Good Morning!

Today’s article is brought to you by: 95% human and 5% AI

Market Update

📈 US Stocks jumped today snapping a 4-day losing streak for the S&P500. The Tech-heavy NASDAQ is still up 11.3% YTD.

If you’re reading this, just keep buying and don’t worry about the day-to-day movements. Track ‘em, sure, but don’t get attached.

🟢 Chip Maker Nvidia jumped 14% after a strong earnings report. Nvidia will be a benefactor of the AI wave, and they let investors know it.

🔴 Dominos Pizza fell almost 12% as the company continues to face strong pressure on its delivery business.

P.S. Dominos is a beast

Banger Tweet of the Day

Free my bro Chris 🙏 

Netflix Cuts Prices in Over 30 Countries

The Streaming Wars rage on - Netflix announced they’ll be cutting prices in over 30 countries in effort to maintain subscriber growth in certain regions.

Streaming wars: The move comes as consumers have more options than ever when it comes to streaming, while Netflix is still the premier platform, other companies are beating them on price - and sometimes quality - in order to win market share.

The price change, ranging anywhere from 17-50%, will impact over 10 million subscribers and are mainly focused in LatAm, Africa and the Middle East - hitting countries like Nicaragua, Ecuador, Venezuela, Yemen, Iran, and Kenya.

The price cuts are a red flag for the business and the industry as a whole. Most (if not all) streaming businesses are unprofitable in hopes that they will one-day exercise pricing power and print money.

Netflix is already dealing with how to handle the removal of account-sharing and was just talking about price increases in their earnings call last week.

The stock fell 3.5% on the news.

Business Bytes

💼 Adobe slips after-hours as the DOJ plans a lawsuit to block their Figma acquisition (CNBC)

• Adobe announced plans to buy Figma for $20 billion last September, and funny enough, the stock dropped $20 billion on the news.

🎼 Justice Department says Google Destroyed Evidence Related to Antitrust Lawsuit (WSJ)

• Holy shit are we full of Government matters today or what?!

• Anyways, Google is being sued for being too powerful in online advertising, and I guess some sneaky lads at the company used messaging apps that auto-deleted every 24 hours even when the feds said not to.

🏠️ Online house-flipper OpenDoor posts Q4 loss of $400 million (Barron’s)

• The company continues to struggle flipping homes profitably in a slower, higher rate environment

• Opendoor posted Q4 revenue of $2.9 billion and NEGATIVE $92 million of gross profit (profits related to the actual selling of the homes, before indirect expenses)

📦️ Target to invest $100 million to Expand Next-Day Delivery (WSJ)

• The retailer plans to spend $100 million over the next 3 years, adding at least 6 more sortation centers, to better compete online with Amazon and Walmart.

• Amazon probably spends $100 million a day 🤦 

Bad Day for TikTok

Governments were out for TikTok yesterday - The European Commission banned its staff from using TikTok on work devices, and Canadian regulators opened a probe into their privacy practices.

The moves come as bipartisan legislation already sits in Congress for a US-wide ban of the app, extending beyond just federal employees.

The good ole Canadians are investigating whether TikTok obtained valid and meaningful consent on the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information.

TikTok’s Response: TikTok has of course called the move by the EU “misguided and based on fundamental misconceptions.”

The company has also committed to building two new data centers on the continent to host EU user data in the future.

A TikTok Spokeswoman said they look forward to working with Canadian regulators to “set the record straight” on how they protect user privacy.

Today’s Challenge: Treat yourself to a nice meal, or go out and get some good coffee this morning. It’s Friday, you deserve it.

Thanks for reading, go out and make today a great one.

Much Love,

Andrew (and AI)