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DAILY UPDATE: OpenAI & Microsoft as Stock Markets Surge

Posted on July 4, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants

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OpenAI is giving its employees a mandatory week long vacation to stave off a poaching spree launched by Meta.

Microsoft announced another round of layoffs—its largest in years—expected to impact thousands of workers across Xbox and other divisions, including 830 from its Redmond, Washington, HQ.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite tallied fresh record closing highs on Thursday, buoyed by a stronger-than-expected jobs report that helped dampen expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in July. But after lagging their trendier rivals earlier in the year, the Russell 2000 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are finally starting to play catch up. On Thursday, the Russell 2000 turned positive for 2025 for the first time since February, as a rally that started in June has accelerated in July.

Many investors have been waiting patiently for small-cap stocks to break out. But aside from a few false starts over the past two years, they have mostly continued to lag their large-cap rivals. However, some investors believe things could finally be changing.

A team of strategists at Barclays pointed out on Wednesday that a proposed increase to interest-expense tax deductions in President Trump’s budget bill could boost small-cap companies’ earnings by double digits, due to their higher interest burdens. “This market broadening out is a heathy sign,” said Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler, during an interview with MarketWatch on Thursday. More small-cap participation inevitably means investors are developing more of a taste for stocks beyond information technology, which powered much of the market’s gains in 2023 and 2024.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

Friday, July 4, 2025

All U.S. markets will be closed in observance of Independence Day.
There will be no Pre-Market or After-Hours trading sessions.

Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.

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META ANALYSIS: In Medicine

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

DEFINITION

By Staff Reporters

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Meta-analysis is a quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to systematically assess previous research studies to derive conclusions about that body of research. Outcomes from a meta-analysis may include a more precise estimate of the effect of treatment or risk factor for disease, or other outcomes, than any individual study contributing to the pooled analysis. The examination of variability or heterogeneity in study results is also a critical outcome.

Statistics: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2025/03/14/statistics-physicians-beware/

The benefits of meta-analysis include a consolidated and quantitative review of a large, and often complex, sometimes apparently conflicting, body of literature. The specification of the outcome and hypotheses that are tested is critical to the conduct of meta-analyses, as is a sensitive literature search. A failure to identify the majority of existing studies can lead to erroneous conclusions; however, there are methods of examining data to identify the potential for studies to be missing; for example, by the use of funnel plots.

Evidence Based Medicine: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2016/05/18/an-fa-hayekian-defense-of-evidence-based-medicine/

Rigorously conducted meta-analyses are useful tools in evidence-based medicine. The need to integrate findings from many studies ensures that meta-analytic research is desirable and the large body of research now generated makes the conduct of this research feasible.

Evidence Based Dentistry: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2009/03/23/reflections-on-evidence-based-dentistry/

Meta Analysis in Medical Research: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3049418/

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DAILY UPDATE: Meta, Eli Lilly, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple and the Roaring Markets

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants

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Meta Platforms jumped 4.23% after the big tech giant reported that its advertising revenue came in at $41.39 billion, beating analyst projections of $40.44 billion, thanks to higher ad price growth than expected. Daily active users rose to 3.43 billion, up from 3.35 billion last quarter, while nearly 1 billion people use its digital AI assistant every month. Management expects Q2 sales to come in between $42.5 billion and $45.5 billion, in-line with analyst forecasts of $44.03 billion.

EPS: $6.43 per share, crushing estimates of $5.28
Revenue: $42.31 billion, above the $41.10 expected

Microsoft leaped 7.63% after reporting its profit jumped a staggering 18% from a year earlier. That wasn’t the only good news: Revenue from Microsoft’s Azure cloud software grew 33% year over year, higher than the 31% expected by analysts. But perhaps the best news of all was management’s upbeat guidance—Microsoft projected revenue between $73.15 billion and $74.25 billion for the current quarter, well above expectations of $72.26 billion.

EPS: $3.46 per share, beating forecasts of $3.22
Revenue: $70.07 billion, above the $68.42 billion projected

Eli Lilly dropped 11.66% today, despite the fact that the pharmaceutical giant reported that sales skyrocketed 45% year over year thanks to its lucrative GLP-1 drugs, Zepbound and Mounjaro. Two things spooked investors today: The company lowered its profit outlook well below its preview estimate due its acquisition of a cancer drug from Scorpion Therapeutics, and CVS Health dropped Zepbound from its preferred drug list in lieu of arch-rival Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy this morning.—LB

EPS: $3.34 adjusted, beating the $3.02 expected
Revenue: $12.73 billion, compared to the $12.67 projected

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

🟢 What’s up

Kohls popped 7.76% after the retailer fired its brand-new CEO for unethical behavior.
CVS Health not only beat earnings expectations but raised its fiscal guidance, pushing shares of the pharmacy chain up 4.11%.
Wayfair rose 3.65% on surprisingly strong earnings for an online furniture seller that analysts were convinced would be hit hard by tariffs.
Roblox gained 2.91% as people checked out of reality and hit the metaverse in higher numbers than ever.
CoreWeave popped 7.31% thanks to key customer Microsoft’s strong capex guidance.
Carrier Global climbed 11.61% after the air conditioning company boosted its fiscal forecast. Turns out everyone needs AC regardless of economic uncertainty.
People also need straight teeth: Dental products manufacturer Align Technology rose 1.98% on solid earnings.
Quanta Services gained 9.99% after the construction engineering company beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom line.

What’s down

Qualcomm may have beaten earnings expectations, but shares fell 8.92% after investors were disappointed by the chipmaker’s lower guidance.
GM was in the same boat: Earnings beat forecasts, but poor guidance and warnings that tariffs could cost the company up to $5 billion this year pushed shares 0.42% lower.
Robinhood Markets enjoyed a 50% increase in revenue last quarter as traders played the volatile market, but the stock still sank 5.07%.
Moderna fell 5.29% after the vaccine maker missed revenue expectations and said it’s planning another $1.5 billion in cost cuts.
Church & Dwight, maker of household goods like Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, missed revenue forecasts last quarter and sank 6.87%.
Becton Dickinson & Co. lost 18.13% after the medical device maker warned of the adverse effects of, what else, tariffs.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

Amazon plans to invest about $4 billion into its rural delivery network across the US.

Apple is in hot water after a judge ruled it violated a court order to reform the App Store.

The Department of Justice sued several big health insurers, alleging they used illegal kickbacks to nudge members into Medicare programs.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

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NEWS IN BRIEF: Financial, Investing, Economics and IT

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

BREAKING NEWS

By Staff Reporters

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Spot bitcoin ETFs saw their highest inflows since January over the last few days, sparking a crypto rally.
The Federal Reserve withdrew its guidance for banks about engaging in crypto-related business.
California is now the fourth-largest economy in the world.
OpenAI expects its revenue to reach $125 billion in 2029, up from $3.7 billion last year.
The median pay for CEOs rose to a record $16.8 million in 2024.
Meta Platforms is laying off staff working in its virtual reality division.
Apple announced it’s shifting its iPhone production from China to India.

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DAILY UPDATE: Meta Anti-Trust Trial and Drug Price Negotiations with Few UP and Many DOWN Stocks

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants

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Meta’s antitrust trial resumes: The FTC is accusing CEO Mark Zuckerberg of purchasing Instagram and WhatsApp to gain an unfair monopoly in the social media space, while the defense is expected to argue that the success of those apps is a product of Meta’s acquisition. Testimony will continue this week, with one Vanderbilt law professor telling Quartz that she expects to hear more expert testimony: “Judges tend to put a lot of stock in expert opinion in antitrust cases, especially when it comes to market definition and monopoly power.”

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

🟢 What’s up

Netflix rose 1.57% on a strong vote of confidence from Wall Street pros: After last week’s earnings blowout, the streaming service received price target upgrades from JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Evercore ISI, Morgan Stanley and Piper Sandler today.
Discover Financial Services climbed 3.53% after its merger with Capital One got the greenlight from regulators. Capital One rose 1.54%.
MicroAlgo exploded 74.93% after the tech holding company became the latest hot penny stock du jour.
Gold miners continue to mint big gains as the hot commodity broke yet another record. Barrick Gold gained 1.39%, while Anglogold Ashanti climbed 2.13%.

