Welcome Back,

Microsoft acquisition back on the cards? US debt ceiling still on deck.

Let’s keep it concise.

Market Headlines 👀

• Microsoft (MSFT) deal to acquire Activision Blizzard receives EU approval.

• US President Biden is set to meet with House Speaker McCarthy and other key officials tomorrow to continue US debt ceiling discussions.

• US Department of Justice DOJ says they will further crackdown on crypto exchanges and digital platforms.

• Amazon (AMZN) is looking to add ChapGPT like search capabilities to its website for product search.

• US NY Empire manufacturing comes in at -31.8; est: -4.0.

• US Securities and Exchange commission is not considering a ban on short-selling.

• Apple (AAPL) ramps up testing of the faster M3 chips for its products.

• Tesla (TSLA) will have its annual meeting in Texas tomorrow and Elon Musk will join CNBC following the call at 6pm EST.

• Netflix (NFLX) plans to cut $300m in spending this year the company states.

• Tudor Investment Corporation founder and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones believes the Fed is done raising rates.

• Carlyle Group is weighing entry into India’s private credit market.

• Argentina is increasing interest rates to 97% as inflation continues to be a challenge for the country.

• G7 leaders are targeting Russia energy and trade in a new set of sanctions being discussed.

• Facebook (META) announces new ChatLock feature for WhatsApp to enhance privacy.

Earnings 💸

• Monday.com (MNDY)

  • EPS: $0.14 beats (exp. $-0.28)

  • Revenue: $162.3m beats (exp. $155.3m)

S&P 500 Heap Map

Recap Around the Street 🧠

One can argue that the negative returns to U.S. equities in 2022 had already discounted the expected earnings recession of 2023 not to mention higher interest rates and that this year’s positive return is discounting both an earnings recovery in 2024 and lower interest rates from a Fed pivot. (Contributed by Benjamin Lavine, CIO at 3D/L Capital).

Professional investors hold a more sanguine view on risk asset volatility than do the retail audience, arguably more susceptive to general media reporting of market troubles. Think of institutional investors as having about a 0.7 beta to retail investors. More muted gloom vs euphoria sentiment depending on overall sentiment. (Contributed by Benjamin Lavine, CIO at 3D/L Capital).

Market Preview 🎞️

• Tuesday, May 16th: Retail sales; New York Fed services business activity; business inventories; NAHB housing market index

• Tuesday earnings: Home Depot (HD), Sea Limited and PaySafe (PSFE)

• Wednesday, May 17th: MBA mortgage applications; Housing starts and building permits; Japan GDP; Eurozone CPI

• Wednesday earnings: Target (TGT), Dynatrace (DT), D-Local (DLO), Cisco (CSCO), TJX Companies (TJX), and Wix.com (WIX)

• Thursday, May 18th: Jobless claims; Philadelphia Fed business outlook; existing home sales; conference board leading index

• Thursday earnings: Alibaba Group (BABA), Walmart (WMT), Grab Holdings (GRAB), Applied Materials (AMAT), and Farfetch (FTCH)

• Friday, May 19th: Powell and Barnanke at Thomas Laubach research conference speech in D.C. ; Japan CPI

• Friday earnings: Foot Locker (FL) and John Deere (DE)

That’s all for today, folks! We’ll be back around the same time tomorrow with a curated list of important news, economic data and market highlights. 

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