it noted challenging 1H-22 comparisons, and elevated valuation.

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Credit: The Verge

Walmart is jumping into cryptocurrency as the recent filings with US Patent and Trademark Office reveal that it may prepare its own cryptocurrency and collection of NFT’s. Walmart investigated a trial programme in 2021 in which customers could buy Bitcoin, but the company’s most recent submissions include the production of virtual items such as toys, recreational goods, and personal-care products. Of course, all of these applications reveal future ambitions, but the trademarks will not be registered until Walmart actually uses them. When that day comes, Walmart’s entry into the cryptocurrency industry might usher in a paradigm change.

Crypto is booming as most of the recent updates do revolve around crypto.

Coinbase partners with MasterCard for NFT marketplace purchases. Users of Coinbase’s new NFT marketplace will be able to purchase using their credit cards, according to Mastercard. Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s executive vice president of digital asset and blockchain products, stated in a blog post on Tuesday that NFTs would be deemed “digital commodities” and could thus be purchased with a credit card. Mastercard’s cooperation with Coinbase, which aims to allow non-crypto users to acquire NFTs without utilising a wallet and purchasing tokens, will undoubtedly help facilitate increased traffic to the NFT marketplace. However, with over 1 million people on the waiting list, Coinbase’s NFT marketplace is already off to a rousing start. NFTs have been unexpectedly steady in the face of crypto’s volatility, and I expect them to grow in popularity in 2022.

Some Notable Movers were:

Activision by 20% due to the Microsoft Deal.

Blink Charging was up by 5% as it announced it will supply electric vehicle chargers to GM car dealerships across North America.

VTEX was by up 2% as at Goldman Sachs, the stock was upgraded to outperform from neutral due to attractive valuation, e-commerce leadership, and hard-currency exposure; at Piper Sandler, the stock was started at overweight due to good secular-growth potential and indications of expanding share gains.

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Late today, but here we go!

It’s raining Crypto everywhere, Google moves into Crypto too, yeah it’s Google’s world according to Inc, and your business lives in it. How is Google making the transition? Google has hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg as part of a bigger plan to provide a broader range of financial services, including cryptocurrency. Google has worked with firms such as Coinbase and BitPay to hold crypto assets on digital cards and recruit Goldberg to lead its payment division (with users paying in traditional currencies). The startup intends to focus on a “complete digital wallet,” which will contain digital tickets, airline passes, and vaccination passports. However, Google is still refusing to take cryptocurrency for payments.

Instagram Meta’s photo-sharing app is testing paid subscriptions. Abling US users to subscribe to a few creators to have spent only content. The fees will be around 99cents to $99.99 per month. Mark Zuckerberg said he is “excited to keep building tools for creators to make a living doing creative work and to put these tools in more creators’ hands soon.”

Former SpaceX Engineers build a Tesla for Freight Trains. Parallel Systems, a business created by three former SpaceX engineers, raised a $49.55 million Series A round. The firm intends to build self-driving, electric freight trains in response to the mounting issues posed by carbon emissions in freight, supply chain bottlenecks in trucking, and the limitations of traditional railway freight. Parallel Systems has the potential to dominate the market for greener freight. Parallel must secure cooperation with a legacy train firm to test its product for the time being.

Some Notable Movers were:

SoFi Technologies was up by around 14% as The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) accepted its application to become a bank holding company through the acquisition of Golden Pacific Bancorp; the move will allow it to lend at more competitive rates and offer upgraded financial products.

Morgan Stanley The bank’s stock rose 1.8 percent after the company reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profits due to robust equities trading income. Unlike its competitors, Morgan Stanley did not reveal skyrocketing pay expenditures for Wall Street staff during the quarter.

Procter & Gamble The consumer products company’s stock surged 3.4 percent after posting results that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Earnings per share were $1.66, a penny better than the Refinitiv average forecast. P&G also exceeded sales projections and boosted its outlook for 2022.

Sony - Microsoft announced a $68.7 billion deal to purchase video game producer Activision Blizzard on Tuesday, sending Sony’s stock down 5%. Sony’s PlayStation division would face more competition due to the deal.

Opendoor Technologies was down by 6% as BofA Securities initiated an underperform rating on buying, arguing that the dependence on centralised models and algorithms for pricing and selling properties makes it inherently hazardous and largely untested business model; apprehensive on inventory accumulation amid a declining housing market.

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Meta inches closer to you - it’s planning to track your emotions Meta has patented methods that collect biometric data from consumers. Facial expressions and other biological processes, in essence, might be recorded and catalogued to improve the effectiveness of in-world advertising and give consumers a more immersive experience. Even though this technology has yet to be built, substantial privacy issues have already been highlighted. This data collecting form might dramatically affect user behaviour everywhere online, including outside of Meta’s Metaverse realm.