What’s down

Chipotle sank 3.48% after announcing plans to open its first restaurant in Mexico.
Hertz Global gave up some of last week’s big gains today, dropping 4.98% as investors took profits following Bill Ackman’s hint that the rental car company may team up with Uber.
Speaking of, Uber fell 3.08% after the FTC sued the ride-hailing company for “deceptive billing and cancellation practices.”
Amazon lost 3.11% thanks to a downgrade from Raymond James analysts. They believe the e-commerce titan’s retail and advertising businesses are too exposed to tariffs.
Salesforce stumbled 4.45% on a downgrade from DA Davidson analysts, who say the SAAS company is too focused on AI and not on its core business.
Deutsche Post AG, better known as DHL, announced it is suspending shipments worth over $800 as the international shipping company struggles with tariffs. Shares fell 1%.
Comerica lost 4.36% after the regional bank forecast lower loans and deposits in 2025.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

Now that the US government is negotiating drug prices directly with manufacturers, states want to get in on the action, too. These efforts vary by state, but generally involve creating a board to review drugs’ affordability and sometimes setting upper price limits (UPLs). While none have implemented UPLs as of April, as the idea gains momentum, there are questions about UPLs and boards’ legality, practicality, and whether they will actually lower costs for patients.

Visualize: How private equity tangled banks in a web of debt, from the Financial Times.

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DAILY UPDATE: Zuck’s Testimony and Pfizer’s Liver as Stocks Fizzle Out

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Essays, Opinions and Curated News in Health Economics, Investing, Business, Management and Financial Planning for Physician Entrepreneurs and their Savvy Advisors and Consultants

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Mark Zuckerberg testified as the trial for the FTC’s antitrust case against Meta over its purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp began yesterday.

Pfizer said it would end development of its daily weight loss pill after a patient reported liver damage.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

Stocks started the day strong but the rally eventually fizzled out as reports of trade talks between the US and EU making “little progress” left all three major indexes in the red.
The dreaded death cross has arrived: The S&P 500’s 50-day moving average is now below the 200-day moving average for the first time since 2022, a bearish technical indicator that has investors worried.
10-year Treasury yields fell to a one-week low, letting traders breathe a small sigh of relief after tariffs upended the status quo last week.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

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Stocks UP and Stocks DOWN

Posted on April 14, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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🟢 What’s up

Auto stocks soared on comments from President Trump that car companies “need a little bit of time.” GM rose 3.48%, Ford climbed 4.13%, and Stellantis gained 5.64%.
Investors are bullish: WeBull exploded 374.72% after the online investment platform went public via SPAC merger last Friday.
Goldman Sachs rose 1.87% after the Wall Street titan announced record revenue in its equities-trading business thanks to stock market volatility in the first quarter.
Palantir gained 4.60% after it sealed a deal with NATO to provide the organization with its advanced AI-powered warfighting system.
Intel climbed 2.89% on news that it will sell a 51% stake in its programmable chips unit Altera to Silver Lake Management.
Pfizer somehow rose 0.96% despite announcing that it is discontinuing the development of a once-daily weight-loss pill after a patient experienced a liver injury. That’s great news for Viking Therapeutics, which has its own oral weight-loss pill in the pipeline. Shares of Viking rose 10.58%.
Speaking of biotech stocks, Verve Therapeutics soared 26.38% after the company reported no issues with patients trialing its new gene-editing technology.

What’s down

Meta Platforms fell 2.22% as its antitrust trial began today. If it loses its case against the FTC, it may be forced to sell off Instagram.
DaVita sank 3.03% after the kidney disease treatment company announced it was the victim of a ransomware attack.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings fell 1.10% on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs analysts, who believe the vacation club company will struggle as fewer people splurge on travel. Marriott International received the same treatment, and also dropped 0.77%.
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (really rolls off the tongue) tumbled 6.39% after the luxury goods retailer missed analyst expectations, reporting a 3% decline in sales compared to forecasts of 2% growth.
It’s a bit broad, but Citi analysts downgraded all US stocks to “neutral” this morning. The analysts argued that US stocks are too exposed to President Trump’s policies and are expensive compared to international peers, and endorsed investing in Japanese, European, and UK equities instead.

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MICROSOFT: 50 Years

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters and Morning Brew

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Microsoft is celebrating its 50th birthday this week looking like a formerly washed up A-lister who’s suddenly rebounded and getting Oscar noms again.

Ever since Bill Gates and Paul Allen huddled in a garage in 1975 to start a company that’d define the experience of sitting in front of a boxy white PC monitor, Microsoft has had an uneven run. But after years of getting roasted for Internet Explorer, it now seems to be back on top—even briefly beating Apple as the world’s most valuable public company last year.

The tech giant can not only boast bonanza earnings, it also feels like a purveyor of the next big thing again, leading in the AI race through its partnership with OpenAI.

Windows washed

In the 1990s, it felt like Microsoft’s computer geeks were the overlords of tech. Windows powered most PCs, Internet Explorer became the go-to browser, and proficiency in Office tools became standard resume skills. But in the following decade, the company slept on internet tech and smartphones, ceding ground to Apple, Alphabet, and Meta.

It responded by going into midlife crisis mode, aka blowing cash on a series of questionable acquisitions to stay hip. That…didn’t help. By the 2010s, only grandparents could be reached @hotmail.com, Windows phones were a rarity, and no one used Bing as a verb.

When Gates stepped away from running the company in 2000, its new CEO Steve Ballmer grew its revenue threefold by the end of his tenure in 2013. He spearheaded Microsoft’s foray into gaming with the Xbox console and started its blockbuster cloud computing product Azure. But Microsoft’s profit growth slowed dramatically thanks to a massive cash bleed from its shopping spree.

It dropped $6.3 billion on the owner of ad tech platforms aQuantive to compete with Google’s ad business in 2007, only to write it off as a dud five years later.
The company burned at least $8 billion trying to make Windows phones a bigger force by buying Nokia’s cellphone division in 2014.
Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype in 2011, which must’ve made it extra painful to announce that it was sunsetting the video calling service this winter.

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Cash-slinging comeback kid

When it blew out forty candles in 2015, the tech giant was looking past its prime. The stock was trading at around $35 a share, well below its $58 peak in 1999. Its net profit for the year was $12 billion. But investors who held on until now were rewarded with shares going for $374 on its birthday this week after the company reported a net profit of $88 billion in the last financial year.

Much of the revenue now comes from its Azure cloud computing business, which has been boosted by the booming AI industry ravenous for server power.

When Microsoft’s current CEO Satya Nadella stepped into the role in 2014, he doubled down on Azure to make Microsoft into a B2B behemoth selling computing power to tech companies.
It is now the world’s second largest cloud provider after Amazon Web Services, with a 21% market share, according to Synergy Research Group.

Microsoft also bought some businesses that didn’t fail, including LinkedIn—the thought leadership hub with a user base that has soared to 1 billion since the 2016 acquisition. It also owns GitHub, the leading code-sharing platform for software developers. And in its biggest purchase yet, it snagged gaming IP giant Activision Blizzard that owns Call of Duty and World of Warcraft for a whopping $68 billion in 2022, hoping to make itself a dominant caterer to the Xbox joystick-wielding crowd.

It’s an AI company now

The not-quite-acquisition that really got Microsoft its groundbreaker’s glitz back was pouring $13 billion into OpenAI.

Having gotten in on the ground floor of the AI boom, Microsoft is harnessing OpenAI’s models to power its CoPilot AI agent, which it embedded into its Office tools and Teams app. This pits it against other tech giants betting that AI agents automating tasks will be the biggest in-cubicle revolution since Excel.

Cite: Morning Brew April 5, 2025

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US STOCK MARKETS: Plunge!

