Monthly Buzz: Half year ends up well

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Welcome back to Monthly Buzz!

The call for a new bull market continues as the S&P 500 hit a new high for the year in early June following a debt ceiling deal and strong labor market data. Shares of tech ETFs hit record highs, driven by large technology and semiconductors stocks. Inflation data continued to trend lower, and the Fed was pleased with the progress of "skipping" this month's rate hike, but said it expects to raise rates twice more before the end of 2023. Stocks then fell briefly as the Fed maintained its hawkish tone.

In the final week of the first half, 23 of the largest U.S. banks passed the Fed's annual stress test and Apple's market capitalization reached the $3 trillion milestone on the last trading day. Stocks closed the first half of 2023 sharply higher as optimism about technology and the economy prevailed.

All three major indices performed well this month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 6.49%, the S&P 500 was up 6.47% during the month, and the Dow was up 4.56%. In terms of sector performance during the month, the Consumer Discretionary sector took the lead, mainly driven by the Automobile industry, and Industrials and Materials sectors have recovered.  (Data as of June 30, 2023)

Let's take a look at how the stocks that created the most buzz on the moomoo app performed during the month.

1. TSLA – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

June 08: Tesla shares soared 4.58% after General Motors Co. (GM) CEO Mary Barra and Musk announced in a live audio discussion on Twitter Spaces that GM will install the charging port used by Tesla, namely North American Charging Standard (NACS), in its electric vehicles starting in 2025, following Ford's corporation with Telsa.

June 20: Tesla shares rose 5.34% after Rivian joined Ford and GM in turning to Tesla chargers. Rivian said an adapter will be available to allow its EVs to charge on Tesla's fast-charging network as early as the spring of 2024 and that the company will incorporate Tesla's  NACS charge ports into its vehicles starting in 2025.

June 26: Tesla shares dropped 6.06% after Goldman Sachs downgraded Tesla to neutral from buy, as the firm believes the stock better reflects its "positive long-term view" of the electric vehicle company's growth and competitive positioning.

2. MULN – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

June 12: Mullen Automotive shares plummeted 10.65% after it announced that it will collaborate with Phenix Truck Bodies & Van Equipment, a provider of work trucks, van equipment and specialty truck bodies, to develop a light-weight truck body for Mullen's Class 3 electric vehicle.

June 15: Mullen Automotive shares are trading 16.27% higher on the heels of a letter to shareholders. Mullen highlighted its cash position of $135 million in a letter to shareholders and said it believes it's currently trading at a discount relative to its cash holdings.

June 21: Mullen Automotive shares rallied 24.24% after the electric vehicle maker called a moratorium on investor financing, saying it had "sufficient capital" for at least the next 12 months. "Despite the decline in stock price, management believes the Company has already met or is positioned to meet the previously announced objectives," the company said in a statement.

3. NVDA – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

June 01: NVIDIA shares rallied 5.12%. Major U.S. indexes jumped on the first trading day of June as investors cheered progress toward a deal to avert a government default, with the Nasdaq 100 rising 1.31% and S&P 500 rising 0.99%.

June 07: NVIDIA shares dropped 3.04%. NVIDIA recently filed a document showing that the company's director Harvey C. Jones recently sold 70,205 shares of the company, at a price of $405 per share, which calculates to cash of 28,431,000 U.S. dollars, resulting in pressure on the stock price.

June 14: NVIDIA shares surged 4.81% after AMD announced its latest AI GPU chip "MI300X" and expects the AI chip market to increase from $30 billion this year to $150 billion in 2027. On June 14, the FOMC announced the first pause in rate hikes after 10 consecutive rate hikes since March 2022.

4. AAPL – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐

June 01: Apple stocks gained 1.60% after reportedly planning expansion in Shanghai, London and Miami, aiming to open or redo 53 Stores by 2027. U.S. stocks' top tech stocks are collectively gaining strength.