Musk’s contentious brain implant firm, Neuralink, has hired a clinical trial detector, signalling that the company is moving closer to its objective of implanting chips in human brains. According to Musk, Neuralink already allows primates to play video games with their thoughts alone, but the implant is eventually designed to assist heal neurological problems. Musk recently informed the Wall Street Journal that Neuralink aimed to implant its gadget into human brains by 2022, but he has a track of making excessively optimistic statements that do not come true. It’s unclear where the firm is in the process, but no human studies have been registered with clinicaltrials.gov (the official FDA site).

Netflix reported the lowest year of subscriber growth since 2015

Here are some Notable movers:

Corsair Gaming was up by 3% as Preliminary F21 revenue was somewhat more than expected. The midpoint of FY22 revenue projection was close to consensus. Management set a net revenue target for FY26.

Peloton was down by a considerable margin as CNBC reported, the business has ceased manufacture of its connected fitness goods due to a “substantial decline” in demand; a private corporate presentation implies that delivery goals established in October were way too high; PTON has already halted production of Bike+ and Tread+.

Taskus was down by 16% as Spruce Point Capital offered a strong sell recommendation; said business promises were exaggerated by a CEO prone to hyperbole; highlighted firm visibly halted reporting yearly contract value; and signs of increased margin pressure from Facebook.

Ford was down by 4% as Jefferies downgraded GM to hold from buy, citing valuation, with shares fully valued after earnings recovery, and “Global Redesign,” which has closed the majority of the gap with GM’s cost base; also said it is premature to rerate legacy OEMs for EV progress, as EV transition is essentially a zero-sum game at first.

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Google plans for a new headset in 2024. With Meta and Apple already into the realms, enter Google, the headset should probably ship by 2024. The Verge reported that two people spoke to it on the condition of anonymity. The hardware is powered by a custom Google processor and the recent job listings indicate a unique OS is already being cooked. Let’s hope this brings more competitiveness to the landscape!

IBM sells Watson Health Assets to an investment firm Francisco Partners, the move comes amidst the company focus to streamline its operations and sharpen its focus on cloud computing service. Watson uses AI to analyse diagnostic tests and other health data. “IBM took a risk of becoming a disrupter in the complex health care industry but was only able to garner limited success,” UBS analyst David Vogt said in a note Friday. While exploring IBM Watson, I personally came across the service was marvelled by it but couldn’t explore it. IBM said that the deal wouldn’t weaken its commitments to other artificial-intelligence technology and to healthcare clients that use its IT services.

Netflix has fallen almost 28% or $146 since that earnings release. Are the good old days gone?. S&P 500 fell briefly into correction territory, down 10% from a recent high. Dow has dropped 400 points

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Ola Electric is valued at $5B in a new round of funding.
Ola Electric, an Indian manufacturer of electric two-wheelers, announced a fresh $200 million funding round on Monday. According to a statement from the manufacturer, the current round values the firm at $5 billion, up from $3 billion in September last year. Despite difficulties in delivering its first electric scooter to customers, the business is trying to expand into other categories, including autos. Two-wheelers account for more than three-fourths of all vehicles sold in India, and researchers predict that by the end of the decade, 37 percent will be powered by electricity.

Ford is cutting off customer orders for its low-cot Maverick pickup, saying it has hit the limit on what it can build

Peloton was up by 10% - According to a WSJ report, activist investor Blackwells Capital aims to persuade Peloton to replace its CEO and pursue a sale. Blackwells is claimed to control multiple positions, though less than 5%, and believes that tech or fitness businesses will be interested in acquiring Peloton.

Shopify was up by 6% as the company said it would implement network adjustments to assist merchants in competing with big-box retailers, such as prioritising two-day delivery; a company spokesman also stated that it has enough SFN capacity for merchant fulfilment needs.

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Amazon will launch its first physical fashion store! Amazon Style, the company’s first physical fashion store, will launch in Los Angeles later this year. Amazon Style will only keep “display products,” but shoppers will be able to scan a QR code for sizes, colours, and recommendations, with genuine merchandise held in the backroom. Amazon is currently the largest retailer in the United States. As a consumer behaviour, many folks like rummaging through a store’s inventory. However, this form of shopping will be impossible with the new QR approach.

Nvidia may abandon its $40B Arm acquisition as it struggles to get regulatory approval. The final decision is not yet made. Japan’s tech giant was going to sell Arm to Nvidia - it was going to be the largest deal in the chip industry.