Posted on March 10, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

BREAKING NEWS

By Staff Reporters

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US stocks plunged on Monday as investors processed growing concerns about the health of the US economy after President Trump and his top economic officials acknowledged the possibility of a potential rough patch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell nearly 900 points, or over 2%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped around 2.7% after the index posted its worst week since September.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite (^IXIC) fell 4% in its worst day since 2022, as the “Magnificent Seven” stocks led the sell-off. Tesla’s (TSLA) rout continued, plunging 15% and officially wiping out the gains it had made in the wake of Trump’s election win. Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Google parent Alphabet (GOOG), and Meta (META) all each lost more than 4%.

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MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Companies Defined

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Copilot

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The “Magnificent Seven” refers to a group of seven technology giants that have significantly influenced the stock market. These companies are:

Alphabet (GOOGL)
Amazon (AMZN)
Apple (AAPL)
Meta Platforms (META)
Microsoft (MSFT)
Nvidia (NVDA)
Tesla (TSLA)

Why Are They Significant?

These companies are at the forefront of technological innovation, driving advancements in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, e-commerce, social media, and electric vehicles. Their market dominance and financial performance have a substantial impact on major stock indices like the S&P 5002.

Performance

Alphabet: Despite a 31% climb over the past year, Alphabet remains the cheapest of the group, trading at 20 times forward earnings estimates.
Amazon: Amazon’s cloud unit is delivering an annual revenue run rate of $115 billion thanks to its AI offerings.
Apple: Apple has seen a 989% total return for investors over the past decade.
Meta Platforms: Meta is the best-performing stock year-to-date among the Magnificent Seven, up over 25%.
Microsoft: Microsoft has generated a 989% total return for investors over the past decade.
Nvidia: Nvidia remains the best performer over the past year, up 55%.
Tesla: Tesla is the worst-performing stock in the group for 2025, down 25.66% year-to-date.

These companies have reshaped industries and become powerhouses in the global economy, wielding significant influence over market trends and investor sentiment.

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DAILY UPDATE: Medicare and PBMs as Markets Slither

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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The S&P 500 (^GSPC) just capped its best first four trading days under a new president since Ronald Reagan’s first week in 1985. And, the week ahead will bring investors a deluge of news that will put that rally to the test.

Earnings from more than 100 members of the S&P 500 — highlighted by results from tech heavyweights Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and Tesla (TSLA) — are set for release, with Wednesday serving as the week’s busiest. Starbucks (SBUX), Exxon (XOM), and Chevron (CVX) are also set to report.

On this coming ednesday afternoon, the Federal Reserve will also announce its latest monetary policy decision, with the central bank expected to keep interest rates unchanged and investors focused on what Fed Chairman Jay Powell has to say about the balance of 2025.

Last week, the S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite (^IXIC), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) each rallied during a holiday-shortened four day trading week. Over the last five days, the S&P 500 and Dow have gained more than 2.8%; the tech index is leading gains over that period, rising more than 3.1%.

Markets welcomed Trump’s initial days in office as limited news on tariffs steadied investors and a massive AI investment announcement helped boost tech stocks.

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The FTC’s second interim staff report on consolidated pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) found that the three largest of these middlemen—CVS Health’s Caremark Rx, Cigna Group’s Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx—”marked up two specialty generic cancer drugs by thousands of percent and then paid their affiliated pharmacies hundreds of millions of dollars of dispensing revenue in excess of estimated acquisition costs for each drug annually.”

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Medicare and the Trump 2.0 Administration

People have been concerned about the future of Medicare for years. Now that Donald Trump has begun his second term in office, the question becomes: What will happen next?

According to the JAMA Network and ABC News, here are some predictions for what may come:

There will be greater price transparency: During his first term, Trump worked to make prices more transparent to both individuals and health care organizations. This may very well continue.
More emphasis on Medicare Advantage plans: Under Project 2025, it’s possible that Medicare Advantage plans will become the “default option for Medicare coverage.” This could lead to a privatization of the program.

Medicare’s future remains to be seen. For now, the best thing current and future retirees can do is keep an eye on their coverage options and costs.

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DAILY UPDATE: Dental and Medical Record Data Breaches as Stocks Jump!

Posted on January 4, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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Nvidia stock (NVDA) led gains among the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks to start the new year after a group-wide sell-off in the last days of 2024. Shares of the AI chip-maker rose 4.5% Friday after gaining roughly 3% the prior day.

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Stat: 18. That’s how many dental data breaches there were in the US in 2024. (Becker’s Dental + DSO Review)

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Quote: “If your credit card gets compromised, your bank will alert you, cancel it and send you get a new one. But your medical records have a long lifespan. They can be misused without detection for long periods of time, because it’s harder to identify malicious activity. That makes them very valuable.”—Geetha Thamilarasu, associate professor at the University of Washington Bothell, on why hackers want healthcare information (the Wall Street Journal)

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That upswing followed a 4% dip between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve as megacap tech stocks dropped across the board in the absence of a “Santa Claus” rally, where the stock market typically enjoys a surge between December 24th and January 2nd. Tesla (TSLA) stock plunged nearly 13% over that time frame, while Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) dropped more than 4%. Meanwhile, Meta (META) and Google (GOOG) fell just under 4%, and Apple (AAPL) dropped 3%.

Even with its December decline, Nvidia shares still ended 2024 up more than 150%. Wall Street analysts have remained bullish on the stock, estimating shares will rise to roughly $173 over the next year from their current level of $138, according to Yahoo Finance data.

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DAILY UPDATE: FDIC Misconduct as Stocks Climb

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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The stock market will be open on Christmas Eve 2024 but will close early at 1 p.m. ET in anticipation of Christmas Day. This early closure allows market participants to wind down ahead of the holiday.

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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has suspended pay bonuses for roughly two dozen executives under investigation for misconduct, a year after a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed a toxic and sexualized workplace culture at the bank regulator.

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Stocks climbed on Monday as tech rallied and investors considered the path of interest rates next year after the Fed hinted they would stay higher for longer.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.7%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ (^IXIC) rose almost 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) erased earlier losses to edge almost 0.2% higher.

Semiconductor stocks gained, as shares of chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO) rose more than 3% and 5%, respectively. And, robust gains from social media platform Meta (META) and EV giant Tesla (TSLA) also helped lead the broader market higher.

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METAVERSE MEDICINE: A Paradigm Shift?

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd

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***

In what some are calling the next iteration of the internet, the metaverse is an unfamiliar digital world where you could be an avatar navigating computer-generated places and interacting with others in real time. In this space, the constraints of our physical, bricks and mortar world and travel habits fade. And new opportunities and challenges emerge.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

For example:

Google in healthcare: The search giant has repeatedly successfully transferred its in-depth knowledge of algorithms in the field of medicine, particularly since it acquired DeepMind.

Apple in healthcare: Apple will keep on working on expanding the health features of its devices, Apple Watch and iPhones included.

Microsoft in healthcare: Microsoft’s cloud solutions provide integrated capabilities that make it easier to improve the healthcare experience.

Amazon in healthcare: Amazon will make further use of its vast knowledge of online shopping trends and behavior and will keep on providing what people need, from medicine to wearables.

IBM in healthcare: IBM has a lot to offer in federated learning, blockchain, and quantum computing.

Nvidia in healthcare: NVIDIA seems incredibly focused on its approach to healthcare. We can expect NVIDIA to be a leader in the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.

Facebook in healthcare: The Metaverse developed by Facebook/Meta has incredible potential to revolutionize healthcare.

All this technology has huge potential because it uses both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology to work in virtual spaces: All signs point to the metaverse being widely used as a disruptive change in healthcare, from better surgical precision to therapeutic uses to social-distance accommodations and more.

But along with these improvements come new problems that will change what we know about modern healthcare. The metaverse is a paradigm shift in healthcare that everyone involved needs to be aware of. This is because it changes how medical infrastructure is built, how startup costs are covered, and how data security and privacy are handled.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Big Technology Stocks

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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After its AI-related earnings disappointed Wall Street last quarter, Big Tech doubled down in the latest period:

Amazon spent $22.6 billion on property and equipment like data centers and chips. That’s an 81% spike from the same time last year.
Meta raised its low-end guidance for capex (capital expenditures), which could reach $40 billion by the end of the year. It beat earnings estimates, even with AR glasses subsidiary Reality Labs costing $4.4 billion in operating losses.
Apple is still betting on Apple Intelligence to boost sales. Most revenue came from the new iPhone 16, Apple Watch, and AirPods, but Apple services like TV+ and iCloud also grew massively to account for a quarter of the business.
Google crushed earnings estimates and revealed that more than 25% of all new code it writes is generated by AI (and reviewed by engineers).

