DHUnplugged #699: Flesh Wound

Markets having a tough time and a big week of data is coming. Got the 5% correction - is there more? M&A - Another deal dies PLUS we are now on Spotify and Amazon Music/Podcasts! Click HERE for Show Notes and Links DHUnplugged is now streaming live - with listener chat. Click on link on the right sidebar. Love the Show? Then how about a Donation? Follow John C. Dvorak on Twitter Follow Andrew Horowitz on Twitter DONATE - Show 700 Campaign Warm Up - Markets having a tough time - Happy Passover! - SHOW 700 coming up! - Happy belated 420 Day to our fine smoky listeners - Jumping to Conclusions - We have a limerick! Market Update - Big week(s) coming for economics - Got the 5% correction - is there more? - M&A - Another deal dies - Earnings - Tech on deck - Historic Treasury Auction this week - need to pay the bills since tax receipts not doing it and lots of debt outstanding Who Would think??? - UK - FTSE 100 at all-time high! Recap: - Microsoft Corp., Meta Platforms Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Tesla Inc., all of which are among the so-called Magnificent Seven group of tech giants, will report THIS WEEK week. - Technology stocks are selling off, with the Nasdaq 100 Index registering its biggest weekly drop since November 2022 in the midst of a four-week losing streak, its longest since December 2022. - Even AI darling Nvidia Corp. is getting hit, plunging 10% on Friday and wiping out $212 billion in market value for its worst day since the Covid pandemic in March 2020. MAG7 Profit Outlook - But hope is on the horizon. Profits for the Mag Seven — which also includes Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Nvidia — are forecast to rise 38% in the first quarter from a year ago, dwarfing the overall S&P 500’s 2.4% anticipated year-over-year earnings growth, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. - Around 178 S&P 500 companies — representing more than 40% of the index’s market capitalization — will post results next week. But the biggest expectations are for megacap tech firms. = = Nvidia, which Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s trading desk dubbed “the most important stock on planet Earth,” doesn’t report its earnings for another month. Tesla - Stock down a lot - DOWN 43% YTD - Down 65% from high set November 2021 - Tesla is recalling nearly 3,900 of its Cybertrucks due to an issue with the vehicle's accelerator pedal. - The recall, announced Wednesday, was prompted by accelerator pedal pads in the trucks that "may dislodge and cause the pedal to become trapped by the interior trim," - All of the 3,878 of the 2024 Cybertrucks that Tesla built between Nov. 13 and April 4 are subject to the recall, the electric vehicle maker’s safety recall report said. - And then: Tesla on Saturday slashed the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistant software to $8,000 from $12,000 in the United States, as CEO Elon Musk reaffirms his commitment to self-driving technology. - Musk is betting the technology will become a major source of revenue for the world's most valuable automaker. But he has for years failed to achieve the goal of self-driving capability, with the technology under growing regulatory and legal scrutiny. ----- Could be a short squeeze setting up for earnings (Tonight) - READ MORE>>>>> Tesla Earnings - Tesla misses by $0.04, misses on revs, gross margin down 199 bps yr/yr, reiterates that in 2024, vehicle volume may be notably lower than the growth rate achieved in 2023 - Total GAAP gross margin of 17.4%, down 199 bps yr/yr. - Operating expenses up 37% yr/yr to $2.53 bln. - Total Deliveries down 9% to 386,810. - Outlook: Co states, "Our company is currently between two major growth waves: the first one began with the global expansion of the Model 3/Y platform and we believe the next one will be initiated by advances in autonomy and introduction of new products, including those built on our next generation vehicle platform.