AnalytixInsight

Thursday was the last trading day in Q1, which saw S&P 500 up 10.2%, its best Q1 since 2019. Dow Jones gained 5.7%, its strongest Q1 since 2021. Nasdaq was up 9.2%. For the week, S&P 500 was up 0.4%, setting an intraday all-time high Thursday. Dow Jones Industrial rose 0.8%, and set a record close Thursday. Nasdaq composite lost 0.3%, just below its peak. WSJ notes when S&P 500 gains over 8% in Q1, it has finished higher for the rest of the year 94% of the time, with an average gain of 9.7% for the final three quarters. Amazon on Wednesday said it would commit US$4 billion to Anthropic, capping the second-biggest fundraising by an AI startup in recent memory. Reddit stock’s stellar market debut has drawn significant bearish bets, data from analytics company Ortex on Wednesday showed. The most popular DWAC options eye a 95% plunge over next month. DraftKings shares slumped on news NCAA wants to ban college prop bets. Robinhood stock surged as much as 7% on Wednesday after the company launched a solid gold credit card that offers its users 3% cashback rewards. Elon Musk said Tesla Optimus robot should cost ‘less than half of a car’. Sophic Capital Client, ADM Endeavors, received final building permits for its new Texas facility. Once completed, the facility could increase production capacity by up to five times, significantly increasing current maximum in-house revenue capacity of US$7 million. Quisitive announced an agreement to sell BankCard USA, which could unlock shareholder value. Canadian pension fund PSP will co-lead a funding round in Toronto based Cohere at a US$5 billion valuation. Four school boards in Canada Wednesday filed lawsuits against Meta Platforms, Snap and TikTok parent ByteDance, claiming the social media platforms have harmed children’s mental health and disrupted the education systems.

The market had another strong week, buoyed by a dovish Fed, bullish AI prospects and a couple positive IPO debuts. Major indexes performed well, hitting record highs, and then backing off Thursday’s intraday highs. For the week, Dow Jones was up 2%, S&P 500 gained 2.3%, Nasdaq composite rose 2.85%. The IPO pop is back — Reddit ended its first day on the public markets up 48% from its offering price. Astera Labs, ended its Thursday above US$64, about a three-quarters rise from its IPO price two days ago. Walmart-backed Ibotta filed for an IPO. CoreWeave, a cloud computing provider that’s among the hottest startups in the artificial intelligence race, is in talks to raise equity capital in a transaction that would more than double its valuation to US$16 billion. Telegram raised US$330 million through a corporate bond issued last week. The government of Saudi Arabia plans to raise US$40 billion for a fund focused on artificial intelligence investments, partnering with Andreessen Horowitz. Nvidia on Monday unveiled its next artificial intelligence chips, Blackwell, during its annual conference for app developers. The Justice Department and several states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday. In Canada, Sophic Client, Kraken Robotics, announced $2.4 million of sonar and subsea power contracts. Abaxx announced the upsizing of its Bought Deal financing to $16.25 million. Nuvei, is nearing a buyout deal. Private-equity firm Advent International is in advanced talks with Nuvei for a transaction that could be announced soon, according to the WSJ. Hamilton-based oncology firm Fusion Pharmaceuticals will be acquired by AstraZeneca for up to US$2.4 billion. Toronto based Cohere, is in advanced talks to raise US$500 million at a valuation of about US$5 billion. Cohere was valued at US$2.2 billion last June when it raised US$270 million.

Markets remain at a crossroads. After seemingly poised to set new highs Tuesday, major indexes pulled back Friday. Dow Jones closed the week marginally down, S&P 500 lost 0.1%, Nasdaq composite lost 0.7%. Telegram is nearing profitability and is considering a IPO, according to the company’s founder. Stripe is in “no rush” to go public after the US$65 billion payments company returned to positive cash flow and raised its private market valuation. Technology start-ups have slashed equity packages for new hires as they weather a prolonged downturn, according to new data from Carta. Nvidia could be worth US$6 trillion if it follows Cisco’s dot-com trajectory, says Jeremy Siegel. Salesforce invested in Nvidia server reseller, Together AI at a US$1.25 billion valuation. Bitcoin’s record high boosted Coinbase, Microstrategy shares, as short sellers have lost US$3.3 billion betting against MicroStrategy this year. Despite inflation headlines everywhere, Canadian tech companies appear to be on sale. Three take outs were announced just last week, highlighting a key issue capital markets participants have long articulated – a lack of innovation focused risk capital in the country. TrueContext announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Battery Ventures in an all-cash transaction. mdf commerce entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by KKR, some investors suggested they may vote against the transaction based on valuation. Apple earlier this year acquired DarwinAI, a Canadian startup developing AI software to visually inspect components during manufacturing. Even though the stock of Sophic Capital client Kraken Robotics has surged over 150% in the past six months, it still appears undervalued when compared to its peers. We published a report highlighting if Kraken were to trade inline with defense technology peers, the stock would be worth $1.85 per share or 68% upside from the closing price on March 12, 2024, of $1.10.