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QUARTERLY EARNINGS: Reports Disclosed

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Quarterly earning reports dropped

Meta reported record revenue but missed on user growth.

Microsoft beat revenue expectations thanks to the AI-driven demand for its Azure cloud platform.

Starbucks had a pretty meh report but CEO Brian Niccol revealed that the chain would stop charging extra for nondairy milk.

DoorDash reported its first operating profit since the pandemic.

Super Micro stock fell more than 30% during yesterday’s trading session after its auditor, Ernst & Young, resigned due to disagreements.

And, despite crypto getting renewed interest as of late, Coinbase missed on revenue and earnings

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DAILY UPDATE: The Stock Markets and Meta

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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Markets: It’s been a September to remember for the stock market after the S&P 500 and Dow Jones hit fresh highs last week. Thursday was the 42nd record-high close for the S&P 500 this year, and on Friday, the Dow notched its 32nd record-high close, per CNN Business. Recent data indicates that all the ingredients are coming together for a “soft landing”: The economy is staying strong while inflation has continued to fall. And more rate cuts are on their way.

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Stock spotlight: Meta’s rally this year has been fruitful for its CEO’s bank account. The net worth of Mark Zuckerberg, who owns a 13% stake in his company, climbed above $200 billion for the first time, per Bloomberg. He’s now the fourth-richest person in the world.

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DAILY UPDATE: MyChart, Meta, Zelle and Acadia as the DJIA Rises

Posted on September 28, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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Stat: 150. That’s how many health systems use AI to help draft replies on MyChart, sometimes without disclosing this to patients. (the New York Times)

Contained in a roughly 200-page quarterly filing from JPMorgan Chase last month were eight words that underscore how contentious the bank’s relationship with the government has become. The lender disclosed that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could punish JPMorgan for its role in Zelle, the giant peer-to-peer digital payments network. The bank is accused of failing to kick criminal accounts off its platform and failing to compensate some scam victims.

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Stocks Up

Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 1.56% after the FDA approved its new drug for schizophrenia, the first new treatment of its kind in decades. Some analysts expect the drug, Cobenfy, to bring in $6 billion in peak annual revenue.

Trump Media gained 5.58% despite a co-founder of its Truth Social platform cashing out nearly all of his shares—worth about $100 million at current prices.
Chinese EV maker Nio added another 12.80% to bring its weekly gains to nearly 25%. It’s benefiting from the overall euphoria around Chinese stocks and anticipation over its quarterly delivery numbers due next week.
Speaking of the Chinese government’s stimulus measures, investors are wagering that the Macau locations of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (up 5.59%) and Wynn Resorts (up 7.24%) will see more visitors.
IonQ, a quantum computing company based in College Park, MD (go Terps), shot up 20.47% after inking a contract with the US Air Force Research Lab.

Stocks down

Nvidia dropped 2.17%. Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government is ramping up the pressure on local tech companies to move away from using Nvidia AI chips and lean more on domestic suppliers.
WeightWatchers, whose shares are down more than 90% this year, booted its CEO Sima Sistani, who pivoted the company to weight-loss drugs. Investors aren’t betting a change at the top will lead to a turnaround, sending shares 2.11% lower on the day.
Globe Life sank 4.74% after the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the life insurance company tolerated a “pervasive pattern of harassing conduct” at one of its top sales agencies, per Business Insider.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500^® index (SPX) lost 7.20 points (–0.13%) to 5,738.17 to end the week up 0.62%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average^® ($DJI) added 137.89 points (0.33%) to 42,313.00 to end the week up 0.59%; the NASDAQ Composite^® ($COMP) fell 70.70 points (–0.39%) to 18,119.59 to end the week up 0.95%.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) fell four basis points to 3.75%, up two basis points for the week.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) jumped to 16.64.

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Meta is facing a fine of $102 million for storing some users’ passwords in “plaintext”. The social media giant has admitted to poor password management.

Acadia and the Department of Justice just reached a ~$20M agreement to settle accusations that the company billed Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary inpatient mental health services. Acadia found itself under pressure after a New York Times investigation published earlier in September allegedly found that the company kept patients in facilities against their will to maximize insurance payments.

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LABOR DAY: Year 2024

Posted on September 2, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Sept. 5th, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. President Grover Cleveland signed a law on June 28th, 1894, that made the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday, according to the Department of Labor.

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The financial markets will be closed today Monday, September 2nd, for Labor Day, 2024. Most brokerages will process transaction requests received after 4 p.m., Eastern time, on Friday as if received before 4 p.m., Eastern time, on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024.

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The stock market has had a strong 2024 so far, but that doesn’t mean investors won’t enjoy the long weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 11% this year, while the S&P 500 has climbed 15% and the NASDAQ Composite has moved 21% higher. A handful of tech stocks, such as Nvidia (ticker: NVDA) and Meta Platforms (META), have led the charge as traders bet on the future of artificial intelligence.

***

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DAILY UPDATE: Medicare, Google & Meta, FTX and the Rising Markets

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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FTX was ordered to pay $12.7 billion to customers. All customers will recoup their deposits that were locked when the crypto exchange went under in 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission just said last Thursday.

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Read: How one-hour patient home visits allowed insurers to collect $15 billion from Medicare between 2019 and 2021. (the Wall Street Journal)

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What’s up

Sweetgreen popped 33.33% after a strong earnings report coupled with forecasts of higher-than-expected sales in 2024.
Doximity soared 38.70% thanks to a beat-and-raise quarter from the medical platform that has been investing in its own DoximityGPT AI model.
Nikola rose 8.21% after a surprisingly strong quarter in which sales soared 318%.
Unity Software jumped 8.22% despite revenue coming in lower year over year, but it was still higher than Wall Street expected.
Take-Two Interactive Software surged 4.35% after it beat earnings estimates last quarter, but no word yet on how its Gearbox acquisition is helping its bottom line, nor when GTA 6 is going to be released.
Expedia traveled 10.21% higher due to an earnings beat, with the company sidestepping a consumer spending slowdown quite nicely.

What’s down

e.l.f. Beauty tanked 14.46% despite beating earnings estimates and guiding for a better fiscal year than expected, as investors worry about tough competition.
Capri Holdings slid 4.86% as the company founded by Michael Kors faces slowing sales from cash-strapped consumers.
Insulet sank 8.81% after beating earnings estimates, with shareholders concerned about the cost of unutilized insulin devices.
Five9 plummeted 26.49% thanks to a weaker-than-expected forecast for the upcoming quarter and rest of the year.
Array Technologies slumped 21.02% despite beating analyst estimates, as management reduced the company’s fiscal year guidance.
New Fortress Energy fell 23.62% after the liquified natural gas company missed on both earnings and revenue last quarter.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500^® index (SPX) rose 25 points (0.5%) to 5,344.16, ending the week little changed; the Dow Jones Industrial Average^® ($DJI) rose 51 points (0.1%) to 39,497.54 to end the week down about 0.6%; the NASDAQ Composite^® ($COMP) ended 85 points higher (0.5%) at 16,745.30, leaving it about 0.2% lower for the week.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) dropped five basis points to 3.944%.
The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) declined three points (13%) to 20.7.

Google and Meta teamed up to target teens with ads for Instagram on YouTube, going against Google’s own rules, the Financial Times reported.

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META: Violating the DMA?

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Europe can’t stop penalizing US tech firms.

The European Union or EU has charged Meta with violating its Digital Markets Act (DMA), a new law regulating digital platforms, through its “pay or consent” model. That model, which Meta introduced in November to comply with the DMA, allowed European users of Instagram and Facebook to pay for a subscription instead of seeing ads. The EU now says these options prevent users from consenting to the use of their personal data.

Meta is the second US-based Big Tech company to be charged for violating the DMA, after Apple got nailed last week.

