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This company has wiped out more investor wealth in 2022 than Tesla

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Elon Musk has been trying this week to defend Tesla’s abysmal stock performance in 2022. The electric vehicle giant has seen its stock plummet by 61% this year, making it the 11th-worst performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2022.

“As bank savings account interest rates, which are guaranteed, start to approach stock market returns, which are *not* guaranteed, people will increasingly move their money out of stocks into cash, thus causing stocks to drop,” Musk tweeted.

You might expect that Tesla’s stock drop has wiped out more investor wealth than any other stock in the world this year. But you would be wrong.

If we look at declines in market capitalization — the value of companies’ common-shares outstanding — Tesla
TSLA,
-1.76%
has been the fourth worst-performing stock in the benchmark S&P 500 this year, as of 1 p.m. ET on Dec. 21:

Company	Ticker	2022 market cap change ($bil)	Intraday market cap on Dec. 21 ($bil)	Dec. 31, 2021 market cap ($bil)	2022 price change
Amazon.com Inc.	AMZN, +1.74%	-$805	$886	$1,691	-48%
Apple Inc.	AAPL, -0.28%	-$753	$2,160	$2,913	-24%
Microsoft Corp.	MSFT, +0.23%	-$700	$1,825	$2,525	-27%
Tesla Inc.	TSLA, -1.76%	-$622	$439	$1,061	-61%
Meta Platforms Inc. Class A	META, +0.79%	-$466	$318	$784	-64%
Nvidia Corp.	NVDA, -0.87%	-$329	$406	$735	-44%
PayPal Holdings Inc.	PYPL, +0.67%	-$143	$79	$222	-63%
Netflix Inc.	NFLX, -0.94%	-$134	$133	$267	-51%
Walt Disney Co.	DIS, +1.55%	-$122	$160	$282	-44%
Salesforce Inc.	CRM, +0.19%	-$119	$131	$250	-49%
Source: FactSet

On a percentage basis, all these stocks have performed worse than the full S&P 500, which has fallen 19%, excluding dividends.

Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+1.74%
has erased more shareholder wealth than any other publicly traded company in 2022. In total, investors in Amazon have lost $804.6 billion this year. The stock is down 48% in 2022.

Apple Inc.
AAPL,
-0.28%
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+0.23%
have also suffered larger market-cap declines than Tesla, by virtue of their sheer size.

The companies have different fiscal and annual period ends, but if we look at data for the past three reported quarters and compare to the same period a year earlier, here’s how the four stack up:

Company	Ticker	Change in sales for three quarters from year-earlier period	Change in EPS for three quarters from year-earlier period
Amazon.com Inc.	AMZN, +1.74%	10%	N/A
Apple Inc.	AAPL, -0.28%	6%	2%
Microsoft Corp.	MSFT, +0.23%	14%	-2%
Tesla Inc.	TSLA, -1.76%	58%	169%
Source: FactSet

Amazon showed a net loss of $3 billion for the first three quarters of 2022 as the company neared the end of its extraordinary multiyear effort to build out its warehouse and fulfillment infrastructure. For the first three quarters of 2021, the company booked $19 billion in profits. When announcing Amazon’s third-quarter results CEO Andy Jassy said the company was working methodically toward “a stronger cost structure for the business moving forward.”

The incredible growth of Amazon’s cloud business has stalled and disappointed the expectations the company had nurtured on Wall Street. The Amazon Web Services business is facing increasing competition from the likes of Microsoft and its customers are pulling back. Meanwhile, retail sales have also come in weak going into the Christmas and holiday season.

Amazon’s stock has declined 22% since it closed at $110.96 on Oct. 27, right before it disappointed investors not only with its third-quarter results, but with its outlook: It expects to break even during the holiday quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had previously expected a profit of more than $5 billion.

Tesla stands in contrast to Amazon, as you can see on the table above. Its sales grew by 58% during the first three quarters of 2022 from the year-earlier period and its earnings per share rose nearly threefold.

This has been a year of significant declines for shares of giant tech-oriented companies, especially those that had traded at lofty price-to-earnings valuations — that group includes Amazon and Tesla. In fact, these companies have given up all their pandemic era gains int he stock market.

But with Tesla’s results so outstanding through the first three quarters of 2022, it raises the question: How much of the drop in the electric car makers share price was tied to Musk’s actions as CEO of Twitter, which he acquired on Oct. 27 after a monthslong saga? And how much of a relief rally, if any, might there be for Tesla if Musk, as expected, steps down as Twitter CEO?

How about some bottom-feeding?

Here’s the same list of 10 stocks in the S&P 500 that have seen the largest declines in market cap this year, with a summary of analysts’ ratings, consensus price targets and declines in their forward price-to-earnings ratios:

Company	Ticker	Share “buy” ratings	Dec. 21 closing price	Cons. price target	Implied 12-month upside potential	Forward P/E as of Dec. 20	Forward P/E as of Dec. 31, 2021
Amazon.com Inc.	AMZN, +1.74%	91%	$85.19	$134.85	58%	49.3	64.9
Apple Inc.	AAPL, -0.28%	74%	$132.30	$173.44	31%	21.4	30.2
Microsoft Corp.	MSFT, +0.23%	91%	$241.80	$293.06	21%	23.7	34.0
Tesla Inc.	TSLA, -1.76%	63%	$137.80	$272.64	98%	24.6	120.3
Meta Platforms Inc. Class A	META, +0.79%	63%	$117.09	$145.45	24%	14.5	23.5
Nvidia Corp.	NVDA, -0.87%	68%	$160.85	$195.72	22%	39.2	58.0
PayPal Holdings Inc.	PYPL, +0.67%	71%	$68.76	$104.32	52%	14.5	36.0
Netflix Inc.	NFLX, -0.94%	47%	$288.19	$302.89	5%	28.4	45.6
Walt Disney Co.	DIS, +1.55%	82%	$87.02	$119.60	37%	19.8	34.2
Salesforce Inc.	CRM, +0.19%	78%	$128.45	$195.18	52%	23.4	53.5
Source: FactSet

A majority of analysts see a golden path ahead for 2023 for all of these stocks except for Netflix.

