AnalytixInsight

Last week, Nasdaq and growth names were more damaged as industrials, infrastructure, housing, energy sectors and some retail, travel, medical, transportation and financial names held up better. Dow Jones rose 0.6%, S&P lost 0.3% and Nasdaq fell 1.9%. SoftBank’s Vision Fund unit recorded quarterly investment gains for the first time in six quarters. Nikkei reported that chip design company Arm is set to go public on the Nasdaq later this year, with an IPO valued at more than US$60 billion. Apple, Samsung, Nvidia, Intel, and other leading chipmakers will invest in the IPO. Design App Canva was valued at US$25.5 billion in the secondary market, ~36% lower than its most recent financing in September 2021. WeWork warned it has ‘substantial doubt’ about whether it can keep going as a business. PENN Entertainment stock jumped 20% after striking US$2 billion sports-betting deal with ESPN. Nvidia revealed a new A.I. chip, and said costs of running LLMs will ‘drop significantly’. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday aimed at regulating new U.S. investments and expertise that supports Chinese development of sensitive technologies. China’s internet giants ordered US$5 billion of Nvidia chips. Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent and Alibaba have made orders worth US$1 billion to acquire about 100,000 A800 processors. GM said all of its EVs will be able to power your home by 2026. In Canada, Algonquin Power & Utilities announced the resignation of its CEO and said it was considering a sale of its renewable energy unit, after activist firms urged action to reduce debt and boost earnings. Sophic Client Legend Power announced a proposed second tranche of its offering. Sophic Client OneSoft announced release dates for Q2 2023 results, as the stock hit a 52 week high. Vancouver fusion energy company General Fusion raised $33.5 millionin what it called the first close of its Series F raise.

As we suggested in our July 23rd post tech stocks got bumpy on earnings last week. Nasdaq lost 2.85%, S&P 500 index fell 2.3%, and Dow Jones was down 1.1%. While most companies have reported earnings, there are more in the coming week, after which market participants can have a better picture of whether the market rally is at an inflection point. Apple lost 7% last week as sales fell, while profits rose on a services shift. Arm is aiming for a US$60 billion valuation in September IPO. New Relic is being taken private by TPG and Francisco Partners in a US$6.5 billion all-cash deal amid stiff competition in the application performance monitoring space from rival software companies Datadog and Dynatrace. CoreWeave, a cloud provider that rents servers with Nvidia’s graphics processing units has secured a US$2.3 billion loan to buy more GPUs and expand its footprint of data centers. Disney’s ESPN is plotting its streaming future, seeking tie-ups with leagues and rivals. Walmart is expanding its in-store advertising initiatives, including at checkout. Meta is reportedly developing a range of AI-powered chatbots with different personalities, a move aimed at increasing user engagement. SEC reportedly asked Coinbase to halt all trading—except for Bitcoin. AMD is plans an AI chip debut by year-end, with a China AI opportunity. Sophic Client Legend Power announced the closing of a non-brokered Private Placement pursuant to the Listed Issuer Exemption for $2.3 million gross proceeds. Sophic Client UGE International announced a Best Efforts Overnight Marketed Offering of up to US$5 million of project development green bonds, which the company announced was oversubscribed along with key new hires and appointments. Shopify Q2 revenues beat guidance, helped by a price hike. National Bank acquired Silicon Valley Bank’s Canadian portfolio.

After a big tech earnings week, with Apple and Amazon to report in the coming week: Nasdaq was up 2%, S&P 500 climbed 1%, and Dow Jones a snapped a 13-day win streak on Thursday, but still managed to close the week up 0.7%. Alphabet added US$111 billion in market value after showing progress on AI in Q2 earnings. Volkswagenplans to invest US$700 million in Xpeng and jointly develop electric vehicles in China. Facebook has more than 3 billion monthly active users, and Threads could be Meta’s next social network with 1 billion users. Elizabeth Warren and Lindsey Graham want to create a new regulatory agency that will oversee tech companies on a broad range of issues. Walmart launched a new travel benefit for members of its Walmart+ subscription as it continues to add features in a bid to compete with Amazon’s Prime membership and convert wealthier shoppers to frequent Walmart customers. Apple card notched roughly 10 million users earlier this year. EU passed a law to blanket highways with fast EV chargers by end of 2025. Seven of the largest automakers announced a joint venture to create a sprawling vehicle recharging network across North America, even as Reuters reported Tesla formed a team last year to thwart driving range complaints. In Canada, Dialogue will be acquired by Sun Life at a 43% premium. CGI will invest $1 billion to expand its AI capabilities. Shopify announced it will expand into credit cards. EMERGE announced it will sell WagJag for $1 million (acquired for$500K), and continue to prioritize strengthening its balance sheet and unlocking savings.

Last week, Dow Jones rose 2.1% and is on a 10-day win streak, the longest in six years. S&P 500 rose 0.8%, while Nasdaq lost 0.6%, largely due to Thursday’s 2.05% fall. Next week, we expect earnings from Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta, at the same time, the Fed is expected to raise rates. Outlook comments from any of these events could send tech stocks on another leg down. Newly listed Oddity shares closed up more than 35% from their IPO price. The company joins a list of other recent strong debuts in the consumer sector including fast-casual chain Cava. Microsoft added US$154 billion in market value after it announces US$30 per month AI subscription. SpaceX forecasts doubling of revenue to US$8 billion. Cathie Wood’s flagship exchange-traded fund has rallied more than 50% this year, but Investors have pulled a net US$717 million from the ETF over the past 12 months. Apple is using custom ‘Apple GPT’ chatbot internally as it plans for generative AI features in 2024. ESPN reportedly held talks with the NFL, NBA and MLB for minority stakes. TSMC Arizona chip production has been delayed from 2024 to 2025. In Canada, Sophic Client Legend Power announced a minimum $2 million non-brokered private placement pursuant to the listed issuer exemption. A multinational industry leader entered into a multi-year agreement with Sophic Client OneSoft to deploy the Company’s Cognitive Integrity Management SaaS solution. Sophic Client UGE International achieved a notice to proceed milestone for a 1.3MW rooftop community solar project in New York City. The project is estimated to produce an average of $286K annual revenue, over at least 25 years, at ~85% Gross Margins. CEO Nick Blitterswyck also provided an update for investors as the Company’s backlog is approaching 100 MW year to date. EMERGE announced the closing of a Private Placement for gross proceeds of ~$750K. U.S. mortgage data vendor Black Knight will sell its Optimal Blue business for US$700 million to Constellation Software.