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DAILY UPDATE: Memorial Day as Stocks Recover

Posted on May 27, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Here’s where the major stock market benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index added 36.9 points (0.7%) to 5,304.72, basically flat on the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.3 points (0.0%) to 39,069.59, down 2.3% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite^® ($COMP) rallied 184.8 points (1.1%) to 16,920.79, up 1.4% for the week.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was little changed at 4.46%, up about four basis points for the week.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) fell 0.86 to 11.91 and finished a roller-coaster week roughly where it started.

Some of the mega cap names saw notable strength Friday. Nvidia added another 2.6% to Thursday’s 9.3% post-earnings rally. Apple (AAPL) gained 1.7%, Meta Platforms (META) added 2.7%, and Tesla (TSLA) rose 3.2%

The small cap Russell 2000^® Index (RUT) also outperformed, gaining nearly 1% Friday. However, for the week, the index lost 1.3%.

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DAILY UPDATE: Cannabis, Healthcare and the Stock Market Rally!

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

MEDICAL EXECUTIVE-POST – TODAY’S NEWSLETTER BRIEFING

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Here’s where the major stock market benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index gained 51.54 points (1.0%) to 5,099.96, up 2.7% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average^® ($DJI) increased 153.86 points (0.4%) to 38,239.66, up 0.7% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite jumped 316.14 points (2.0%) to 15,927.90, up 4.2% for the week.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) lost about 4 basis points to 4.665%.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) fell 0.34 to 15.03.

Alphabet’s rally helped communication services reverse Thursday’s downturn, which was driven by disappointing quarterly results from Meta Platforms (META). The S&P 500 Communication Services index ($SP500#50) surged 4.7% Friday and ended the week with a 2.7% gain. Semiconductor shares were also strong, led by a 6% gain in Nvidia (NVDA). The Russell 2000^®Index (RUT) added 1.1% Friday and posted a 2.8% advance for the week.

In other markets, WTI Crude Oil (/CL) futures rose slightly Friday, ending around $83.65 per barrel and shutting down a three-week losing streak.

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Midi Health, a health clinic geared toward women in midlife, raised $60 million in Series B funding to expand its network to 150 clinicians by the end of the year, among other efforts. (MobiHealthNews)

“We’re fooling ourselves if we think that’s cheap or can be done less expensively.”—Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, on hospital finances and cutting costs (AP)

The federal government implemented new staffing rules to improve patient care, but most nursing homes won’t be able to meet that demand. (KFF Health News/NPR)

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The Biden administration is considering a change that would downgrade cannabis from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug this year. The reclassification would have major effects on the business of cannabis, but for that to happen, the Drug Enforcement Agency needs proof of medical effectiveness.

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MICROSOFT: The Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Microsoft is looking at a broader AI future than just OpenAI

Microsoft has been at the forefront of the AI revolution through its $13 billion stake in the ChatGPT-maker, but recently it showed it’s also making other Artificial Intelligence bets, announcing it will pursue several partnerships and is investing $2.1 billion in French startup Mistral AI. Mistral’s tech will be available to Microsoft Azure users.

And then Microsoft President Brad Smith told Axios that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is “brilliant”, but …… Read Axios Story.

Perhaps even to counter Mark Zuckerbergs META Platform.

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META [Facebook] Spends Very Big Money on Artificial Intelligence [A.I.]

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Big Artificial Intelligence Spending Boosts Meta’s Cost Structure!

Meta [Facebook, FB] reported record Q1 revenue yesterday, but it was overshadowed by the billions the company is spending in its efforts to win the AI race and to try to make the metaverse happen. Investors were displeased with the company’s forecast that its spending will rise by $10 billion to support AI development, sending Meta’s stock price down 15% after hours.

Now, the metaverse is a vision of a virtual reality where people can socialize, work, play, and explore in immersive digital spaces.

But CEO Mark Zuckerberg urged them to keep the faith, saying, “We’ve historically seen a lot of volatility in our stock during this phase of our product playbook.”

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EARNINGS WEEK: Four Magnificent Seven Stocks Plus 4 More “Blue Chips” Reporting

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Busy earnings week will focus on the Magnificent Seven

Big Tech is leading the stock-market rout, but in the coming days, it has the opportunity to turn things around. Magnificent Seven members Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Tesla are among the 178 S&P 500 companies scheduled to report their earnings this jam-packed week.

Other blue-chip stocks reporting include GM, Boeing, IBM, and PepsiCo.

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DAILY UPDATE: Stock Markets Surge

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

Markets: Stocks pulled it out for a Friday win after the government dropped encouraging economic data. But all three major indexes were still down for the week, with the Dow enduring its worst of 2024.
Stock spotlight: Tesla took a wild ride, plunging after Reuters reported it had scrapped plans to produce its long-awaited Model 2 affordable EV only to regain some ground after Elon Musk denied it. The company then jumped after hours because Musk said it’ll debut a robotaxi on August 8.

The S&P 500 index gained 57.13 points (1.1%) to 5,204.34, down 1.0% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 307.06 points (0.8%) to 38,904.04, down 2.3% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite^® ($COMP) rose 199.44 points (1.2%) to 16,248.52, down 0.8% for the week.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) rose more than 8 basis points to 4.392%.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) fell 0.32 to 16.03.

Meta Platforms (META) and Netflix (NFLX), two members of the “Magnificent Seven” mega-cap group, both jumped around 3% Friday, helping lift the S&P 500 Communication Services Index ($SP500#50) 1.6% to lead top-performing sectors. Meta shares closed at a record above $527, up 49% for the year.

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DAILY UPDATE: “Digital Markets Act” Violations as Stocks Slide

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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The European Union is investigating Meta, Apple, and Alphabet for potential violations of its Digital Markets Act. And its regulators have started looking into Amazon as well.

The Digital Markets Act is the EU’s law to make the markets in the digital sector fairer and more contestable. In order to do so, the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) establishes a set of clearly defined objective criteria to identify “gatekeepers”.

And, stocks were headed for a great Tuesday before investors sent stock indexes back down and leaving the Dow largely unchanged. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s social media company, Truth Social, surged 16% in its first day of trading, just as the former president must pay $175 million as part of his civil fraud trial.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index lost 14.61 points (0.3%) to 5,203.58; the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 31.31 points (0.1%) to 39,282.33; the NASDAQ Composite tumbled 68.76 points (0.4%) to 16,315.70.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) fell two basis points to 4.23%.
The CBOE Volatility Index edged up 0.05 to 13.24.

In terms of sector performance, utilities, information technology, and energy were the weakest. Health care and financials saw relative strength.

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DAILY UPDATE: Apple Down but Stocks Gain

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Stocks soared again on Thursday, pushing the major indexes to new records as tech companies over performed and investors hung onto the good vibes from this week’s Fed meeting. It was a scintillating debut for Reddit, which rocketed nearly 50% in its first day as a public company.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index added 16.91 points (0.3%) to 5,241.53; the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 269.24 points (0.7%) to 39,781.37; the NASDAQ Composite rose 32.43 points (0.2%) to 16,401.84.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was flat at 4.27%.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) dropped 0.11 to 12.93.

Industrials, financials, and energy stocks were among the strongest sectors. Utilities and communication services finished modestly lower.

Apple (AAPL) was the biggest loser in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, falling 4.1% on reports the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company. Other widely held stocks were mostly higher: Microsoft (MSFT) added 1%, Meta Platforms (META) gained 0.4%, and Amazon (AMZN) was unchanged on the day.

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DOWN: Facebook, Threads, Instagram and Messenger

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

PARENT META OUTAGE

By Staff Reporters

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Facebook, Instagram and Messenger have gone down in what appears to be a huge outage at parent company Meta.

Users found themselves unable to load the apps or websites as normal. On Facebook, affected users found they had been logged out and were unable to get on, while Instagram refused to work at all.

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META: Stock Up!

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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2022 was a rough year for Meta. Inflation and high interest rates dinged the company, and Apple made changes to its operating system that made it harder for brands to target customers, and rival TikTok kept on growing. Meta’s stock price fell more than 60%.

