Nasdaq drags on Wall St as AI slowdown fears hammer Nvidia, chipmakers
Market Scorecard
US markets closed a little higher last night. As we noted yesterday, we are in a holding pattern until Friday when US consumer price index data comes out. That's expected to register a rise of 8.2% in May from a year earlier, but lower than the 8.3% posted in April.
In company news, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares rose 2% to close at $124.79 on its first day of trading since the company executed a 20-for-1 share split, more on that below. Elsewhere, Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE) climbed 7% after JetBlue sweetened its offer to buy the discount carrier.
Yesterday, the JSE All-share closed up 0.28%, the S&P 500 gained 0.31%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.40%.
One Thing, From Paul
It's 2022 and people have standards. We expect law and order, good service and political progress. We complain about corruption, inefficiency and violence. Having high expectations is fine, and that is how it should be.
Mind you, we are just recently-improved primates, and what we regard as civilisation is a modern phenomenon. Homo sapiens only emerged 300 000 years ago, and until recently, we wandered about hunting and gathering, dressed in animal skins.
In the last two hundred years, the global economy took off as technology drastically improved productivity. We only stopped slaughtering each other and thinking about human rights a few decades ago. Democratic government by accountable leaders is really new.
As the German filmmaker Werner Herzog (pictured below) reminds us, "the common denominator of the universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility, and murder".
We should aim high, but maintain a sense of historical perspective. Things are getting better, but there will be setbacks. Work hard, stay invested and remain optimistic.
Byron's Beats
When you get your Vestact mini-statement late this Friday night you will probably notice that the Amazon share price has dropped by over 90%. Fear not, the amount of shares you own is now 20 times more. The much anticipated Amazon stock split happened yesterday.
Technically, stock splits don't change anything. The Amazon share price is divided by 20 and the amount of shares in issue is multiplied by 20. The value of your Amazon holding does not change at all.
It does make a difference for retail investors because the shares become more affordable. Instead of needing $2 500 to buy 1 Amazon share, you now only need $125. That's certainly useful for Vestact clients. One Amazon share used to cost R40 000.
Shares with lower nominal prices are also more liquid. The anticipation of that extra liquidity does sometimes push the share price higher before a split. Amazon has popped by 20% in the last 2 weeks. Let's hope that momentum continues.
Michael's Musings
Do you know your Vitality age? Is your body older or younger than your actual age? The Vitality age is based on a few lifestyle questions and then Discovery (JO:DSBPp) estimates how healthy you are from your weekly routine.
Discovery is not alone in trying to determine our biological age. In a quest to live longer, scientists are trying to figure out how to measure the 'real age' of our bodies. They are even trying to measure the age of specific organs. If we can accurately measure how quickly our bodies age, we can figure out how to slow the ageing process or even reverse it. We are still years away from having accurate biological clocks.
A recent article in the MIT Technology Review explores the topic - Ageing clocks aim to predict how long you'll live. Here's the key conclusion made at the end of the article.
"In the meantime, eating a healthy diet, avoiding smoking, and getting enough exercise remain some of the best ways to stave off the impacts of ageing. We don't need new ageing clocks to prove that those strategies can help keep us well."
Bright's Banter
The MacBook Air was among the first Macs to transition to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) silicon, the very powerful and efficient M1 chip. Last night Apple launched an even better model of the MacBook Air, which will run on the improved M2 chip.
This new model will be in shops by next month. It ditches the classic Air wedge shape for all straight edges and comes in silver, starlight, space grey, and midnight colouring.
The high-speed M2 processor will be 40% faster than the older model, delivering 18 hours of video playback battery life. It's a significant refresh to the super light and thin laptop that was first unveiled in 2008 by the legendary Steve Jobs. I'm excited about this major upgrade!
Signing Off
Asian markets are directionless this morning, and trading has been choppy. Shares in Japan are up a touch as the Yen continues to weaken, Hong Kong is down and mainland China is flat, while South Korea is in the red.
US equity futures are lower for now. The Rand is trading at R15.50 to the greenback.
Over and out.
