Private companies have been tasked with developing AI technology at breakneck speed, resulting in systems like Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard.
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Evergrande trading suspension
In Asia, trading in Evergrande shares was halted after Hong Kong's high court ordered the liquidation of a struggling Chinese real estate developer. The Hang Seng Index rose over 1.21%, but China's CSI300 index fell. Other regional markets mostly rose. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended slightly lower on Friday, ending a six-day winning streak. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked this trend. Despite mixed trading, all three indexes ended the week higher on strong economic data.
The resurgence of Chinese luxury goods
China's luxury goods sales market is recovering. Although he is not yet fully back to his 2021 level, new areas of opportunity exist. LVMH's latest results showed that more Chinese consumers are buying luxury goods domestically, even as international travel resumes.
Rapid increase in layoffs of engineers
Silicon Valley tech companies are cutting jobs rapidly. Some 23,670 workers have been laid off by 85 technology companies since early January, according to the website Layoffs.fyi. Some parts of the business are laying off staff to invest more in developing AI products.
Crude oil price rise
Oil prices rose in early trading on Monday after three US soldiers in Jordan were killed by a missile fired by Iranian-backed militants over the weekend. The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. Global benchmark Brent crude rose 0.57% to $84.03 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 0.6% to $78.48 per barrel.
[PRO] Is Tesla still attractive?
Kingsley Jones, founder and chief information officer of boutique advisory firm Jevons Global, is not bullish on Tesla stock given increased competition from Chinese electric car makers. Jones added that Tesla will likely face margin pressure in the U.S. unless it lowers both prices and costs, and offered three alternatives.
This will be a big week for Big Tech on Wall Street.
Most of the so-called “Magnificent 7” – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft – are expected to report results in the coming days.
With all the hype around generative artificial intelligence, it's no wonder investors are becoming more interested in Big Tech companies' earnings.
Microsoft, including competitors Meta and Alphabet's Google, are ramping up their efforts in AI technology to integrate their applications into their products. Silicon Valley has already laid off more than 23,000 workers so far in January to win the AI race, as companies bet big on AI and invest more in developing the technology. There is.
Investors will be interested to see whether Big Tech's AI investments and strategic layoffs pay off on the bottom line.
The S&P 500 index is trading at record levels, and the Nasdaq index is hitting a two-year high for big tech stocks. Alphabet stock reached new highs on Thursday, as did Microsoft, which has a market capitalization of more than $3 trillion.
Aside from the attention-grabbing financial results, the Federal Reserve's policy meeting will also be held this week. Investors don't expect interest rates to change, but they will look for clues about when officials will cut rates.
—CNBC's Ashley Capoot and Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report.