But the company saw a dramatic turnaround of its fortunes in 2023. Its full-year net income rose 69% over 2022 to $39.1 billion. Its diluted earnings per share went from $8.59 to $14.87, a 73% YoY jump. Q4 2023 was especially good for Meta: Its net income more than tripled and its revenue rose 25%.

And for the first time, the company gave out cash dividends to investors. Technology analyst Ben Barringer described the move to CNBC as a “symbolic moment” that showed Meta viewed itself as a “mature, grown-up business.”

Meta’s success, though, required paring down. It reduced operating expenses in 2023 by laying off some 20,000 people, slashing its headcount by 22%. It spent $2.5 billion on “facilities consolidation,” or reducing its office footprint. The changes were part of a plan to make the company “leaner” so it would be better able to weather volatility over the next five to 10 years, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

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SNAP: Employee Staff Layoffs

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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According to Wikipedia, Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users’ “Stories” of 24 hours of chronological content, along with “Discover”, letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to store photos in a password-protected area called “my eyes only”. It has also reportedly incorporated limited use of end-to-end encryption, with plans to broaden its use in the future.

Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, former students at Stanford University. It is known for representing a mobile-first direction for social media, and places significant emphasis on users interacting with virtual stickers and augmented reality objects. In July 2021, Snapchat had 293 million daily active users, a 23% growth over a year. On average more than four billion Snaps are sent each day. Snapchat is popular among the younger generations, particularly those below the age of 16, leading to many privacy concerns for parents.

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So yesterday, Snap laid off 10% of its staff. The job cuts, which amount to roughly 540 people, are Snap’s largest since 2022. Ad revenue at the social media giant has slowed since Apple changed its privacy policy, making it harder for advertisers to access user data.

Meta also suffered from the changes but has rebounded after the company laid off thousands of workers as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency.” Snap’s layoffs prolong a ghastly start to 2024 for the tech industry, which has endured 32-K job cuts already this year, as per the Layoffs.

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DAILY UPDATE: Name Brand Drug Prices Up as Corporate Earnings Week Awaits

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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As the federal government seeks to rein in drug prices, pharmaceutical companies this year have been raising prices on hundreds of name-brand drugs. A new analysis by the drug research firm 46brooklyn Research found that companies increased prices on 910 branded drugs in January, although the median increase was 4.7% – the lowest drug inflation rate in more than a decade, the analysis shows.

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Whether you’re into (McDonald’s), (Disney), (Ford), (Chipotle), or paying extra for medicine (Eli Lilly), there’s an earnings report for you this week. A strong earnings season so far has helped push the major stock indexes to four straight weekly gains.

And, while Meta’s historic stock-pop hosted the headlines last week, Nvidia has quietly put together a phenomenal start to 2024. The chip-making giant added nearly $300 billion in market value in January, its biggest monthly gain ever. That’s one reason the S&P 500 is kicking off the week at a record high.

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DAILY UPDATE: Magnificent 3/7 Earning Season Reports

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Apple, Amazon, and Meta just released their latest earnings season financials and the vibes were good. All three beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with Amazon reporting a gargantuan $170 billion for Q4 2023. Meta [FB] announced it will pay out its first-ever dividend to shareholders, sending its stock soaring in after-hours trading.

And Apple reported a revenue increase for the first time in a year as it prepares to launch the Vision Pro mixed-reality device today. Apple, however, also revealed a 13% sales decline in China amid local competition with Huawei.

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DAILY UPDATE: Tech Industry Sheds Workers as the Stock Markets Rebound

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

LEAP YEAR: This February month is a Leap Year. It’s stuffed with 29 days for 2024. If we didn’t have leap years, then our seasons would completely flip every ~750 years!

GROUND HOG DAY: A tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2nd of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a ground hog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early.

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The tech industry has shed tens of thousands of workers over the last year or so, including thousands this month alone across companies including Unity, Twitch, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, eBay and Google. It also emerged that PayPal is firing around 2,500 people.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500^® index (SPX) rose 60.54 points (1.3%) to 4,906.19; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 369.54 points (1.0%) to 38,519.84; the NASDAQ Composite^® (COMP) added 197.63 points (1.3%) to 15,361.64.
The 10-year Treasury note fell over 10 basis points to 3.86%.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) fell 0.47 to 13.88.

Regional bank shares remained under pressure in the wake of poorly received quarterly results earlier this week from New York Community Bancorp (NYCB), which took over the failed Signature Bank in 2023. The bank’s shares fell another 11% on top of a 38% drop Wednesday while the KBW Regional Banking Index (KRX) sank 2.3% to a two-month low. The bank weakness was offset by strength in several other sectors, including retail and consumer discretionary.

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DAILY UPDATE: Stock Markets Blast Off Again!

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Markets: Stocks had a strong start to the week, with the S&P 500 and the Dow once again hitting new records. That’s mostly thanks to a boom in Big Tech as investors anticipate a slew of high-profile earnings (not to mention a Fed meeting) this week. Microsoft, Meta, and Uber all reached all-time highs.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended today:

The S&P 500 index rose 36.96 points (0.8%) to 4,927.93; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 224.02 points (0.6%) to 38,333.45; the NASDAQ Composite^® (COMP) added 172.68 points (1.1%) to 15,628.04.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) dropped about 8 basis points to 4.08%.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) rose 0.37 to 13.63.

Consumer discretionary and banks were among the market’s strongest sectors Monday, and small caps were also strong. The Russell 2000^® Index (RUT), a small-cap benchmark, outpaced its large-cap counterparts with a gain of 1.7%, ending near a four-week high. Energy shares took pressure after WTI Crude Oil futures (/CL) reversed an initial rally to a two-month high and ended with a loss of more than 1%.

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DAILY UPDATE: The Magnificent Seven Stocks

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Tech giants highlight busiest earnings week of the season: Five of the Magnificent Seven—Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet—will deliver their Q4 results, and we advise you against taking a shot every time AI is mentioned. On Wednesday, Boeing is scheduled to give an update on how the 737 Max 9 debacle will impact its 2024 forecasts. In all, 106 S&P 500 companies will report this week, including Starbucks, Pfizer, GM, and Big Oil.

Fed meeting and jobs report: As if those earnings won’t keep Wall Street on its toes, the Fed will wrap up its first meeting of the year on Wednesday and the January jobs report will drop on Friday. Chair Jerome Powell will almost certainly keep interest rates unchanged for now, but investors are keen to hear whether he predicts a rate cut in March. On the jobs front, US employers are expected to have continued hiring briskly in January, despite the wave of high-profile layoff announcements.

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DAILY UPDATE: Drug Makers Rise, Reddit to IPO and Stock Markets Surge

Posted on January 20, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Top 1000 Pharma Companies in 2020 - Pharma Excipients

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Drugmakers kicked off 2024 by raising the list prices for Ozempic, Mounjaro and dozens of other widely used medicines. Companies including Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, and Eli Lilly, which sells Mounjaro, raised list prices on 775 brand-name drugs during the first half of January 2024, according to an analysis for The Wall Street Journal by 46brooklyn Research, a nonprofit drug-pricing analytics group.

The drugmakers raised prices of their medicines by a median 4.5%, though the prices of some drugs rose by around 10% or higher, according to the research group. The median increase is higher than the rate of inflation, which ticked up to 3.4% in December.

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Reddit’s IPO is reportedly due in March. According to Reuters, the social media platform’s long-awaited initial public offering will launch by the end of March after it makes its public filing in late February. It’ll be the first big social media IPO since 2019, when Pinterest went public. All eyes will fall on Reddit’s own users, who are known to fuel meme stock rallies—namely AMC and GameStop—and could help prop up the company’s debut on the stock market. Valued at about $10 billion as of 2021, Reddit reportedly will sell 10% of its shares as it competes with TikTok and Facebook for attention and ad dollars.

Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index rose 58.87 points (1.2%) to 4,839.81, up 1.2% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 395.19 points (1.1%) to 37,863.80, up 0.7% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite^® (COMP) increased 255.32 points (1.7%) to a two-year high of 15,310.97, up 2.3% for the week.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) fell about 1 basis point to 4.132%.
The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX) fell 0.83 to 13.30.