US Chip shortage will continue as the US Department of Commerce conducted a survey that reported that the supply problems would continue, which will be carried forward in the second half of the year. Demand for semiconductors has increased by 17% in the past two years. The US Congress is working to introduce legislation to bolster financing for semiconductor manufacture in response, although the automobile and medical industries have suffered significant losses. Even more worrying is the vulnerability of critical sectors due to scarcity.

Youtube’s Head of Gaming resigned to Join Polygon Studious as CEO Ryan Watt joined Polygon Studios, the NFT and gaming arm of Polygon - The layer-two Ethereum scaling network. Polygon aims to invest $100 million in its projects, even though the studio only opened in July. Polygon Studio’s primary goals are to promote decentralised gaming, attract blockchain enthusiasts to its NFT token ecosystem, and establish Polygon as a reliable blockchain for the Web3 transition.

Ex-Goldman Sachs CEO says crypto is happening!

Some Notable Movers:

Xerox declined by 5% as Q4 earnings beat expectations, but revenues were missed. However, business fundamentals remained robust, and the company earned considerable backlog growth, despite substantial high-margin product shortages, shipping delays, and Omicron consequences. Revenue projection for FY22 was improved, while FCF guidance was weak.

Nvidia declined by 4.5% as the Arm acquisition reported above was under scrutiny.

Meta, Amazon, Microsoft were down by around 3% as the market sentiment towards tech stocks made them go down.

IBM was up by 6% as Analysts acknowledged that the report was noisy due to the Kyndryl spin, but they were upbeat on revenue acceleration and assessed the 2022 projection is inline.

That’s all!

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European Court finally overturns intel $1.2B antitrust fine! The fine was issued 12 years ago in 2009 after an investigation concluded that the company had abused its position in the chip industry. In its judgment, the court said that the “analysis carried out by the Commission is incomplete and, in any event, does not make it possible to establish to the requisite legal standard that the rebates at issue were capable of having, or were likely to have anticompetitive effects.” It, therefore, decided to annul the fine.

The Fed Rate Hike is supposed to happen in March, according to the recent announcement by Jerome Powell. The hikes are announced, citing inflation and a strong job market. Finally, the hottest inflation will cool, but that is terrible news for the stock market, though a piece of good news for the dollar.

Walmart-Backed FinTech startup is acquiring two firms and a New Name

Here are some notable movers:

Corning was up by 4.2% as core sales and earnings per share were higher than expected in the fourth quarter. Core sales and EPS forecasts for the first quarter were both higher than expected. The revenue forecast for FY22 was higher than expected.

Microsoft was up by 3% as revenue and earnings per share were higher than expected in the second quarter, and Azure/cloud growth is expected. Cloud and More Personal Computing guidance for the third quarter were above consensus, while Productivity and Business Processes advice was in line.

Automatic Data Processing was down by 9% as 2Q sales and EPS figures were above consensus, and FY22 projection on EPS growth and revenue growth was raised.

F5 was down by 8.5% as Revenue, EPS, and operating income were all higher than expected in the first quarter. Revenue projection for the second quarter was lower than expected. Revenue projection for FY22 has been reduced by management.

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Apple released financial figures for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, blowing past market expectations and showing a record-breaking 11 percent increase in sales. Aside from the firm’s iPad revenue, things were looking upon the hardware front, with iPhone sales reaching $71.63 billion, a 9 percent year-over-year rise. These findings are even more impressive when considering current global supply chain issues and chip shortages. Nonetheless, supply chain bottlenecks have disproportionately impacted smaller enterprises with less negotiating power with suppliers. Meanwhile, Apple has capitalised on its recent success in China, holding the number one slot at the top of its market share ranking.

Google invests in Bharti Airtel to boost India push! Love from an Airtel sim user

Here are some Notable Movers:

ServiceNow was up by 9% as Q4 profits, revenue, and OM were all higher than expected; billings were higher than expected, and cRPO growth was outstanding; management emphasised the rising amount of $1M+ transactions, and the 2022 forecast was generally well-received.

Netflix was up by Bill Ackman said that his Pershing Square hedge fund has taken a $1.1 billion investment in Netflix following its recent selloff; he is bullish on the scope of the streaming industry and its content pipeline.

Tesla was down by 11.6% as Automotive GM beat estimates for Q4 EPS, revenue, EBITDA, and FCF; said it expects 50 percent average annual growth in vehicle deliveries in the coming years, though supply chain issues that have forced factories to run below capacity are expected to continue through 2022; The product plan, which lacked the $25K vehicle and cost information around Cybertruck, also disappointed Wall Street analysts.

