vestact posted: " Market Scorecard Yesterday, US markets closed mostly higher thanks to pleasing results from big retailers, Walmart and Home Depot. Our favourite, the tech-heavy Nasdaq lagged behind a little. Big picture - sentiment continues to improve and more i" Vestact - Money with a dash of funny
Yesterday, US markets closed mostly higher thanks to pleasing results from big retailers, Walmart and Home Depot. Our favourite, the tech-heavy Nasdaq lagged behind a little. Big picture - sentiment continues to improve and more investors are rediscovering their love for equities.
As mentioned, Walmart rose 5.1% after reporting earnings that beat estimates, less than a month after it had issued a profit warning. Elsewhere, Home Depot climbed 4.1% after the general supplies and DIY supplier posted record quarterly sales. The market ignored some comments from the management team about declining transaction tickets per customer.
In summary, the JSE All-share was up 1.08%, the S&P 500 rose 0.19%, but the Nasdaq closed 0.19% lower.
Our 10c Worth
One Thing, From Paul
People talk a lot about electric vehicles (EVs). Everyone wants to own one, it seems. I do too! My first prize would be to retire my 1993 model Mercedes Benz 190E one day and go straight to a Tesla Model 3. Hopefully, they will be on sale in South Africa soon.
I'm also a Tesla shareholder. Some think it's a bad investment because CEO Elon Musk is a mercurial character. He certainly has a number of distracting side projects on the go, like SpaceX, Twitter, and raising eight children.
The more common criticism is that Tesla shares are overvalued, and that once the other auto manufacturers, like Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, and GM really get going, Tesla will be swept aside.
I think that's unlikely. Firstly, Tesla has a massive lead over the rest, because it has an all-electric production platform that is global and already profitable. Secondly, the demand for new EVs is huge and growing. In other words, there is lots of space for everyone.
Here are some statistics from Axios to make my point. There are 278 million cars on the road in the US, including all SUVs and pickups. EVs still account for only about 0.6% of that fleet. Less than 5% of new vehicles sold in the US today are EVs. Yet many governments want to ban the sale of petrol and diesel-engine vehicles soon.
This industry is in its infancy. Send some money now to buy yourself some Tesla shares and go along for the ride.
Michael's Musings
Google and Apple are going to war over text messaging. Android, Google's cellphone operating system, has launched a campaign called #GetTheMessage, which aims to get users to pressure Apple into changing their messaging setup. Google says that Apple's refusal to change compromises user experience and security.
If you are an Apple user, you will have noticed a green text box when messaging Android devices, compared to the blue text box for other iPhone users. The experience of sending messages to other iPhones is seamless and completely secure, but that breaks down when leaving the Apple ecosystem. For Apple, there is no incentive to change. They want to keep people locked in and encourage others to join. In some social settings, it is frowned upon when a message is delivered via a green text box instead of a blue one.
Android has 87% of the global smartphone market, but only 45% in the US. This campaign from Google highlights the strength of Apple's brand, where something as basic as a text message is enough to sway people to buy an iPhone.
Bright's Banter
Andreessen Horowitz is probably the most prominent venture capital company. Also known by the abbreviation a16z, they just announced that they will invest in Adam Neumann's new residential real estate company, Flow. Neumann is the guy that built up WeWork, the very prominent co-working space company. In that project, Neumann was backed by SoftBank and many billions of USD were incinerated. WeWork was meant to revolutionise how we use office space, but long story short, it was a financial disaster.
Flow will focus on residential rentals and again is touted as something that will shake up the existing industry. They plan to operate 3 000 apartment units in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, and Nashville. Neumann is a man who has "visions" and this time he says his rental units will have more community-oriented features than ordinary rental homes.
The worst part is that Flow doesn't even exist yet. The investment of $350 million by a16z values the company at more than $1 billion before it even opens its doors. Am I the only one getting a sense of deja vu?
There's an Apple TV series starring Jared Leto as Adam Neumann, called "WeCrashed". The show depicts the meteoric rise and disastrous fall of WeWork, and Adam's unusual love story with business partner Rebekah Neumann, played by Anne Hathaway. It's worth a watch. One Twitter user said he doesn't mind if a16z burns through $350 million, so long as we get an amusing second season.
Stocks are up in Asia amid speculation that China may roll out more stimulus initiatives to perk up its ailing economy. China's Premier Li Keqiang asked local officials from six key provinces that account for 40% of the economy to bolster pro-growth measures. Markets in Hong Kong, Japan, and mainland China increased, while South Korea was the black sheep.
US equity futures have bobbed up and down, first slightly up and then slightly down. Not conclusive. The Rand is trading at around R16.40 to the US Dollar.
No comments:
Post a Comment