Stage set for rate cuts

CPI ‘checks the box’ for Fed cuts, here’s the inflation breakdown for July, two alarming signs of recessions emerge, Berkshire discloses surprise stake in Ulta Beauty, and WeRide gets approval to carry passengers in California…

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Market Briefing
August 15, 2024

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Good morning.

The Fast Five → CPI ‘checks the box’ for Fed cuts, here’s the inflation breakdown for July, two alarming signs of recessions emerge, Berkshire discloses surprise stake in Ulta Beauty, and WeRide gets approval to carry passengers in California…

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Calendar: (all times ET) - Full calendar here

  • Today:
    Initial jobless claims, 8:30 AM
    US retail sales, 8:30 AM
    Business inventories, 10:00 AM

  • Tomorrow: [none]

Your 5-minute briefing for Thursday, August 15:

BEFORE THE OPEN

As of market close 8/14/2024.

Pre-Market:

US Investor % Bullish Sentiment:
↓40.54% for Wk of August 08 2024

Last week: 44.88%. Updates every Friday.

Market Wrap:

  • Stock futures slightly up Wed. night, driven by easing inflation.

  • Easing inflation calms recession fears, boosting stocks after last week's sell-off.

  • Cisco +5% post-earnings; Ulta +13.5% on Buffett stake; Nike +3% on Ackman news.

  • CPI shows inflation at 2.9%, making case for Fed rate cut.

  • Retail sales data and Walmart earnings in focus today.

  • Dow +1.3%, S&P +2%, Nasdaq +2.7% this week.

EARNINGS

Here’s what we’re watching this week:

  • Today: Alibaba (BABA), Tapestry (TPR)

    • Walmart (WMT) - earnings of $.64 per share (+14.3% YoY) on $168.5B revenue (+4.3% YoY)

Full earnings calendar here.

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HEADLINES

Core CPI rose 3.2% from July 2023, slowest in three years, bringing a degree of relief to markets still reeling after last week’s meltdown.

A cooling labor market is raising concerns that the U.S. economy might be heading toward a recession after all this year, instead of making the soft landing projected by most experts.

  • Here’s the inflation breakdown for July 2024 (more)

  • Wall St fear gauge in record retreat after last week's massive spike (more)

  • Dollar softens against euro as inflation data shows cooling (more)

  • Oil halts two-day drop as Iran tensions vie with stockpile build (more)

  • Hedge funds add Apple, reshuffle technology portfolio (more)

  • Berkshire discloses surprise stake in Ulta Beauty, Heico (more)

  • Bill Ackman's Pershing Square unveils new stake in Nike (more)

  • Apple pushes ahead with tabletop robot in search of new revenue (more)

  • Cisco cutting 7% of workforce (more)

  • Boeing plea deal should be accepted, US DOJ says (more)

  • Wall Street firms to pay over $470M to settle with regulators over texting (more)

  • Hollywood union strikes deal for advertisers to AI replicate actors' voices (more)

  • Chinese robotaxi startup WeRide gets approval to drive in CA (more)

  • Wizz Air launches $550 ‘all you can fly’ annual subscription pass (more)

DEALFLOW

M+A | Investments

  • Mars to acquire snack maker Kellanova in $36B deal (more)

  • Energy producer Maverick's owner explores sale valuing it at $3 billion (more)

  • Goldman agrees to sell Ireland’s largest shopping mall to SVP (more)

  • Ceto, a company providing data-driven insights for financial institutions, acquires VPCtech, known for its strategic expertise in banking practices (more)

  • Harvest Hosts, a membership program offering RVers access to 9,000+ RV camping locations, acquires Escapees RV Club, an organization providing resources to enhance the RV lifestyle (more)

  • GR0, a digital marketing agency, acquired DLVRD, an Amazon Marketplace agency (more)

  • Korbyt, an omnichannel workplace communications solutions company, acquired NFS Technology, a provider of meeting room booking and space management software (more)

  • Valsoft, a company specializing in the acquisition of vertical market software businesses, acquired Equinox Information Systems, Inc., fraud management and network monitoring software within the telecom industry (more)

  • Curvalux, a manufacturer of innovative, energy-efficient fixed wireless access broadband technologies, received a strategic investment from Pegasus Capital Advisors (more)

  • Eliyan, a semiconductor company, received a strategic investment from VentureTech Alliance (more)

  • Chartis, a healthcare advisory firm, entered into a definitive agreement to receive a majority investment from funds managed by Blackstone (more)

  • Range Media Partners, a diversified global talent representation & production firm, secured a minority investment from Verance Capital (more)

VC

  • Moximed, a medical device company for people with knee osteoarthritis, closed a $61M Series D financing with an option to close an add’l $30M (more)

  • EliseAI, an AI platform for the housing industry, raised $75M in Series D funding (more)

  • Sahara AI, a provider of a decentralized blockchain platform built for open and equitable AI, raised $43M in funding (more)

  • Encord, an AI data development platform for advanced vision and multimodal teams, raised $30M in Series B funding (more)

  • Companion Protect, a pet health administration company, raised $20.25M in Series A extension (more)

  • Capitalize, a platform helping consumers and financial institutions digitally find/transfer retirement assets, raised $19M in Series B funding (more)

  • CruxOCM, a company specializing in co-pilot technology for control room operators, raised $17M in Series A funding (more)

  • Actuate, an innovator in computer vision technology for remote video guarding, raised $11.5M in funding (more)

  • Consensus, an AI-powered search engine for scientific research, raised $11.5M in Series A funding (more)

  • Spline, a collaborative 3D design platform, raised $10M in Series A funding (more)

  • VoyceMe, a manga and webtoon creator platform, raised an undisclosed amount, bringing the total capital to $10M (more)

  • definity, a data application observability & remediation platform for Spark data analytics, raised $4.5M in Seed funding (more)

  • Heatmap, a data analytics tool for e-commerce websites, raised $4M in Seed funding (more)

  • Reforged Labs, a video ad creation automation platform for games, raised $3.9M in seed funding (more)

  • GoWit, a retail media advertising platform, raised $1.3M in funding (more)

  • FuseBase, a comprehensive AI-powered workflow optimization platform, raised $700K in Seed funding (more)

  • Kalm Therapeutics, a pre-clinical drug development company, raised $700K in Seed funding (more)

CRYPTO

  • Crypto investors weigh new inflation data that clears way for potential rate cuts (more)

  • Bitcoin price may turn lower as crypto exchanges see $1B USDT withdrawal (more)

  • MetaMask starts rollout of blockchain-based debit card developed with Mastercard, Baanx (more)

BULLISH BITES

💸 Term sheet: Venture capitalists move toward "pay to play".

☕️ Inside look: Inside Starbucks’s surprising CEO firing and hiring.

🚂 Pivot: How this traditional toymaker is going big on digital games.

🎡 Can’t miss her: What a guy! Mark Zuckerberg commissioned a statue in honor of his wife.

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