On February 5th local time, the three major indexes of the US stock market closed down collectively, and the performance of large technology stocks was divided. Tesla fell nearly 7% during the trading session. On the same day, Federal Reserve officials stated that the higher neutral interest rate levels gave the Federal Reserve time to wait and wait for further rate cuts.
At present, it is a period of intensive disclosure of US stock financial reports. Both US food and beverage giants McDonald's and Starbucks have stated that geopolitical conflicts damaged their performance at the end of last year and believe that they will continue to suffer negative impacts in the coming quarters.
Among individual stocks, the stock price of biotech company NanoString plummeted by 78%. On the news front, it filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware, United States.
Tesla fell nearly 7% during trading
On February 5th local time, the three major US stock indexes collectively closed lower. According to Wind data, as of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.71%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.32%, and the Nasdaq index fell 0.2%.
The performance of large technology stocks in the US stock market is differentiated. As of the close, Apple rose 0.98%, Amazon fell 0.87%, Netflix fell 0.46%, Google's parent company Alphabet rose 0.91%, Facebook's parent company Meta fell 3.28%, and Microsoft fell 1.35%.
Nvidia rose 4.79%, with its stock price continuing to reach a historic high.
Tesla fell nearly 7% during trading and closed down more than 3%, reaching a new low since May last year.
US treasury bond bond yields climbed. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose 14.10 basis points to 4.165%, with the highest intraday increase reaching 4.180%; The yield of two-year treasury bond climbed 11.4 basis points to 4.48%; The 30-year treasury bond bond yield rose 11.8 basis points to 4.34%.
The market continues to pay attention to the prospects of the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut policy. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said on Sunday local time, "We hope to see more evidence that inflation is sustainably falling to 2%." Powell's speech echoes his remarks after last week's Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting. At last week's Federal Reserve meeting, the institution kept interest rates unchanged and subsequently stated that the possibility of a rate cut in March is unlikely. Subsequently, investors lowered their bets on the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut in March from nearly 40% to around 20%.
On February 5th local time, Neel Kashkari, the President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, stated that the higher neutral interest rate levels give the Federal Reserve time to wait and then lower rates.
McDonald's and Starbucks businesses have suffered setbacks
McDonald's and Starbucks both stated that geopolitical conflicts damaged their performance at the end of last year and believe that they will continue to suffer negative impacts in the coming quarters.
On February 5th local time, McDonald's fell 3.73% and Starbucks fell 0.52%.
According to the latest quarterly financial report released on the same day, the slowdown in McDonald's Middle East sales was one of the reasons for its fourth quarter revenue decline. Starbucks has lowered its expected revenue growth for the full year of 2024 from 10% -12% to 7% -9%.
Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said last week that the company's sales in the Middle East have been struggling, and even local coffee shops in the United States have faced resistance from some people. The flow of customers in the United States has been declining since mid November last year.
"Russian version of Google" sold for $5.2 billion
On February 5th local time, Yandex N.V., the Dutch parent company of Yandex, the largest technology company in Russia, announced in a statement that it has agreed to sell Russia and some international market businesses to a Russian investor consortium in the form of cash and stock transactions, with a total sale price of 475 billion rubles (approximately 5.21 billion US dollars).
It is understood that Yandex, which is listed on NASDAQ, has developed leading online services, including Russia's largest search engine, ride hailing applications, and e-commerce platforms. The current market value of Yandex is approximately 10.2 billion US dollars. Before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Yandex's market value was close to $30 billion.
Yandex will retain the business, services, and assets of Yandex N.V. Group after sale, except for overseas startups and Finnish data centers. Yandex N.V. will change its name and cease using all Yandex brands before July 31, 2024.
Biotechnology company NanoString plummeted 78%
On February 5th local time, the stock price of NanoString plummeted and continued to decline. According to Wind data, as of closing, its stock price was at $0.1, down 78.02%.
Looking at the extended cycle, the stock has been fluctuating and falling since hitting a historic high of $86.42 during trading on February 16, 2021. In the past three years, the stock price has fallen by 99.88% since its historical high.
Public information shows that NanoString is a biotechnology company that develops, produces, and sells products that obtain clinically actionable genetic information through trace amounts of tissue.
On the news side, at the end of 2023, a federal court in the United States ruled that NanoString's GeoMx product infringed on seven patents exclusively licensed by 10x Genomics and owned by Prognosys. In addition, 10x Genomics has also sued NanoString in the United States and Europe, alleging that NanoString's CosMx product infringed on its patents in RNA testing. Due to the recent combined impact of these litigation proceedings, NanoString has chosen to initiate a court regulated restructuring process and has obtained an additional $40 million in funding from existing bill holders to advance this process.
Recently, NanoString filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware, United States.
Analysts say that once approved by the bankruptcy court, this financing arrangement is expected to provide sufficient liquidity to support the company's operations during the trial period.
According to Nanostring's 2023 Q3 financial report released in November last year, the company achieved a revenue of 128 million US dollars during the reporting period, compared to 92.84 million US dollars in the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 37.93%; Realized a net loss of 122 million US dollars, with a cumulative net loss of 115 million US dollars in the same period last year, an increase of 5.97% year-on-year.
King Charles III of England has been diagnosed with cancer
According to CCTV news, on February 5th local time, Buckingham Palace announced that King Charles III of the United Kingdom was diagnosed with cancer during a diagnostic examination at the hospital.
It is reported that the cancer diagnosed by Charles III was not prostate cancer, but was discovered during his recent treatment of prostate enlargement. As of now, Buckingham Palace has not disclosed the type of cancer, but according to a statement released by Buckingham Palace, King Charles III began receiving treatment on the 5th.
