AnalytixInsight

Last week, Dow Jones Industrial dropped 3% in its fourth straight weekly loss, S&P 500 lost 2.7%, and Nasdaq fell 3.3%. The US 10-year Treasury yield was up 12 basis points to 3.95%, its highest level since Nov. 10, and up 62 basis points from the recent stock market peak on Feb. 2. Venture capital firms raised US$20.6 billion for new funds in the fourth quarter, a 65% drop from the same period the year prior and the lowest fourth quarter capital raise since 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported. KKR-backed BMC plans IPO valuing it at up to US$15 billion. Shared micromobility giant Lime reports first profitable year, tests the waters for IPO. DOJ preps antitrust suit to block Adobe’s US$20 billion Figma deal. Nvidia shares rose nearly 9% despite precipitous declines in revenue and earnings per share compared to last year, as investors seemed relieved that the results weren’t worse. Block’s Cash app grows to 51 million users. Coinbase revenue falls 75% as trading slumps. Tesla rival Lucid’s stock slides 10% after it says it’ll make fewer electric cars than expected this year. After cutting 11,000 jobs last fall, Meta is reportedly set to execute what could be another major round of layoffs as it tries to trim expenses. Tencent is in talks with Meta to sell its Quest 2 virtual-reality headset in China. Microsoft limits Bing chat to five replies to stop the AI from getting real weird. Netflix cuts subscription prices in over 30 countries. In Canada, NowVertical announced the terms of its $5 million marketed public offering of units. Lighthouse Labs, TechNL each secure over $20 million in federal funding for tech upskilling programs. Vancouver-based Web3 company Dapper Labs is facing a lawsuit claiming that its NBA Top Shot Moments NFTs constitute unregistered securities. TELUS investigating leak of stolen source code, employee data.

Last week, major indices ended mixed as the Dow Jones fell 0.1%, S&P 500 was down 0.3% and Nasdaq rose 0.6%. After a record Super Bowl, FanDuel parent Flutter Entertainment said it is considering listing on a U.S. stock exchange. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway buys even more AAPL stock, ditches most of its TSMC. Airbnb posts a record Q4 as travel recovers post-pandemic. Roblox shares soar 27% as gains in users and virtual currency purchases lift quarterly results. Robinhood sees pop in crypto trading in January. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest snatches up US$9.2 million of Coinbase stock after the crypto exchange’s massive January rally. George Soros’ fund reveals it’s betting against Silvergate as the crypto-friendly bank is probed over its ties to FTX. Bakkt to shutter consumer-facing app, focus on B2B crypto services. Meta Platforms may do more layoffs. Twilio cuts 17% of its workforce just months after previous round of layoffs. Tesla recalls 363,000 cars over full self-driving software. Ford’s EVs are getting faster charging and more affordable batteries thanks to new chemistry. Apple delays AR/VR headset launch again, now expects to unveil the device at WWDC. TikTok’s parent takes on Meta in battle for virtual-reality market with its two year old Pico acquisition. In Canada, Descartes acquired GroundCloud for US$138 million, as despite recent market volatility, its stock price has remained consistent in its growth trajectory. BBTV secured a $21.6 million loan to pay off an overdraft facility. Sophic Capital client Jasper Commerce, closed a first tranche of convertible debenture unit financing of $636,500 (full offering size of $500,000 plus a partial exercise of the over-allotment option). The Company may close further tranches of the over-allotment up to $113,500.

Last week, the Dow Jones ended down 0.2%,S&P 500 fell 1.1%, and Nasdaq composite was 2.4%. At the same time, the 10-year Treasury yield was up 21 basis points to 3.74%. SoftBank Group reported a net loss of nearly US$6 billion for the three months through December, largely because of the Japanese company’s Vision Fund investments, which tumbled for a fourth straight quarter. Retail investors are piling into small-cap firms that employ artificial intelligence amid intensifying competition between tech titans. Alphabet slides 9% after a report the tech titan’s ad for its new Google AI chatbot Bard had inaccurate information. C3.ai extends its year-to-date rally to 176% after buzz around ChatGPT drives investor interest in artificial intelligence. Microsoft Activision acquisition provisionally blocked; might be forced to sell Call of Duty. Sumo Logic to be taken private by Francisco Partners in US$1.7 billion deal. Ford sells majority stake in Rivian after reporting US$7.3 billion write-down. Robinhood took a US$57 million hit after a glitch allowed its customers to short a surging meme stock. Amazon is adding a round-the-clock sports gambling channel to its ad-supported streaming service, FreeVee. Newly returned Disney CEO Bob Iger is cutting 7,000 jobs and reorganizing the company. In Canada, Edmonton-based Jobber, which provides operations management software for home service businesses, has secured US$100 million in Series D funding led by New York growth equity investor General Atlantic. A fight brews over Magnet Forensics’ proposed $1.8 billion acquisition by Thoma Bravo. Hut 8 Mining Corp will merge with rival US Bitcoin Corp. Converge increased its global revolving credit facility by $100 million to $600 million. Sophic Client Real Luck Group announces continued growth in 2023 as its registered player base now exceeds 250,000.

Last week, the Dow Jones dipped 0.2%, S&P 500 rose 1.6%, and Nasdaq composite was up 3.3%. The small-cap Russell 2000 sprinted 3.9% higher. According to the WSJ, The Nasdaq has been a star performer, gaining 15% over the past five weeks in its best such stretch since May 2020. Sophic Client Clear Blue Technologies hosted a Corporate Update Webinar. Shopify made an investment into United States-based Triple Whale’s Series B round as the e-commerce giant continues to fund companies that support the Shopify merchant system. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a U-turn on metaverse spending as Reality Labs is hit with a new ‘efficiency’ mantra, sending the stock up 23% for the week. Google invests US$300 million in OpenAI rival Anthropic. ChatGPT may be the fastest-growing consumer app in internet history, reaching 100 million users in just over 2 months, UBS report says. China’s Baidu to launch ChatGPT-style bot in March. Berkshire Hathaway has cashed in at least US$300 million in Tesla rival BYD stock in the past month. Crypto-linked stocks are on a tear, with Coinbase, MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms up more than 100% in a month as risk appetite returns. Amazon sees AWS slowdown lasting for several quarters. Apple and Google face mounting pressure to remove TikTok from app stores. The European Union is weighing a proposal to make technology companies that use the most bandwidth, like Netflix Inc. and Alphabet Inc., to help pay for the next generation of internet infrastructure, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg. A plan by China to restrict exports of key solar manufacturing technology could delay attempts to build up a domestic solar supply chain in the U.S., industry experts say. China currently accounts for nearly all of solar ingot and wafer production globally, as well as much of the equipment used in the manufacturing process—especially for the large-scale solar panels that increasingly dominate the market.