June 05: Apple stocks dropped 0.76% after it released the $3,499 Vision Pro Headset, iOS 17, and more at WWDC, which might be because the selling price of the headset exceeded market expectations.

June 30: Apple shares hit an all-time high by trading 2.31% higher, putting the company on track to close with a market capitalization of more than $3 trillion. Citibank analysts led by Atif Malik started coverage of the shares with a buy rating and a $240 price target, higher than any of the targets tracked by FactSet.

5. AMC – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐

June 13: AMC Entertainment shares were trading 4.38% higher in sympathy with the broader market following a softer-than-expected CPI report, which showed slowing inflation in May and might result in higher foot traffic and concession sales for AMC theaters.

June 22: AMC Entertainment shares slid 7.95% after the special master appointed to weigh in on a proposed settlement -- allowing AMC to move forward with a plan to convert preferred units and raise equity -- has issued a general recommendation in favor of approving the agreement.

6. C6L – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐

June 16: Singapore Airlines shares dropped 1.77% after it was downgraded by Morgan Stanley, which said positives such as strong fundamentals and favorable fuel prices had been priced in.

7. FFIE – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐

June 02: Faraday Future shares rallied 9.59% after it signed the first FF 91 2.0 Futurist Alliance sales contract in Los Angeles, California, continuing the first of its three-phase delivery plan. The first user of the first FF model is renowned designer Rem D Koolhaas.

June 20: Faraday Future shares plummeted 37.57% after the electric vehicle maker disclosed in an SEC filing that it plans to sell $300M worth of Class A shares of common stock and warrants, as well as initiate a reverse stock split. The reverse split will push the share price back over the Nasdaq minimum requirement of $1.00.

June 28: Faraday Future stocks dropped 7.13% after it received an additional $90 million in financing commitments and an early payment of $15 million in existing financing commitments. The round was led by existing investor ATW Partners Fund with participation from Senyun International. These financing commitments include both secured and unsecured categories.

8. NIO – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐

June 12: NIO shares jumped 8.67% after the company announced an RMB 30,000 price cut on all new vehicles from the day and terminated the free battery replacement service to new buyers.

June 15: NIO shares raised 8.18% after it officially launched its new model, the ET5 Touring, for consumers in China and Europe. Pricing for the ET5 Touring is identical to the regular ET5 in China, which is surprising as the model was previously generally seen as being more expensive than the regular ET5.

June 27: NIO shares soared 11.19% after the company announced it had entered a strategic partnership with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC)  to jointly build charging and battery swap infrastructure and that its 1,500th power swap station is now active, nears the year-end target of 2,300.

9. AMD – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐⭐

June 06: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares surged 5.34% after an analyst at Piper Sandler raised the price target for AMD significantly from $110 to $150 and continued to maintain an "Overweight" rating on the company's stock. The analyst believes that the company's data center business will achieve significant sequential revenue growth in the second half of 2023.

June 21: Advanced Micro Devices shares plummeted 5.73% and led semiconductor stocks lower as the sector sold off amid comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that more interest rate hikes may be needed to combat persistently high inflation.

10. UCAR – Buzzing Stars: ⭐⭐

June 01: U Power Ltd. shares surged 144.05% higher on Thursday after the company announced it has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Quantum Solutions Co in Japan. The cooperative agreement will allow U Power to develop business initiatives including battery banks, battery-swapping operations and charging stations in Japan.

June 21:   U Power Ltd. shares soared 48.49% after China disclosed a new 520 billion yuan ($72.35 billion) package of tax breaks for EVs and green energy vehicles. A purchase tax exemption of up to 30,000 yuan per vehicle will be offered to new energy vehicles (NEVs), including battery electric vehicles, plug-in petrol-electric hybrids, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, purchased in 2024 and 2025.

Source: All the news events mentioned above are from moomoo news. The percentage change data of the above stocks are from moomoo's daily quotes.

That's all for today's Monthly Buzz. Thanks for reading!