ADDX GO Market Morning Wrap - 19th Feb

Stock Market

Key Events

• On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on imported automobiles, with further details expected on April 2. Additionally, Trump indicated that tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors could also be introduced. He also suggested that tariffs on imported drugs might be even higher and could increase significantly this year.
• Elon Musk’s xAI has launched Grok 3, a next-generation language model that significantly outperforms its predecessor, Grok 2, with a tenfold increase in capabilities. Grok 3 has surpassed competitors like GPT-4 and DeepSeek-V3 in mathematical, scientific, and programming tasks. Trained using a supercomputer with 200,000 GPUs, it offers enhanced reasoning capabilities and introduces a "Big Brain" mode. Users can access Grok 3 via xAI’s Premium+ subscription, while the SuperGrok version provides additional advanced features. xAI also plans to release voice-based AI applications and intends to open-source previous versions of Grok in the future.
• To mark a month since Trump's re-election, Fox News will air a pre-recorded joint interview between Trump and Elon Musk on Tuesday night as part of the "Hannity" program. The discussion will focus on Trump's first 100 days in office and Musk’s role in improving government efficiency. The interview takes place amid widespread layoffs across government agencies under the Trump administration.
• Private equity firm Silver Lake Management is in exclusive negotiations to acquire a majority stake in Intel’s programmable logic device (PLD) subsidiary, Altera. While the deal’s financial details are still being finalized, Bloomberg reports that an agreement is close. Neither Intel nor Silver Lake has commented on the matter. Following the news, $INTC  Intel stock surged 16% at the close.
• Dell Technologies $DELL shares climbed over 5% after reports surfaced that xAI has secured a $5 billion deal to procure AI servers from Dell, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.
• Meta Platforms $META closed down more than 2%, ending a 20-day winning streak. Meanwhile, Meta announced plans to hold its first-ever LlamaCon on April 29, an event dedicated to generative AI developers. The conference is named after Meta’s open-source AI model series, Llama, and will showcase advancements in open-source AI to support developers in creating cutting-edge applications and products. More details about LlamaCon are expected in the coming weeks.
• Baidu Group $BIDU  released its 2024 financial results, reporting total annual revenue of ¥133.1 billion, with Baidu Core's net profit reaching ¥23.4 billion, a 21% year-over-year increase. Baidu’s AI-driven cloud business demonstrated strong momentum, with fourth-quarter revenue surging 26% year-over-year.

Forex

Key Events

• Mary Daly, President of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, emphasized the need for continued restrictive monetary policy until further progress is made in controlling inflation. She warned that before making adjustments, the Fed must carefully assess the impact of new policies introduced under Trump, including tariffs, immigration reforms, and government layoffs.
• UBS forecasts that gold prices could reach $3,200 per ounce later this year, stabilizing around $3,000 by year-end. The prediction comes as investors seek safe-haven assets due to ongoing geopolitical tensions, stagflation concerns, and trade uncertainty following Trump’s tariff announcements.

Cryptocurrency

Key Events

• MicroStrategy announced plans to issue senior convertible notes due in 2030 at a 0% coupon rate. The proceeds will primarily be used to acquire additional Bitcoin. This aligns with the company's ongoing strategy—MicroStrategy has been actively purchasing Bitcoin for 12 out of the past 14 weeks, though last week, it did not raise funds through stock sales or debt issuance for Bitcoin acquisitions.

Market Events and Most Anticipated Earnings Releases