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20 Jul 2023

Tesla reported earnings after the bell, showing a record for quarterly revenue but lower margins thanks to price cuts and incentives.

The stock price remained flat after the initial report, but began dropping during the earnings call as CEO Elon Musk and other executives failed to deliver precise specs and start of delivery dates for the Cybertruck, and for a robotaxi-ready vehicle. Musk and other execs also said during the call that vehicle production would slow down during Q3 due to shutdowns for factory improvements. The stock was down as much as 5% after hours. $TSLA Tesla Q2 FY23: • Revenue +47% Y/Y to $24.9B ($200M beat). • Gross margin 18% (-7pp Y/Y). • Operating margin 10% (-5pp Y/Y). • Capex +19% Y/Y to $2.1B. • Free cash flow +62% Y/Y to $1.0B. • Non-GAAP EPS $0.91 ($0.09 beat). • Deliveries +83% Y/Y to 466,140. Source: App Economy Insights, CNBC

20 Jul 2023

Interesting charts by Chartr on US consumers cash buffer

When the pandemic hit, many of us instinctively reigned in our spending — partly out of choice, and partly because there weren’t a lot of fun things to splurge on. That set of circumstances coincided with stimulus checks and tax credits in April 2021, leading to many Americans building up healthier-than-usual cash balances in their bank accounts. However, new data from JPMorgan reveals that much of the buffer has now disappeared. Although US households still hold approximately 10% to 15% more cash in their savings accounts than before the pandemic, analysis of 9 million Chase customers reveals that the median account balance has dropped significantly in the last 2 years. That could help explain why the much-feared recession has yet to materialize, as consumers have had strong reserves to combat rampant inflation and rises in borrowing costs. Interestingly, the trend is seen across all income brackets. The nation's top quarter of earners have seen their savings accounts decline from a median high of nearly $12,000 to $9,000, as of March this year — though their 25% decrease is a smaller relative drop than that experienced by lower earners. Indeed, people in the lowest income quartile — who likely have to allocate a larger portion of their income to essentials — have seen a 41% decline since their savings peaked.

20 Jul 2023

M2 money supply has declined at the fastest rate ever recorded since the Fed began collecting data in 1959

Probably has helped cool inflation but could it usher in a new set of problems? Source: Fred, Barchart

19 Jul 2023

The "soft landing" of the US economy is the new consensus.

Source: BofA survey

19 Jul 2023

Probability of a Fed rate hike next week is approaching 100%.

Done deal. Source: Charlie Biello

19 Jul 2023

US Industrial Production has turned negative on a YoY basis for the first time since February 2021.

Source: Charlie Bilello

19 Jul 2023

US equity markets have decoupled from the global liquidity proxy for the first time in over a decade.

Is the market pricing in a massive global re-liquification of asset markets? Source: Bloomberg

19 Jul 2023

Despite weak US retail sales, yesterday was another strong session for us stocks after Microsoft $MSFT announced new pricing for its AI offerings...

For context, $MSFT and $NVDA have added $175BN market cap today, more than the mkt cap of 462 S&P companies, and more than the value of Nike, Wells Fargo, Walt Disney, Morgan Stanley, Intel, etc This ai related news drove value back near its record lows relative to growth... Source: Bloomberg, www.zerohedge.com

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