ADDX GO Market Morning Wrap - 6th Feb

Stock Market

U.S. stock markets closed higher across the board. The S&P 500 rose 23.60 points, or 0.39%, to close at 6,061.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, closely tied to the economic cycle, gained 317.24 points, or 0.71%, to 44,873.28. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 38.31 points, or 0.19%, ending at 19,692.33.

Buoyed by overnight gains in U.S. markets, Tokyo stocks opened higher, with the Nikkei 225 briefly surpassing the 39,000-yen mark. However, concerns over potential tariffs under a Trump administration weighed on sentiment. After an initial buying spree, the Nikkei pared gains and eventually hovered around the previous session’s closing level.

Key Events

• Supermicro, a key partner of Nvidia, announced that its new AI data center system featuring Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell chips is now ready for shipment. The company confirmed in a Wednesday statement that the product has reached "full production availability," providing essential infrastructure for developers deploying Blackwell chips at scale.

• According to ETnews, Apple’s $AAPL  M5 chip has entered mass production as expected. The first batch of devices featuring the M5 chip is slated for release by the end of 2025. The M5 series will include multiple versions: M5, M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra, with the standard M5 chip reportedly debuting in the next-generation iPad Pro.

• OpenAI has announced that ChatGPT's search functionality is now open to all users without registration. ChatGPT search offers near real-time information retrieval, enabling insights within minutes.

• Chip design giant Arm Holdings $ARM  reported stronger-than-expected growth last quarter, driven by surging royalties from AI-enabled smartphone trends, which saw over 20% growth. However, its full-year revenue and earnings guidance remained cautious, with a modest increase in the midpoint range while the upper limit remained unchanged. Following the news, Arm’s stock dropped nearly 7% in after-hours trading, as investors had higher growth expectations.

• Qualcomm $QCOM  reported a 13% YoY rise in Q4 smartphone revenue, driven by strong high-end demand. Automotive revenue jumped 60%, and IoT/AR/VR revenue grew 36%. Q1 guidance forecasts up to 13% growth. The company sees robust demand for premium smartphones in China but expects overall market growth in 2025 to stay in the low single digits. Following the earnings report, Qualcomm's stock spiked nearly 5% after hours, then reversed to a nearly 6% decline.

• Aurora Cannabis Inc. $ACB reported record Q3 revenue of $88.2 million, marking a 37% year-over-year increase, largely fueled by a 51% surge in global medical cannabis sales to $68.1 million. Aurora’s stock soared over 40%, leading a broader rally among cannabis stocks in the U.S. market.

• Novo Nordisk $NVO gained 3.76% on strong demand for its weight-loss drug Wegovy. The company posted a 29% year-over-year increase in Q4 net profit, exceeding expectations, and forecasted 16-24% sales growth for the year, significantly outpacing market estimates.

Forex

The U.S. dollar weakened alongside Treasury yields, while trade tensions fueled demand for safe-haven assets, pushing spot gold above $2,880 per ounce to a new all-time high.

Key Events

• Mixed economic data emerged from the U.S. labor market. While job growth remained robust, wage metrics showed signs of weakness. The ADP report indicated that private-sector employment grew by 183,000 in January, the highest since October, beating expectations of 150,000. However, U.S. services sector activity unexpectedly slowed, with the ISM Services PMI falling from 54.0 in December to 52.8 in January, missing the forecast of 54.3. A decline in the prices paid index and improvements in the employment index were seen as positive signs. Additionally, the U.S. trade deficit widened significantly as businesses rushed to import goods ahead of potential Trump-era tariffs.

Cryptocurrency

Major cryptocurrencies weakened on Wednesday night, with Bitcoin (BTC-USD) trading near $97,000.

Key Events

• Bitcoin-holding giant MicroStrategy $MSTR reported Q4 revenue of $120.7 million, slightly missing analysts’ expectations of $124.4 million. The company’s digital assets reached $23.91 billion, surpassing forecasts of $22.54 billion.

• According to sources cited by Reuters, BlackRock $BLK is preparing to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded product (ETP) in Europe, expected to debut in the coming weeks. This move highlights the growing demand for crypto investment exposure among institutional and retail investors.