From Manic Monday to…Torpor Tuesday? That’s what it looks like here, with equities not doing much of anything in the early going. Gold and silver are slightly higher, while oil and Treasuries are flat. The dollar is off just a bit.
On the news front...
China’s Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. (BABA) is pulling a “Ma Bell/Baby Bell” and splitting into six separate businesses. The $220 billion Internet behemoth will look to launch Initial Public Offerings for various units in the cloud computing, e-commerce, and digital media/entertainment businesses as part of the move. BABA’s U.S.-traded shares have lost 25% of their value in the past year.
Is this a “once-in-a-decade” buying opportunity for banks? That’s what one report from CreditSights claimed about regional bank BONDS this week, according to the Wall Street Journal. But some investors in both bank bonds and stocks aren’t fully convinced, given ongoing worries about interest rates risk PLUS concerns over commercial real estate exposure.
The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) is down almost 25% year-to-date. Meanwhile, the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) that focuses on larger banks, brokers, and insurance stocks is off about 8%.
Finally, many writers and artists are scrambling to figure out if ChatGPT and other similar AI breakthroughs will help make them more productive...or take their jobs. Proponents say the technology will help with busy-work and entry-level tasks so that employees can focus on higher-end responsibilities, but detractors fear workers will be displaced entirely.
