🦢Black Swan Street Weekly Stock Market Summary (Feb. 26th - March. 1st 2024)

Welcome to Black Swan Street!

Welcome back!! It’s @JohnWetter here with another edition of Black Swan Street…

It was an action-packed week, so let’s just jump straight in:

• No Acquisition For You😈

• The Swan’s Selections🦢

• In Other News🗞

• Next Week In The Stock Market🔮

Read time: 6 minutes

No Acquisitions For You😈

What’s the Background? On October 14th 2022, Kroger and Albertsons announced a definitive merger agreement. It was said, Kroger would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Albertsons (ACI) for an estimated price of $34.10 per share - implying a total enterprise value of ~$24.6 billion.

What’s Happening Now? The FTC said no-no-no to this merger. This week, the Federal Trade Commission sued in order to block supermarket giant Kroger’s from acquiring rival Albertsons.

The FTC (along with eight states plus Washington D.C.) are arguing that the merger would lead to reduced worker wages, diminished benefits, and deteriorating working conditions.

Why is this interesting? “This marks a novel approach by the FTC, as it is the first instance in merger enforcement where the potential harm to workers has been cited as a reason to prevent a merger,” Daniel Hanley, senior legal analyst at the Open Markets Institute, wrote.

The Swan’s Selections🦢

📉Google’s AI Wokeness Spur $90 Billion Selloff: Google parent ‘Alphabet’ has lost ~$90 billion in market value after claims its AI service is “Woke”. Yes, that’s a real statement. Even AI is woke now. Controversy surrounds Google’s ‘Gemini’ AI service producing racially inaccurate depictions of historical figures, refusing to determine who had a larger negative impact between Adolf Hitler and Elon Musk, and more.

❌Apple Says No-More EVs: After 10-years and billions of dollars, Apple has axed their EV project. It started in 2017, when Tim Cook confirmed the company was working on a driverless car. And now it’s officially over.

🫧Are We In A Stock Market Bubble: Legendary Investor Ray Dalio doesn’t think so. He published a post on his LinkedIn breaking down six key points to why this isn’t a bubble. It’s worth a read, but do your own research and form your own opinion on the current state of the market.

💰Blackstone CEO Gets Near-Record Annual Payout: Blackstone CEO, Steve Schwarzman, took home $897 million in 2023. His ~20% stake in Blackstone resulted in a $777 million dividend payout. Not to mention the other $120 million in incentive fees and carry. This marks one of the biggest annual payouts on record in high finance.

🍔Wendy’s To Test AI Pricing: Wendy’s announced plans to test dynamic pricing - which uses AI to change prices on its new digital menus. Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the company will invest $20 million into its digital business to increase sales and improve accuracy - one of these features being the new digital menu boards.

In Other News🗞

• Global equity funds see outflows amid inflation concerns - RT

• Goldman Sachs and Mubadala ink $1 billion private credit India-focused partnership deal - RT

• Philippines raised a record $10.5 billion from the sale of small-denominated treasury bonds - BBG

• Nvidia makes up 25% of U.S. equity options bets - RT

• Global Hedge Funds sold tech stocks at highest pace in 8 months - RT

• U.S. corporate bond sales hit $153 billion in February record - BBG

• Microsoft announces deal with Mistral, expanding AI portfolio - YF

• Sweden will join NATO - FT

• KKR agreed to buy Broadcom’s end-user computing division for ~$4 billion - WSJ

• Fast-fashion company ‘Shein’ is considering switching its IPO from New York to London due to hurdles from SEC - BBG

• U.S. launched an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth - WSJ

• Bumble will cut 350 roles - RT

• Apple will disclose AI plans later this year - RT

• Kedaara Capital is set to raise $1.7 billion for what would be India’s biggest-ever PE fund - RT

Next Week in the Stock Market🔮

Earnings Calendar Next Week:

What the Swan is watching:

Monday: Science Applications International

Tuesday: Target, Ross Stores, Nio, Crowdstrike, Nordstrom

Wednesday: JD.com, Foot Locker, Dollar Tree, Abercrombie & Fitch, Campbell’s, United Natural Foods, Victoria’s Secret

Thursday: Archer-Daniels-Midland, Kroger, Burlington, American Eagle Outfitters, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Ciena, Broadcom, Costco Wholesale, Oracle, Gap, Marvell Technologies, DocuSign, MongoDB

Economic Calendar Next Week:

The Wrap-Up🔄

🎊🎉 That’s it for this week 🎉🎊

Let us know how you liked this week’s edition of Black Swan Street⬇