Ten Stories Moving the Market

Ten Stories Moving the Market:

High Bandwidth Memory maker Micron Technology forecast second-quarter adjusted profit at nearly double what Wall Street analysts expected, buoyed by soaring prices for memory chips spurred by tight supplies and booming demand from artificial intelligence data centers – Reuters. (Why you should care - Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it only expects to meet half to two-thirds of customer demand in the intermediate term)

Oracle said final negotiations on an equity deal for a data center project in Michigan are “on schedule” and doesn’t include Blue Owl Capital, a firm that has helped finance massive data center projects for firms including Oracle and Meta Platforms in recent months – Bloomberg. (Why you should care – the statement comes as a rebuttal to a Financial Times article suggesting Blue Owl had decided against financing the deal)

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said the U.S. central bank still has room to cut interest rates amid rising job market weakness; he said the central bank is around 50 to 100 basis points off of neutral – Reuters. (Why you should care – Waller struck a slightly less dovish tone, saying there’s no rush to get there)

The Federal Reserve issued guidance to banks that encourages firms to engage in “certain innovative activities,” another step by U.S. regulators to welcome novel business tie-ups into the fold of traditional finance – Bloomberg. (Why you should care – the move is likely another step in promoting more widespread use of cryptocurrency products like stablecoins in the financial system) 

Chinese scientists have built a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence, smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance; it was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML, who reverse-engineered the company's extreme ultraviolet lithography machines – Reuters. (Why you should care – even though the construction took place years ahead of schedule, China still faces the difficult task of getting the equipment to operate with precision)

OpenAI has held funding talks with investors to raise tens of billions of dollars at a valuation of $750 billion, according to a report in the Information: the tech news website said the discussions were preliminary and the details could still change - Bloomberg. (Why you should care – such a valuation should be a considerable boost for Microsoft’s 27% stake in OpenAI

Alphabet's Google is working on a new initiative to make its artificial intelligence chips better at running PyTorch, the world’s most widely used AI software framework, in a move aimed at weakening Nvidia's longstanding dominance of the AI computing market – Reuters. (Wy you should care – PyTorch employs Nvidia’s CUDA platform for general-purpose GPU compute)

Coinbase Global is getting into prediction markets in a bid to become a one-stop exchange for Americans’ trading needs, the latest sign that tech platforms offering wagers on real-world events are finding their way into every corner of Wall Street – WSJ. (Why you should care – the increasing competition in the space is likely to weigh on margins moving forward)

DoorDash is launching a grocery shopping feature within ChatGPT as part of a planned partnership with OpenAI, just a week after rival Instacart announced a similar tool; with the integration, consumers can ask the artificial intelligence-powered assistant for meal or recipe suggestions, and to add the ingredients into a grocery shopping list – Bloomberg. (Why you should care – OpenAI is increasingly rolling out new ChatGPT features to monetize its AI investment)

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio and BlackRock are joining a growing list of companies and wealthy individuals who are putting money into Invest America accounts; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a website on Wednesday detailing the Trump Accounts program, which also listed Block, Mastercard, Visa, Uber Technologies, and Charter Communications as companies providing “generous support” – Bloomberg. (Why you should care – the funds will be invested into S&P 500 Index tracking stocks next year)

Economic Calendar:

Earnings – DRI, FDX, KBH, KMX, NKE

Switzerland – Exports, Imports for November (2:00 a.m.)

Riksbank (Sweden) Monetary Policy Announcement (3:30 a.m.)

Norges Bank (Norway) Monetary Policy Announcement (4:00 a.m.)

U.K. – BOE Inflation Letter (7:00 a.m.)

Bank of England monetary policy announcement (7:00 a.m.)

U.K. – BOE Meeting Minutes (7:00 a.m.)

BOE’s Bailey (Governor) Speaks (7:30 a.m.)

European Central Bank Monetary Policy Announcement (8:15 a.m.)

U.S. - Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.)

U.S. - Continuing Claims (8:30 a.m.)

U.S. – CPI for November (8:30 a.m.)

U.S. – Philly Fed Manufacturing Index for December (8:30 a.m.)

ECB’s Lagarde (President) Speaks (8:45 a.m.)

U.S. – KC Fed Manufacturing Index for December (11:00 a.m.)

Treasury Auctions $24 Billion in 5-Year TIPS (1 p.m.)

U.S. – TIC Net Long‑Term Transactions for October (4:00 p.m.)

Fed's Balance Sheet Update (4:30 p.m.)