Intel was down by 7% as Q4 results were better on enterprise and desktop strength; however, cloud declined again, raising concerns; Q1 revenue guidance was better but EPS was 7% lower, with takeaways focusing on GM headwinds and higher operating expenses; some firms also reiterated concerns about an increasingly difficult competitive environment and strategic risks.

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Citrix said on Monday that it would be taken private in a $16.5 billion deal with Elliott Management and Vista Equity for $104 per share. The transaction is one of the largest tech buyouts in history, and it is the first buyout valued at more than $10 billion in 2022. Citrix is preparing to combine with TIBCO Software, another Vista portfolio company, to bet on the future of hybrid work and the continuous need for business management software. In a statement, Citrix’s interim CEO, Bob Calderoni, stated his optimism that “…with Tibco, [Citrix] will be able to operate with greater scale and provide a larger customer base with a broader range of solutions…”.

Sony is buying Halo videogame creator Bungie in a deal valued at nearly $3.6B to combat the Microsoft - Activision Deal. At the same time, Bungie denied that Bungie would not become Playstation exclusives though there’s a growing suspicion around the same. Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, reiterated that sentiment in a separate blog post. “Bungie’s technical expertise, coupled with their track record of building highly engaged communities, make them a natural fit for a collaboration with PlayStation Studios,”

AT&T said it would roughly halve its dividend payout after its spinoff of WarnerMedia as it looks to boost investment in 5G wireless and fibre-optic services.

Shopify CEO joins Coinbase Board of Directors. Lütke will help Coinbase with its expansion plans as the crypto exchange targets newer products that appeal to crypto traders and investors internationally, Coinbase said in a note. “We hope to unlock crypto’s potential to increase economic freedom in the same way Shopify democratized online commerce,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a press statement.

Cryptocurrency Exchange FTX Hits $32B valuation The FTX’s valuation increased to $32 billion in a fresh investment round disclosed on Monday. FTX, with its new $400 million Series C funding round, is one of the world’s major exchanges, competing with Coinbase and Binance. The Bahamas-based firm provides derivatives and spot trading but is not available to U.S. traders (although FTX U.S., its sister exchange, is). When asked if the business may consider an IPO, Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s CEO and co-founder, have been mainly dismissive, adding that “we [FTX] don’t feel like we have any particular need to do that.” For the time being, the company’s primary focus is on gaining licences around the Western World and continuing to create new goods.

Morgan Stanley appeals to crypto investors to be calm as it calls a 50% drop of Bitcoin normal.

Here are some Notable Movers:

Spotify was up by 14% as Citi upgraded to buy as part of its U.S. Internet note. The firm issued a blog post on platform rules and its COVID-19 strategy.

Netflix was up by 11% as it was upgraded to buy at Citi, part of its U.S. Internet note.

L3Harris Technology was down by 4.3% as earnings were up in the fourth quarter, but sales fell short; Space/Airborne Systems were a poor place due to the modernization shift in airborne and classified programme timing in Intel and Cyber; With the impact of the R&D tax credit reform, FY22 projection was lower than expected by the Street.

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SpaceX rolls out a premium service - Starlink Satellite internet at $500 per month. Here’s what you should know: The new SpaceX product costs five times as much as ordinary service: a $500 refundable deposit, a $2,500 price for the antenna and router, and $500 each month in service.
The first premium deliveries, according to the Starlink website, will commence in the second quarter.
In contrast to the basic offering, which only guarantees service at a certain service address, SpaceX claims that Starlink Premium can connect from everywhere.

PayPal’s stock plummeted on its worst day ever after the business reported it had cancelled 4.5 million accounts, cutting its projection for new clients. The firm is revising its whole marketing approach and no longer expects to reach its target of 750 million active users by 2025. PayPal’s unexpected shift in approach, along with a pretty poor earnings report, was enough to send investors fleeing. Although PayPal has cautioned analysts that an overall fall in consumer spending has prompted it to modify its estimates, competition from traditional payment firms is harming the company. Despite Omicron’s impact, rising inflation, and a lack of stimulus, American Express, Visa, and Mastercard all recently reported solid results and projections. Aside from the possibility of a regulatory crackdown, there are other factors to consider.

Google may have a stock split, there’s a lot of speculation surrounding the same, on top of it its parent, Alphabet inches closer to $2T Market Value. Google’s decision to split its $3,000 stock is stoking bets on inclusion into the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but a similar move by Amazon could make things complicated for index managers.

Here were some notable movers:

Google was up by 7.5% as its 4Q revenue and EPS were above consensus it also announced a 20:1 Stock split.

AMD was up by 5% as its 4Q revenue, EBITDA, and EPS were above consensus. 1Q/FY revenue guidance was above consensus.

Paypal was down by 25% as Earnings and forecast fell short, with multiple several sell-side downgrades.