Reads
- Dalio Warns of Consequences of ‘More Intense’ China-US Friction
- Engineers From Taiwan Bolstered China’s Chip Industry
- Why Berkshire Hathaway’s Latest Big Bet
- Apple Prepares to Get Made-in-US Chips in Pivot From Asia
- A Parade of Tankers Has Eased Europe’s Energy Crisis
- Inflation in Britain Reaches 11.1 Percent, Led by Energy Costs
- ECB’s Visco Says Case Growing for Less Aggressive Rate Hikes
- Investors Warn of More Pain Ahead as Valuations Slide: NEF Wrap
- Lowering Inflation
- Fed’s Michael Barr Says Crypto Turmoil
- FTX Came Dangerously Close to Upending Futures Markets
- FTX’s In-House Performance Coach Is Just as Surprised as You Are
- Facebook Parent Meta Sees Executive Exodus in India
- Target Earnings, Sales Sapped as Consumers Pull Back
- Lowe’s Reports Revenue Increase, Beating Wall Street’s Expectations
- Disney Sets Higher Price for Magic Kingdom in First for Company
- Estée Lauder Agrees to Buy Tom Ford Brand in $2.8 Billion Deal
- Tesla Projections
Options
Futures
PREMIUM
PREPPER
Former President Donald Trump formally filed a notice of a third run for the White House Tuesday night - setting up a two-year fight for the heart of the Republican Party, following a midterm election that largely went the Democrats' way. He may be in for a rough fight after last Tuesday's runaway re-election of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the few Republican high points from the midterm elections - and amid an increasing groundswell over the past few days of key GOP leadership urging a break with the party's recent past (namely Trump), and a look toward DeSantis as the future. "Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, America's comeback starts right now," Trump told a crowd at his Mar-a-Lago home.
"Two years ago, we were a great nation, and soon we will be a great nation again," Trump said. Trump is launching a campaign that, depending on whom you talk to, either significantly boosts or seriously hampers the GOP's chances for reclaiming the U.S. presidency in '24 - and with that, improving prospects for industries often benefiting from Republican leadership, such as coal and energy stocks including Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Peabody Energy (BTU), Arch Resources (ARCH), Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP) and Consol Energy (CEIX); large employers that would benefit from minimum wage limits, such as Walmart (WMT), McDonald's (MCD), Kroger (KR) and Target (TGT); and defense stocks including Lockheed Martin (LMT), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and General Dynamics (GD).
That's not to mention the so-called "Trump SPAC" Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the special-purpose acquisition company linked with efforts to take the Trump Media and Technology Group public. Phunware (PHUN) stock might move on the latest news; the company was hired by Trump's 2020 campaign to create a smartphone application, and the stock has made volatile Trump-related moves along the way (it also jumped 38% on Nov. 7). Trump's media efforts are also connected to conservative-focused video site Rumble (RUM), and his page on the site was one of many live-streaming his announcement. Rumble provides cloud hosting for Trump's Truth Social media platform.
It would be remiss to skip over Rupert Murdoch's media empire, including Fox News (FOX) (FOXA) and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp. (NWS) (NWSA). Trump and Murdoch's media were closely intertwined during the Trump presidency, and Trump made frequent call-in appearances to shows including Fox & Friends and Hannity. Recently, Murdoch's papers and stations have demonstrated that turn away from Trump after the midterm disappointment - the New York Post ran a post-election cartoon cover of "Trumpty Dumpty" - but having a Trump race to cover again could be a difference-maker for newspapers and programs that often made Trump their No. 1 story. (317 comments)
Berkshire Hathaway's (BRK.B) (BRK.A) significant new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) spurred a healthy rally in other semiconductor stocks on Tuesday as investors searched for signs that the industry may be on the rebound.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) shares rose more than 10%, while other chip names also gained, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nvidia (NVDA) and Marvell Technology (MRVL), all of which are Taiwan Semiconductor customers. AMD (AMD) and Marvell (MRVL) tacked on more than 3%, while Nvidia (NVDA) added more than 2%.
Nvidia (NVDA), which some analysts believe is still dealing with some short-term issues that have impacted the company's financials, is slated to report third-quarter results after the close of trading Wednesday. (35 comments)
NASA’s most powerful rocket in 50 years lifted off overnight, taking an unmanned capsule on a mission to the moon. Artemis I lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B towards the moon at 1:47 a.m. local time (6:47 a.m. GMT).
Earlier, the launch came across new obstacle because of a faulty ethernet switch in the radar sites. NASA said: "The Eastern Range and launch teams have since resolved an issue that caused a loss of signal from a radar site and are currently conducting required tests to ensure communication and tracking of the rocket and spacecraft."
Wednesday's flight followed two previous launch attempts in August and September that were aborted during the countdown because of technical glitches. Last week, NASA left SLS and Orion out on the launchpad to weather the winds of Hurricane Nicole.
Boeing (BA), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings (AJRD) worked together to build parts of the SLS rocket. Lockheed Martin (LMT) oversaw the development of Orion. (4 comments)
Also in geopolitics, the international community is trying to determine the facts on the ground after a missile strike in Poland killed two people. Reports said that the missiles were made in Russia, but President Joe Biden reportedly told allies that the blast was caused by Ukraine's air defense. Poland is a NATO member and world leaders are having an emergency meeting at the G20 summit in Bali.
Gold (XAUUSD:CUR) (GLD) rose yesterday following reports of the blast and is up 0.3% Wednesday. The STOXX Europe 600 (STOXX) is down 0.4%. But investors aren’t taking risk off the table, with stock index futures (SPX) (NDX:IND) (INDU) slightly higher. The euro (FXE) erased its gains against the U.S. dollar (DXY) and is gaining ground on the greenback again. (24 comments)
Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +0.14%. Hong Kong -0.47%. China -0.55%. India +0.17%.
In Europe, at midday, London -0.05%. Paris -0.46%. Frankfurt -0.88%.
Futures at 6:30, Dow +0.04%. S&P -0.01%. Nasdaq -0.15%. Crude +0.31% to $87.19. Gold +0.50% to $1785.60. Bitcoin -0.28% to $16,748.
Ten-year Treasury Yield -1.1 bps to 3.786%
Today's Economic Calendar
7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Import/Export Prices
9:15 Industrial Production
9:50 Fed's Williams Speech
10:00 Business Inventories
10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index
10:00 Fed's Barr Speech
10:00 Atlanta Fed's Business Inflation Expectations
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $15B, 20-Year Bond Auction
2:35 PM Fed's Waller Speech
4:00 PM Treasury International Capital
Companies reporting earnings today »
What else is happening...
Kevin O'Leary says his FTX account balances plunged to zero; takes aim at Bitbuy.
Disney (DIS) World boosts prices as parks demand continues surge.
Apple (AAPL) CEO Cook says tech giant will start sourcing chips from Arizona in 2024: report.
Carnival (CCL) stock slides 11% after the bell on $1B senior note offering.
Financial titans start 12-week digital dollar pilot with New York Fed.
Crypto lender BlockFi gets ready for potential bankruptcy in face of FTX contagion.
Liquidators for FTX assets approved by Bahamas' supreme court; SBF takes to Twitter.
Home Depot (HD) results impress analysts, raise the bar for Lowe’s (LOW).