Apple kills car

Apple cancels decadelong work on electric car, BlackRock ETF hits ‘insane’ volume as Bitcoin passes $57K, Wendy’s plans Uber-style ‘surge pricing’ to fluctuate based on demand, Macy’s to close 150 stores, and American’s spend largest share of income on food in 3 decades…

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Market Briefing
February 28, 2024

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Good morning.

The Fast Five → BlackRock ETF hits ‘insane’ volume as Bitcoin passes $57K, Apple cancels decadelong work on electric car, Wendy’s plans Uber-style ‘surge pricing’ to fluctuate based on demand, Macy’s to close 150 stores, and American’s spend the largest share of income on food in 3 decades…

Calendar:

  • Today, 2/28: GDP, 8:30a ET

  • Thu, 2/29: Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), 8:30a ET

  • Fri, 3/1: Consumer sentiment (final), 10:00a ET

Your 5-minute briefing for Wednesday, February 28:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 2/27/2024.

Pre-Market:

US Investor % Bullish Sentiment:
44.28% for Wk of Feb 22 2024

Market Recap:

  • Stock futures near flatline Tue. eve.

  • Dow futures down 0.1%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq 100 down 0.08%.

  • eBay jumps 4% in after-hours; raises dividend, plans $2B buyback. Urban Outfitters falls 11% on Q4 miss.

  • S&P 500, Nasdaq up 0.17%, 0.37%; Dow slips 0.25% Tue.

  • Markets cautious, S&P, Dow off recent highs.

  • Wed: TJX, Viatris earnings AM; Salesforce PM.

  • Economic: wholesale inventories today; PCE reading Thu, Fed's inflation gauge.

EARNINGS

What we’re watching this week:

  • Today: Duolingo (DUOL)

    • Salesforce (CRM) - earnings per share of $2.09 (+24.4% YoY) on revenue of $8.5B (+1.6% YoY)

  • Thursday: Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD)

Full earnings calendar here

HEADLINES

BlackRock’s Bitcoin spot ETF surpassed $1 billion in daily trading volume on Monday. This places BlackRock’s ETF among the top 11 ETFs in terms of volume.

Apple (AAPL.O) will wind down its team working on electric cars, called Special Projects Group, according to Bloomberg.

  • US durable goods orders slump; business investment on equipment appears soft (more)

  • Treasuries mixed amid another flurry of bond sales (more)

  • FTC Chair Lina Khan takes victory lap on blocking Nvidia-Arm merger (more)

  • Oil eases as Fed caution, stock build outweighs OPEC+ news (more)

  • Americans are spending the biggest share of their income on food in 3 decades (more)

  • 401(k) ‘millionaires’ jumped 41% last year (more)

  • Country Garden faces liquidation petition in new blow to China property sector (more)

  • MicroStrategy pops 27% in two days as company’s crypto stake hits $11 billion (more)

  • Macy's will close 150 stores but expand Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury (more)

  • Wendy's planning Uber-style 'surge pricing' where burger prices fluctuate based on demand (more)

  • Warner Bros. Discovery halts merger talks with Paramount Global, sources say (more)

  • Starbucks and Workers Union agree to start negotiations (more)

  • Sony laying off 900 PlayStation employees (more)

  • Flawed valuations threaten $1.7 Trillion private credit boom (more)

A MESSAGE FROM THE RUNDOWN AI

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DEALFLOW

M+A | Investments

  • LVMH in exclusive talks with Lagardere for Paris Match Magazine (more)

  • Samsonite considers options after takeover interest, Including going private (more)

  • ServiceNow (NOW), a digital workflow company, acquires NetACE™ network tech from Atrinet telecom company (more)

  • Veradigm Inc., a provider of healthcare data/tech products, is to acquire ScienceIO, a healthcare language model company (more)

  • Lightyear Capital invests in Prime Pensions (more)

  • LongueVue Capital invests in Kingston Brass (more)

  • GenNx360-backed Whitsons acquires Fresh Picks (more)

  • Solace-backed CST buys Ostsee Tank Solutions (more)

VC

  • Glean, a provider of an AI-powered work assistant, raised over $200M in Series D funding, at $2.2B valuation (more)

  • Exodigo, an AI underground mapping solutions provider, raised $105M in Series A funding (more)

  • Alamar Biosciences, a precision proteomics company, raised $100M in Series C funding, with second close of an add’l $28M expected within 30 days (more)

  • Reveleer, a healthcare technology data and analytics company, raised $65M in funding (more)

  • Intenseye, a workplace safety solutions company, raised $64M in Series B funding (more)

  • Matter Neuroscience emerges from stealth mode with $26M (more)

  • Rhombus, a leader in cloud-managed physical security, is excited to announce securing $26M in equity investments (more)

  • Halo, a provider of a subscription-based bodycam and cloud-based asset management platform, raised $20M in funding (more)

  • Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, raised $16.75M in Series A funding (more)

  • Tracksuit, the modern brand tracker for growth brands, today announced it raised $13.5M in Series A funding (more)

  • Parspec, an AI-powered software platform that streamlines the selection and sale of construction products, raised $11.5M in Seed funding (more)

  • Pronto Housing announces a $9.5M funding round (more)

  • Sway, a startup creating seaweed-based home compostable replacements for plastic packaging raised $5M Seed funding (more)

  • Axiom Cloud closed $5M in funding from Toshiba Tec and Windsail Capital Group (more)

  • SimpleClosure, a provider of a platform to automate the bureaucratic work in shutting down a company, raised $4M in Seed funding (more)

  • Enkrypt AI, a company enabling adoption of Generative AI within enterprises, $2.35M in funding (more)

  • BreachBits, a cybersecurity startup, raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding (more)

  • World View, a company specializing in stratospheric exploration and flight, raised an undisclosed amount in Series D funding (more)

FUNDRAISING

  • EQT raises $24B for its largest-ever private equity fund (more)

  • Renovus Capital Partners closes $325M continuation fund (more)

IPO

  • Klarna in talks with banks for US IPO at $20B value (more)

CRYPTO

  • Bitcoin funding rates jump to 100%, sparking opportunity for savvy traders (more)

  • SEC expected to drag its feet on new wave of crypto ETFs (more)

  • MicroStrategy is a timely play on Bitcoin halving (more)

BULLISH BITES

🔥 Behind the curtain: Kara Swisher’s new memoir, ‘Burn Book,’ roasts tech industry.

🥇 Best of: Consumer Reports Top 10 car picks of 2024.

🔐 Replaced? Companies flock to passwordless tech.

🎵  On key: The Boston Typewriter Orchestra goes electric.

📈 AI small-cap revealed: The potential for 36,996% gains? (Dylan Jovine)*

*from our sponsors

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