Equity Indexes Wrap: Real Estate Gains on Blackstone Deal; AI Darlings Nvi🌼dia,ꦗ Super Micro Slip

The Dow

Nike (NKE) rose 1.3ꦏ% to lead the index, one of many consumer discretionary stocks to advance Monꩵday.  

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) rose 0.6% as the bank released CEO Jamie Dimon’s 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:annual letter to shareholders in which he discussed the potential impact of artificial intelligence on businesses and the benefit the bank will derive from last year’s acquisiti💜on of First Republic Bank. 

Intel (INTC) fell 1.9% as R2 Semiconductor filed a patent infringement lawsuit against its French unit. 

The S&P 500

GE Vernova (GEV) rose 5.9% after analysts at JPMorgan Chase 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:upgraded the GE spin-off to “buy,” citing a recent pullback in its stock price that, in analysts’ opinions, presents an attractive ♉buying opportunity. 

Multifamily housing 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:real estate investment trusts gained after private equity firm Blackstone (BX) 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:offered about $10 billion to acquire AIR Communities (AIRC). Camden Property Trust (CPT) rose 5.7% and Mid-America Apartment Communities (MAA) advanced 4.4%. 

Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) rose 3% after Bank of America analysts upg🍒raded the stock to “buy,” cit🎉ing its resilience to a higher-for-longer rate environment when compared with its mid-sized bank peers. 

Paramount Global (PARA) tumbled 7.6% after investor Matrix Asset Advisors express𒁃ed concerns about its acquisition talks with Skydance Media. 

Solventum (SOLV) fell 4.4% 𝔍as Wells Fargo analysts warned the 3M (MMM) spin-off may have to🎀o much debt to make strategic acquisitions. 

AI beneficiaries lagged the broader market. Super Micro Computer (SMCI) fell 2.1%, while Meta (META) lost 1.5% and Nvidia (NVDA) slid 1%. 

The Nasdaq 100

Tesla (TSLA) led the index, rising 4.9% after CEO Elon Musk late last week announced the EV maker would 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:unveil its long-awaited robotaxi on Aug. 8. 

Alphabet (GOOGL) rose 1.5% ahead of its Cloud Next Conference, which starts tomor🍃row.🅺 

Key Takeaways From Jamie Dimon's Annual Shareholder Letter

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Chair and CEO 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Jamie Dimon released his annual 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:letter to shareholders Monday, giving his perspective on a range of topics from the rise of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) to the health of the economy and its outlook.

Amid a boom in demand for AI, Dimon highlighted the "critical impact" of the technology, and said that JPMorgan has taken a number of steps to expand its capabilities with AI.

Dimon said the company currentlಞy uses AI in over 400 di♊fferent ways, from fraud detection to finding new marketing strategies, with plans to explore whether using generative AI for things like customer service or software development could help the business.

Dimon also expressed doubt about the odds of a "澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:soft landing" amid sticky inflation. While the markets are currently pricing a 70% to 80% chance of the economy maintaining modest growth as inflation and interest rates decline, Dimon said, "I belie🔴ve the odds are a lot lower than that."

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Read more of what Dimon had to say, including thoughts on the bank regulations 🐽and JPMorgan's acquisition of First Republi🎶c Bank.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Aaron McDade

Cryptocurrencies Surge Ahead of Bitcoin Halving

Cryptocurrencꦅies surged on Monday as markets awaited a highly anticipated Bitcoin halving,🃏 the first in nearly 4 years. 

Bitcoin traded just beloꦫw $72,000 Monday afternoon, while the price of Ethereum surged to nearly $3,700.

This year’s halving, which is when the reward for 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:mining bitcoin is cut in ๊half, is expected to take place around April 20. It will be the cryptocurrency’s fourth halving and its first since May 2020. 

This halving, experts say🌟, could be vastly different from prior halving, considering the recent launch of spot bitcoin ETFs has “fundamentally changed” the market dynamics for bitcoin.

“If we assumed that the pace of new inflows into US-based ETFs slowed from $6 billion in February to say a steady state of $1 billion of net inflows per month, a simple mental model suggests that measured against ~13.5k BTC mined per month (in a post-halving environment) the equilibrium price for bitcoin should be closer to around $74,000,” Coinbase analysts wrote.

See here for more insights 🍃on what makes this halving unique. 

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Kyle Torpey

GE Vernova Jumps After🔜 Getting First Upgrade From JPMorgan Analysts

GE Vernova (GEV) shares jumped in intraday trading Monday after the recently spun-off energy division of conglomerate General Electric received its first upgrade, from JPMorgan (JPM) analysts.

The analysts upgraded GE Vernova to "澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:overweight" from "neutral," indicating their confidence that the stock should perform better in the future. Analysts held their year-end 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:price target at $141, about 15% above where G🐲E Vernova closed last week at $122.70.

JPMorgan analysts wrote Monday that they view GE Vernova's 14% stock-price pullback from last week's debut as an "attractive entry point for what we believe will be a core holding for investors in the US/global electrification theme."

They also wrote that the company could benefit from increased electricity demand from things like data centers that power 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:artificial intelligence (AI) models.

