The spectacular rise of the stock markets through 2024 and early 2025 have been powered by a speculative AI mania. There can be little doubt that valuations have got somewhat ahead of themselves by any measure. Yet, as always in manias we hear, this time it is different, but is it? One just has to look at the market reaction to Chinese start-up DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) models being listed as a free open-source app. They were listed for free … Continue reading “DeepSeek The AI Speculative Bubble Top?”
Meta Platforms Stock Soars 20% After Initiates Dividend, Strong Engagement Trends
Social media beast Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook shares soared around 20% after earnings beats by $0.51, beats on revs and guiding Q1 revs above consensus. Meta Initiated a quarterly dividend of $0.50/share and also announced a $50 billion increase to share repurchase program. The company said it is experiencing strong engagement trends across apps and capex growth will be driven by investments in servers and data centers as it invests in AI. All the bad was forgiven at the … Continue reading “Meta Platforms Stock Soars 20% After Initiates Dividend, Strong Engagement Trends”
Morgan Stanley Earnings Hit by Charges, $286m FIDC and $249m SEC Criminal Investigation
Morgan Stanley reported mixed fourth quarter earnings and revenue before the bell Tuesday. Net income came to $1.52 billion, or 85 cents per share, down more than 30% from $2.24 billion, or $1.26 per share, a year ago. Revenue of $12.9 billion topped analysts’ estimates and rose from $12.75 billion a year ago. This is the first earnings report under new CEO Ted Pick. MS was hit by two one-time regulatory charges, a $286 million charge related to a Federal … Continue reading “Morgan Stanley Earnings Hit by Charges, $286m FIDC and $249m SEC Criminal Investigation”
Goldman Sachs Traders Ride the Stock Market Rally, Equity Trading Revenue Jumped 26% in Q4
Goldman Sachs, America’s largest investment bank reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings Tuesday with profit up 51 per cent. The bank reported a profit of $2.01 billion, or $5.48 per share, for the latest quarter, compared with $1.33 billion, or $3.32 per share, a year earlier. Goldman’s equity traders were on the right side of the recovery in markets. Goldman’s equity trading revenue jumped 26 per cent in the fourth quarter. Revenue from the asset and wealth management business … Continue reading “Goldman Sachs Traders Ride the Stock Market Rally, Equity Trading Revenue Jumped 26% in Q4”
Bank of America Earnings Hit by $1.6 Billion LIBOR and $2.1 Billion FIDC Related Charges
Bank of America, America’s second largest bank reported weaker than expected fourth earnings Friday. BAC net income fell to $3.1 billion, or 35 cents per share, in the quarter, down over 50% from $7.1 billion, or 85 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue of $22.1 billion fell short of Wall Street’s estimates for the first time in two years and was down 10% from the year-ago period. The bank was hit by a pretax charge of $1.6 billion related … Continue reading “Bank of America Earnings Hit by $1.6 Billion LIBOR and $2.1 Billion FIDC Related Charges”
Citigroup Earnings Hit by $4.66 Billion in Charges from Overseas Divestures and Banking Crisis
Citigroup reported better than expected adjusted fourth quarter earnings Friday before the market open along with three of the largest U.S. lenders, Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC). Citi’s institutional services operations, U.S. personal banking and investment banking performed well, according to the bank. However, prior to adjustments, charges of $4.66 billion, or $2 per share hit quarterly earnings and Citigroup posted a $1.8 billion loss for the quarter. The charges were tied to overseas … Continue reading “Citigroup Earnings Hit by $4.66 Billion in Charges from Overseas Divestures and Banking Crisis”
JPMorgan Profit Soars to Record $49.6 Billion in 2023, JPM Hits All Time High
JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank kicked off the banking sector’s fourth quarter earnings season on Friday before the market opened beating analyst estimates. 2023 was a record year for full-year net income at $49.6 billion. Fourth-quarter net-interest income of $24.2 billion a record, as did its full-year net-interest income of $90 billion, excluding markets. Looking ahead, JPMorgan expects 2024 net-interest income excluding markets of about $88 billion. That forecast is stronger than the analyst estimates of $86.5 billion. Shares of … Continue reading “JPMorgan Profit Soars to Record $49.6 Billion in 2023, JPM Hits All Time High”
Wells Fargo Warns of Significant Net Interest Income Fall, Books Another $2.9 Billion in Charges
Wells Fargo reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings before the bell Friday. Earnings per share were $1.29, adjusted vs. $1.17 expected and revenue was $20.48 billion vs. $20.30 billion expected. Wells Fargo posted net income for the quarter was $3.45 billion, or 86 cents per share, up slightly from $3.16 billion, or 75 cents a share, a year ago. Wells Fargo shares however fell Friday over 3% after the bank warned that net interest income for 2024 could come … Continue reading “Wells Fargo Warns of Significant Net Interest Income Fall, Books Another $2.9 Billion in Charges”
US Weekly IPO and SPAC Monitor: Linkage Global and Aspen Holdings
The year is winding down and an already quiet IPO market is but a trickle. We had just the one listing, Japanese e-commerce firm Linkage Global (LGCB) priced at the low end to raise $6 million at an $86 million market cap. Linkage Global finished down 49%. There were a number of new filings getting in before the end of the year. The standout was specialty insurer Aspen Holdings (AHL.RC) which filed for an estimated $500 million raise. There is … Continue reading “US Weekly IPO and SPAC Monitor: Linkage Global and Aspen Holdings”
New China Draft Rules for Online Gaming Send Chinese Stocks Sharply Lower
Chinese gaming stocks are sharply lower Friday after the Chinese government announced new draft rules for online gaming industry. Tencent’s stock fell -12.35% to HK$274, NetEase dumped -24.60% to HK$122, and Bilibili (BILI) fell around 10% on the Hong Kong Stock exchange. The stocks continued to slide heading into the US opening. Netease fell to 81.69 -22.72 (-21.76%) Pre-Market. BILI 10.32 -1.25 (-10.80%) Pre-Market. The new rules are aimed curbing the amount of money and time players spend playing the … Continue reading “New China Draft Rules for Online Gaming Send Chinese Stocks Sharply Lower”