Strength in Nvidia and other chipmakers like Advance Micro Devices (AMD), which surged 6%, lifted the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) 4% to a record high close. Regional banks were also among the market’s strongest performers, as the KBW Regional Banking Index (KRX) added nearly 2%. Food and beverage companies and utilities were among the weakest performers.

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DAILY UPDATE: Apple and the “Magnificent 7” Stocks Drop with the Markets

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Driving much of the tech slump was a 4% drop by Apple’s stock, a dive precipitated by an analyst downgrade questioning why the $2.9 trillion (market capitalization) company is trading at such an expensive valuation considering its negative earnings and profit growth.

Other members of the “magnificent seven” tech stocks, which gained a collective $5.1 trillion in market cap last year, also flailed Tuesday. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Meta each fell 1.6% or more, while Tesla was the sole magnificent seven member in the green, as its shares slipped less than 1% after reporting more fourth-quarter electric vehicle deliveries than fore-casted.

Here is where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index was down 27.00 points (0.6%) at 4,742.83; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) was up 25.50 points (0.1%) at 37,715.04; the NASDAQ Composite was down 245.41 points (1.6%) at 14,765.94.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was up about 7 basis points at 3.931%.
The CBOE^® Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.73 at 13.18.

Semiconductor companies led the way lower Tuesday after Bloomberg reported Netherlands-based ASML Holding NV (ASML) canceled shipments of some of its machines to China at the request of U.S. President Biden’s administration weeks before export bans on the high-end chipmaking equipment came into effect. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) tumbled 3.7%. Health care and energy sectors were among the few areas of strength, the latter gaining despite a 1.6% drop in crude oil futures.

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DAILY UPDATE: The “Magnificent Seven” Technology Stocks PLUS Uber

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Markets: The Magnificent Seven technology mega-cap stocks—Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia, Tesla, Meta, and Amazon—have surged 75% this year, while the other 493 companies in the S&P 500 have gained 12%. The Magnificent Seven now account for nearly 30% of the entire index’s value, per the WSJ.

Stock spotlight: Speaking of the S&P 500, it’s getting a prominent new member—Uber will join the index today. With a market cap of $127 billion, Uber is the most valuable company that hadn’t yet been included in the S&P 500, and it celebrated by notching a 52-week high last week.
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DAILY UPDATE: Health Care, FOMC and the Tepid Markets

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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In healthcare, legislators could vote next week on a major health reform package that includes a ban on spread pricing in Medicaid and a push toward site-neutral payments.

In more news from the Hill, a bipartisan bill was introduced that seeks to cancel a 3.4% Medicare pay cut to docs, which has drawn plenty of ire from the industry.

***

The final FOMC meeting of the year will take place this week, and like most work meetings in mid-December, not a whole lot is going to happen. Chair Jerome Powell is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged as inflation continues its descent to a 2% target. But 2024 planning is in full swing, and investors are desperate to learn when the Federal Reserve thinks it will need to cut rates next year.

***

Here is where the major stock index benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 index was up 18.07 points (0.4%) at 4,622.44; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® (DJI) was up 157.06 points (0.4%) at 36,404.93; the NASDAQ Composite was up 28.51 points (0.2%) at 14,432.49.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) was little-changed at 4.239%.
The CBOE® Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.28 at 12.63.

In addition to retailers, semiconductor company shares also posted outsized gains Monday, boosted in part by a jump of nearly 10% in Broadcom (AVGO). The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gained more than 3% and ended near a two-year high. Transportation companies were also strong.

In other markets, Natural Gas futures (/NG) plunged more than 6% to a six-month low, reflecting warmer-than-normal U.S. temperatures and excess supplies.

Finally, the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks of Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta Platforms each fell at least 0.8%. Meta led the declines, dropping 2.2%. But only one out of 11 S&P 500 sectors fell. Even the information technology sub-index ticked higher, reflecting gains outside of the largest companies in the sector.

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Filed under: Financial Planning, Funding Basics, Glossary Terms, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, Investing, Touring with Marcinko | Tagged: /NG, Alaphabet, Amazon, Apple, banks, DJIA, DJIAm, energy, FOMC, gold, google, healthcare, inflation, interest rates, IRS, Marcinko, markets, Medicaid, medicare, Meta, metals, MSFT, NASDAQ, Nvidia, oil, Powell, real-estate, Russell Index 2000, RUT, S&P 500, SOX, stock markets, Tesla, TNX, utilities | Leave a comment »

DAILY UPDATE: ChatGPT Anniversary

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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ChatGPT was launched nearly a year ago, in November 2022. Powered by a large language model trained on 570 gigabytes of internet data (300 billion words), the chatbot can generate text that eerily mimics human speech—but with far more information at its disposal than an actual person. Amazon is not the only company using AI to create theoretically better ads.

Meta announced its version of an ad generator last month, promising advertisers “a new era of creativity that maximizes the productivity, personalization, and performance” of campaigns.
Google says its product will allow the future of advertising to evolve.
TikTok has Creative Assistant, which “draws information from a wealth of TikTok-focused creative knowledge, providing you with the most relevant responses for when you’re creating ads.”

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But, ChatGPT is not the same for mental health. Experts are warning that while chatbots can offer basic mental health support, they’re not equipped to provide clinical support and can raise thorny issues.

Ethics: Therapists are trained and licensed and must maintain a certain standard of care; a chatbot isn’t and doesn’t.
Privacy: When you ask a chatbot a question, you could be putting sensitive information on the internet.
Safety: A chatbot can give false information (more on that below) or provide harmful instructions.

***

ChatGPT in Education:

The bar exam: GPT-4 was in the 90th percentile with a score of 298 out of 400. GPT-3.5 came in the 10th percentile.
The SAT: GPT-4 scored 1400 out of 1600, ranking in the 89th percentile of test-takers. GPT-3.5 scored 1260.
AP exams: GPT-4 received a 5 on Art History, Biology, Environmental Science, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Psychology, Statistics, US Government, and US History, according to OpenAI. GPT-3.5 received a 5 only on Art History and Psychology.
Sommelier exams: GPT-4 has also passed the Introductory Sommelier, Certified Sommelier, and Advanced Sommelier exams with scores of 92%, 86%, and 77%, respectively. GPT-3.5 had a less discerning palate, earning marks of 80%, 58%, and 46%.

***

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Filed under: Alternative Investments, Drugs and Pharma, Ethics, Information Technology, Marcinko Associates | Tagged: AI, artificial intelligence, chatbot, chatbox, ChatGPT, google, Marcinko, mental health, Meta, openAI, S&P 500 | Leave a comment »

MICROSOFT & GOOGLE: Earnings Up!

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Google and Microsoft, the two tech giants, reported big jumps in earnings revenue, another sign that Big Tech’s growth has rebounded following last year’s downturn?

Google parent Alphabet reported 11% revenue growth to about $77 billion for the third quarter, thanks mainly to increased advertising sales.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s revenue jumped 13% to $56.5 billion as AI created more demand for its products. Still, it wasn’t all rosy: Alphabet shares fell in extended trading after it missed on revenue estimates for its cloud division.

Meta reports its third-quarter earnings today, and Amazon posts tomorrow.

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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Financial Planning, Funding Basics, Glossary Terms, Investing | Tagged: Alphabet, Amazon, google, Meta, microsoft, MSFT, tech earnings, Technology | Leave a comment »

DAILY UPDATE: Meta Sued as Markets Rise!

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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A bipartisan group of 33 attorneys general is suing Meta over addictive features aimed at kids and teens, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in a federal court in California. The support from so many state AGs of different political backgrounds indicates a significant legal challenge to Meta’s business.

***

Here is where the major benchmarks ended today:

The S&P 500 Index was up 30.64 points (0.7%) at 4,247.68; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was up 204.97 points (0.6%) at 33,141.38; the NASDAQ Composite (COMP) was up 121.55 points (0.9%) at 13,139.87.
The 10-year Treasury note yield was down about 2 basis points at 4.815%.
CBOE’s Volatility Index (VIX) was down 1.51 at 18.89.

Utilities were among the strongest performers Tuesday, with the Philadelphia Utility Index (UTY) rising nearly 3%. Semiconductors and communications services shares were also higher.

