AnalytixInsight

Last week, Dow Jones rose 0.65%, S&P 500 gained 1.1% and Nasdaq composite was up 0.9%. Investors could now pause to see big earnings and economic news, including a Fed meeting this coming week. While Wall Street cheers on Silicon Valley, tech companies are downsizing at an accelerating clip. So far in January, some 23,670 workers have been laid off from 85 tech companies. Chipmaker Cerebras systems is weighing an IPO as soon as 2024. ASML shares closed at a record high after an earnings beat, and orders pop. Elon Musk’s xAI is in talks to raise US$6 billion. The FTC started an inquiry of AI Deals involving Microsoft, OpenAI, Google, Amazon, Anthropic. Google launched a generative AI tool for search ad buyers. Figma will offer new equity packages to employees at a price that values the company at US$10 billion, 50% lower than the US$20 billion Adobe was willing to pay for the design startup in a since-scuttled deal. Tesla shares fell 10% as a vague outlook disappointed Wall Street. Some Apple Vision Pro deliveries were pushed to April, and demand remains unclear. In Canada, we are optimistic that we are beginning to see increased capital flowing into small cap innovation after nearly three years. Sophic clients, Kraken Robotics, OneSoft Solutions, and Renoworks Software are at or near their 52 week highs. Kneat upsized its previously announced bought deal public offering to $17.4 million. MediaValet will be acquired in an all-cash transaction, at a premium of 30% and 22% to the Company’s closing price and 20-day volume-weighted average price, respectively. EMERGE signed a definitive agreement to sell WholesalePet for US$9.25 million, and plans a major debt reduction. New Sophic Capital client, ADM Endeavors provided a corporate update, and expects consistent organic growth in 2024 and beyond. Renoworks announced the new Renoworks Pro Partner program and introduced Renoworks API Hub to fuel market growth.

Last week, stock markets had a strong finish. On Friday, S&P 500 rose past its January 2022 all-time high. Dow Jones closed at all-time closing high. Nasdaq, while still not still not at a record high closed at a two year high after rising 2.9%. Reddit plans to go public by the end of March. Shein faces data privacy review from Chinese regulator, potentially complicating the Company’s US IPO. Elon Musk threatened to stymie Tesla’s development in artificial intelligence and robotics if he isn’t granted more control of Tesla. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that his top priority right now is launching the next version of the company’s large language model, likely to be called GPT-5. Sam Altman also plans to establish a global network of factories to manufacture semiconductors. Meta aims to build artificial general intelligence, software that can reason like humans do, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Google and YouTube are cutting hundreds of jobs. Baidu stock sinks the most since 2022 despite denying links to PLA AI. Chip design software maker Synopsys said on Tuesday it would buy Ansys in a US$35 billion cash-and-stock deal. The European Union intends to block Amazon’s US$1.7 billion acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot. The Justice Department could sue Apple over Antitrust by March. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the legal case between Apple and Epic Games, allowing a lower court’s decision to stand that requires Apple to open up its App Store to alternative payment systems. Sophic Client Kraken Robotics’ insider buying was mentioned in the Globe and Mail. Dye & Durham announced a $126 million bought deal offering. Flexport is raising $260 million from Shopify, one of its biggest shareholders. Sophic Client UGE announced Q4 2023 milestones and business updates.