Manufacturing Contraction and AI Stocks: World News Summary on May 24th

[간밤 월드뉴스 총정리 5월24일] This is the core issue of Correspondent Cho Jae-gil of the Korea Economic Daily, who summarizes the world news last night. The PowerPoint (PPT) used in the Global Market Now broadcast is attached at the bottom of the article (available for download).

Deepening manufacturing contraction…copper price crash

The manufacturing industry in the United States is rapidly contracting.

According to S&P Global, the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) recorded 48.5 in May. It was down from 50.0 in April. A reading below 50 indicates economic contraction.

The Philadelphia Federal Bank’s manufacturing sentiment and the Richmond Institute’s manufacturing sentiment, which came out that day, were also negative. The Philadelphia Fed index recorded -16. 9 out of the last 10 months have been negative. The Richmond Fed had an index of -15. The average market estimate was -8.

Copper prices, a leading indicator of industrial activity, fell again. Copper futures prices have declined by 3.5% this year. Analysts say this is because Chinese demand is weaker than expected, and the US is also struggling with debt ceiling negotiations.

Nvidia·MSFT·AMD…Who is the CEO of AI State?

In the midst of artificial intelligence (AI) related stocks are getting attention, reports on related stocks are pouring out on wall street.

Stifel reaffirmed his ‘neutral’ investment opinion on Nvidia (NVDA) and raised his target price from $225 to $300. Stiefel said, “In the medium term, Nvidia will benefit the most from the AI ​​investment cycle. However, the target price is slightly lower than the current share price. This is because it has more than doubled this year alone.

Jeffries put out a report that Microsoft (MSFT) will be the winner of the AI ​​war. We reaffirm our ‘buy’ rating and raise our target price from $350 to $400.

Jeffries emphasized, “Amazon won the cloud war, which is equivalent to the first round of industrial innovation,” and “Microsoft will be the winner in the second round represented by AI.”

Bank of America raised its price target for AMD (AMD) from $105 to $120.

Bank of America said, “In the AI ​​accelerator market, which will grow to $ 80 billion in 2027, AMD will expand its share after Nvidia Broadcom.”

This year, AI-related stocks have been on the rise. According to Jefferies, only 29% of companies in the S&P 500 have outperformed the market this year (8.4%). It’s the lowest since the late 1990s during the dot-com bubble. This is proof that the stock price jumped mainly in AI-related large-cap stocks.

Netflix cracks down on shared accounts in the US

Netflix (NFLX), the representative of video content, has started cracking down on sharing accounts in the United States. Netflix intends to allow sharing only within one household. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay a minimum of $7.99 per person per month.

Netflix said, “Currently, more than 100 million Netflix shared accounts are in use worldwide,” and “about 43% of all users.”

Earlier this year, Netflix began cracking down on shared accounts in four countries: Canada, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal. As a result, more than 1 million people left Spain alone.

Let’s decide to ramp up crackdowns in the United States, the largest market, and expectations and concerns are mixed among investors. The expectation that performance, especially the profit rate will improve, and the expectation that users will leave en masse are competing.

Netflix shares were down 1.93% on the day.

Palo Alto ‘Beat & Raise’…cheered market

Palo Alto Networks (PANW), a cybersecurity company, reported its first quarter earnings.

Earnings per share (EPS) of $1.1 and revenue of $1.72 billion were above market expectations. Net profit nearly doubled from a year ago.

The second quarter guidance was also better than expected.

Second quarter EPS was expected to be between $1.26 and $1.30 and revenue between $1.94 and $1.97 billion. Wall Street’s average forecast was $1.20 and $1.95 billion.

Palo Alto shares fell 1.2% in regular trading but are up 3-4% in after-hours trading after posting strong results.

New home sales skyrocket after lower prices

New home sales in the US hit their highest level in a year in April. In the beginning, 683,000 units were traded, which exceeded market expectations (669,000 units). It increased by 4.1% compared to the previous month. That’s how many new homes the home builders built.

New home sales account for about 10% of the total.

It is analyzed that the increase in new home transactions was influenced by a significant drop in prices. The median price of a new home fell 7.7% from the previous month.

New York = Correspondent Cho Jae-gil [email protected]