Energy stocks were pressured by a more than 2% drop in WTI crude oil futures, which briefly fell under $83 a barrel.

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DAILY UPDATE: Inflation CPI, Rain, the Shutdown and Torn “Threads”

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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CPI: Here’s a breakdown of how different aisles and departments rose over the past 12 months:

Cereals and bakery: increase 6%
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs: unchanged
Remaining products (ranging from dairy to beverages): increase 0.3% to 4.8%
Food in general is up 4.3%
Food away from home: increase 6.8%
Used cars and trucks fell 1.2% year-over-year, but new cars and trucks rose 0.3%. Those may not seem like much, but a new car still costs an average of more than $48,000 — as of May 2023 only three models were available in the U.S. market for $20,000 or less.
Transportation similarly rose 10.3% over the same period but shelter, which rose 7.3%, “was the largest factor in the monthly increase in the index for all items less food and energy,” according to the August CPI.

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Not to put a damper on your Sunday morning (the relentless rain is already doing that to the North East USA), but the government still appears headed for a shutdown. Among the immediate impacts: Many federal employees will be furloughed, the IRS will stop picking up your calls, you won’t be able to get married in DC courts, and most national parks—and their social media handles—will go dark.

And even more rain as New York City was hit with its heaviest rain in decades, which flooded roads and subway stations and delayed air travel. Both the mayor and New York’s governor declared states of emergency as images of the waterlogged city filled social media.

***

It appears that Mark Zuckerberg’s new “Threads” social media platform is struggling with a massive decline. The social media platform called “Threads” was launched by Facebook (now called Meta). The platform is essentially a clone of Elon Musk’s Twitter, which is now called X. Threads struggling to maintain momentum and gain new users.

Among major social platforms, Threads is reportedly only ahead of Tumblr in the race for user acquisition. Forecasts by Insider Intelligence predict a U.S. user base of 23.7 million for Threads in 2023. The company reportedly anticipated 56.1 million U.S. users. In comparison, X has roughly 528.3 million monthly users.

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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Accounting, Alerts Sign-Up, iMBA, Inc., Information Technology, Investing, LifeStyle, Research & Development, Taxation | Tagged: beverages, CBOE, cereals, Consumer Price Index, CPI, DJIA, DOW, Facebook, flooding, food, Government Shutdown, houses, inflation, IRS, meats, Meta, musk, NSDAQ, poultry, rain, Russell 2000, S&P 500, Threads, transportation, tumblr, twitter, used cars, VIX, weather, x, Zuckerberg | 1 Comment »

LAWSUITS: Amazon, Facebook and Google

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Stocks are diving recently, giving the Dow its worst day since March as new data on declining home sales and consumer confidence gave investors the recession-could-be-coming jitters again.

And, Amazon dipped after the FTC filed its long-awaited anti-monopoly suit against the company. The FTC and 17 states delivered a sweeping lawsuit accusing the trillion-dollar e-commerce company of being an illegal monopoly. It’s the fourth lawsuit levied by the FTC against Amazon this year and easily the one with the most profound consequences for US antitrust legislation. The FTC and state attorneys general allege that Amazon abused its power by punishing sellers if they offered lower prices on other platforms, a practice that led to higher prices for consumers. Sellers on the marketplace were also allegedly coerced to use Amazon’s logistics and advertising services or face penalties like reduced visibility.

Meanwhile the FTC is also looking to break up both Google and Facebook but it is unclear if that’s the real goal here. The FTC asked for a permanent injunction to stop alleged misconduct. Bad news for Google which celebrates its’ 25th birthday today.

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DAILY UPDATE: Mortgages Rates and the Markets are Up!

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Home Mortgage rates just hit their highest mark since 2002, making home ownership even less attainable to potential buyers. Stagnation in the housing market could also put a squeeze on consumer spending, slowing broader economic growth. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, a popular home loan, hit 7.09% last Thursday, up from 6.96% the week before, according to mortgage behemoth the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).

In a statement tied to the release, Freddie Mac noted that the rise of the 10-year Treasury yield and the strength of the economy both contributed to the high rate.

***

Here is where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500^® Index rose 49 points (1.1%) to 4,436.02; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 184 points (0.54%) to 34,472.98; the NASDAQ Composite (COMP) rose 215 points (1.59%) to 13,721.03.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) fell 15 basis points to 4.180%.
CBOE’s Volatility Index (VIX) fell roughly 1 point to 16.03.

Communication services—which is home to tech-adjacent companies such as Google parent Alphabet (GOOG), Facebook parent Meta (META), and Netflix (NFLX)—and technology were the top-performing sectors Wednesday.

Energy was the laggard, as crude oil futures slipped more than 1% to below $79.

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Filed under: "Ask-an-Advisor", Accounting, Breaking News, Funding Basics, Investing, LifeStyle | Tagged: 10 year treasury yield, CBOE, DJIA, DOW, Federal Home Loan Mortgage, FOMC, Freddic Mac, GOOG, home loans, home martgagers, inflation, interest rates, Meta, mortgage rates, NASDAQ, NFLX, S8P 500, TNX, Treasury yields, VIX | Leave a comment »

DAILY UPDATE: The Home Depot and Markets Struggle

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Things are looking up for Home Depot. After a gloomy first quarter during which sales fell 4.2%, the retailer performed better than expected in Q2. It reported revenue of $42.92 billion for the quarter, higher than the $42.23 billion it projected earlier in the year. Its earnings per share came in at $4.65, better than the expected $4.45.

But the company is maintaining its guidance for the full year and anticipates a 2%–5% drop in sales for the fiscal year. In its earnings call, CEO Ted Decker struck a cautious note, stating that the home improvement market has entered a period of “moderation” after the pandemic-era DIY boom. Consumers appear to be deferring big-ticket discretionary purchases, such as patio furniture and appliances, Billy Bastek, executive vice president of merchandising, said. Sales of $1,000 or more are down 5.5% YoY. The movement away from large purchases continues a trend that began in Q4 2022.

***

Here is where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500^® Index edged down a little less than a point to 4,369.71 and was down about 2.1% for the week; the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 26 points (0.08%) to 34,500.66 and was down about 2.2% for the week; the NASDAQ Composite dropped 26 points (0.2%) to 13,290.78 and was down about 2.6% for the week.
The 10-year Treasury note yield (TNX) pulled back three basis points to 4.250%.
CBOE’s Volatility Index (VIX) fell 3.9% to 17.19.

Energy was the top-performing S&P market sector Friday, as crude oil futures rose more than 1%. Communications services—home to such market heavyweights as Google-parent Alphabet (GOOG) and Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META)—was the weakest performer, followed by consumer discretionary—home to Amazon (AMZN) and Tesla (TSLA). These sectors tend to do best when the economy has a clear runway for growth and interest rates are lower.

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DAILY UPDATE: Meta Launches “Threads” with Stable Stock Benchmarks

Posted on July 6, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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[AP]: Meta is poised to unveil a new app that appears to mimic Twitter — a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. A listing for the app, called Threads, just appeared on Apple’s App Store, indicating it would debut as early as today. It is billed as a “text-based conversation app” that is linked to Instagram, with the listing teasing a Twitter-like micro-blogging experience.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it said.

***

Here is where the major benchmarks ended:

The S&P 500 Index was down 8.77 points (0.2%) at 4,446.82; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 129.83 points (0.4%) at 34,288.64; the NASDAQ Composite was down 25.12 points (0.2%) at 13,791.65.
The 10-year Treasury yield (TNX) was up about 7 basis points at 3.932%.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.49 at 14.19.

Chemical makers and other materials sector companies were among the weakest performers Wednesday. Semiconductor shares were also lower, as were many energy-company shares despite a 3% surge in crude oil futures. U

Utility stocks were among the strongest performers.

***

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META: Sells Giphy for Peanuts

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

Meta, the Facebook tech giant sold the GIF platform it had recently bought at a steep loss after the UK’s competition regulator demanded it unwind its acquisition over antitrust concerns.

Meta had acquired Giphy in 2020 for $400 million, and just sold the company to Shutterstock for nearly $350 million less than that—$53 million. This was the first instance of British authorities dismantling a Big Tech deal that had already closed

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