GE Vernova stock was up 5.5% at $129.43 Mon⛄day afternoon.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Aaron McDade

Tesla Stock Jumps on Planned Robotaxi Unveiling

Tesla (TSLA) shares climbed Monday as the market responded to CEO 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Elon Musk's announcement Friday afternoon that the electric vehicle (EV) maker would unveil its long-awaited robotaxi on Aug. 8.

The announcement on Friday came just hours after Musk 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:denied a report that the EV maker was canceling plans to build a lower-priced car, and would instead focus on an autonomous vehicle that would render other vehic🐻les obs💜olete.

The robotaxi is a next-generation self-driving vehicle that Musk has said owners could rent out while not personally in use, a taxi service akin to Uber or Lyft from which Tesla, like those companies, would take a cut of the fare.

Since its announcement, the robotaxi project has been severely delayed. Musk said at an investor event in 2019 that robotaxis would be on the road in 2020.

Tesla stock surged nearly 5% t🌌o $173 on Monday after sinking 3.6% Frid🐬ay.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Kevin George

Blackstone To Take Rental Housing Owner AIR Communities Private i𓆏n $10B Deal

Blackstone (BX) said Monday that it was taking Apartment Income REIT (AIRC) private in an all-cash deal worth about $10 billion, sending shares in the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:real estate investment trust (REIT♒) known as AIR Communities skyrocketing.

AIR Communities shareholders will receive $39.12 per share, a nearly 25% premium over the REIT's closing price on Friday. AIR Communities owns 76 rental housing communities, primarily in U.S. coastal cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Washington, D.C.

Blackstone said that it plans to spend more than $400 million “to maintain and improve the existing communities in the portfolio and may invest additional capital to fund further growth.”

The transaction is expected to close in the third quar💛ter of this yea♍r.

AIR Communities shares surged 22.6% to $38.40, their highest level in more than a yeܫar, on Monday. Blackstone shares♋ were up 0.9% at $128.74.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Bill McColl

Midday Movers

Apartment Income REIT Corp. (AIRC): Shares jumped more than 20% after Blackstone (BX) agreed to acquire the apar🐎tment building owner for nearly $10 billion. 

Tesla Inc. (TSLA): Shares of the EV maker rose more than 5% after Elon Musk on Friday said the company would 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:unveil its robotaxi on August 8. 

Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN): Shares of the cryptocurrency exchange climbed more than 5% as Bit🧔coin surged to nearly $72,000 ahead of a highly anticipated halving that’s expected to take effect in mid-A🧜pril. 

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM): Shares of the chipmaker rose more than 2% after it was 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:awarded up to $6.6 billion in CHIPS Act funding for its Arizona 🌞factory.&n👍bsp;

TSMC Shares Rise on ❀News of Billions in CHIPS Act Funding

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) rose in early trading Monday following 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:the announcement of up to $6.6 billion in direct federal funding for the Arizona factory complex the company started constructi✨on on in 2021.

The project is the latest announcement of funding from the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:CHIPS and Science Act, a 2022 piece of legislation supported by President Joe Biden that 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earmarked over $50♎ billion for investment in semiconductor research and manufacturing facilities to be built in the U.S. after the industry mostly has moved overseas in recent years.

Biden's administration has said it wants to make the U.S. a leading semiconductor manufacturer because of how important the chips are in everyday objects like smartphones and cars, and to address weaknesses in the global supply chain that were revealed by the pandemic.

The federal funding announcement also came with TSMC's own announcement that it would build a third factory at the Phoenix site, growing the company's total investment in the area to at least $65 billion by the time the factories are completed, the company said in a statement. It also is eligible for up to $5 billion in loans.

TSMC shares were up 2.2% at $144.50 half an hour into Monday's session. The stock is up 40% since the beginning of the year.

-澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Aaron McDade

Solar Eclipse Provides Big Boost To Cities i🥂n its Path

Monday’s total solar eclipse i🐻s ওpossibly a once-in-a-lifetime event for the 30 million people who live in its path, and the millions more who are traveling to see it. It’s also a chance to spend money, and a lot of it.

The total economic impact, including secondary downstream effects, could be as much as a $6 billion boost to the U.S. econom💝y, ac꧟cording to an analysis by The Perryman Group. The economics consulting firm says the eclipse is likely to generate more interest than North America’s previous total eclipse in 2017 because its duration is longer and the next opportunity to view a similar event in North America won’t come until 2044

Indeed, visitors from all over the world are flocking to the 115-mile-wide band of the U.S., stretching from Texas to Maine. They'll be spending on everything from accommodations to food, fuel and memorabilia, providing a burst of economic activity for cities and towns across the country.

For hotels and short-term rental hosts along that strip, the effect is like a Taylor Swift concert taking place simultaneously in every city and town, said Jamie Lane, chief economist at AirDNA, a company that provides data about AirBnBs (ABNB) and other short-term rentals.

The occupancy rate for🀅 rentals along the total eclipse path Sunda🔜y night is 92%, compared to 30% in the same places during a typical week, Lane said.

Read m𒊎ore about the economic impact of the eclipse, including the experience of one city that has had the good fortune of being in the "path of totality" two times in a row.

-Diccon Hyatt