For more information about any of these companies, click the tickers.

Click here for a detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

Don’t miss: 11 high-yield dividend stocks that are Wall Street’s favorites for 2023

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December 24, 2022

Best stock picks for 2023: Here are Wall Street analysts’ most heavily favored choices

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Following a sharp and sustained rise in interest rates, U.S. stocks have taken a broad beating this year.

But 2023 may bring very different circumstances.

Below are lists of analysts’ favorite stocks among the benchmark S&P 500
SPX,
the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index
MID
and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index
SML
that are expected to rise the most over the next year. Those lists are followed by a summary of opinions of all 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA.

Stocks rallied on Dec. 13 when the November CPI report showed a much slower inflation pace than economists had expected. Investors were also anticipating the Federal Open Market Committee’s next monetary policy announcement on Dec. 14. The consensus among economists polled by FactSet is for the Federal Reserve to raise the federal funds rate by 0.50% to a target range of 4.50% to 4.75%.

Read: 5 things to watch when the Fed makes its interest-rate decision

A 0.50% increase would be a slowdown from the four previous increases of 0.75%. The rate began 2022 in a range of zero to 0.25%, where it had sat since March 2020.

A pivot for the Fed Reserve and the possibility that the federal funds rate will reach its “terminal” rate (the highest for this cycle) in the near term could set the stage for a broad rally for stocks in 2023.

Wall Street’s large-cap favorites

Among the S&P 500, 92 stocks are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts working for brokerage firms. That number itself is interesting — at the end of 2021, 93 of the S&P 500 had this distinction. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has declined 16% in 2022, with all sectors down except for energy, which has risen 53%, and the utilities sector, which his risen 1% (both excluding dividends).

Here are the 20 stocks in the S&P 500 with at least 75% “buy” or equivalent ratings that analysts expect to rise the most over the next year, based on consensus price targets:

Company	Ticker	Industry	Closing price – Dec. 12	Consensus price target	Implied 12-month upside potential	Share “buy” ratings	Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
EQT Corp.	EQT	Oil and Gas Production	$36.91	$59.70	62%	78%	69%
Catalent Inc.	CTLT	Pharmaceuticals	$45.50	$72.42	59%	75%	-64%
Amazon.com Inc.	AMZN	Internet Retail	$90.55	$136.02	50%	91%	-46%
Global Payments Inc.	GPN	Misc. Commercial Services	$99.64	$147.43	48%	75%	-26%
Signature Bank	SBNY	Regional Banks	$122.73	$180.44	47%	78%	-62%
Salesforce Inc.	CRM	Software	$133.11	$195.59	47%	80%	-48%
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. Class A	BIO	Medical Specialties	$418.28	$591.00	41%	100%	-45%
Zoetis Inc. Class A	ZTS	Pharmaceuticals	$152.86	$212.80	39%	87%	-37%
Delta Air Lines Inc.	DAL	Airlines	$34.77	$48.31	39%	90%	-11%
Diamondback Energy Inc.	FANG	Oil and Gas Production	$134.21	$182.33	36%	84%	24%
Caesars Entertainment Inc	CZR	Casinos/ Gaming	$50.27	$67.79	35%	81%	-46%
Alphabet Inc. Class A	GOOGL	Internet Software/ Services	$93.31	$125.70	35%	92%	-36%
Halliburton Co.	HAL	Oilfield Services/ Equipment	$34.30	$45.95	34%	86%	50%
Alaska Air Group Inc.	ALK	Airlines	$45.75	$61.08	34%	93%	-12%
Targa Resources Corp.	TRGP	Gas Distributors	$70.42	$93.95	33%	95%	35%
Charles River Laboratories International Inc.	CRL	Misc. Commercial Services	$201.94	$269.25	33%	88%	-46%
ServiceNow Inc.	NOW	Information Technology Services	$401.64	$529.83	32%	92%	-38%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.	TTWO	Software	$102.61	$135.04	32%	79%	-42%
EOG Resources Inc.	EOG	Oil and Gas Production	$124.06	$158.24	28%	82%	40%
Southwest Airlines Co.	LUV	Airlines	$38.94	$49.56	27%	76%	-9%
Source: FactSet

Most of the companies on the S&P 500 list expected to soar in 2023 have seen large declines in 2022. But the company at the top of the list, EQT Corp.
EQT,
is an exception. The stock has risen 69% in 2022 and is expected to add another 62% over the next 12 months. Analysts expect the company’s earnings per share to double during 2023 (in part from its expected acquisition of THQ), after nearly a four-fold EPS increase in 2022.

Shares of Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN
are expected to soar 50% over the next year, following a decline of 46% so far in 2022. If the shares were to rise 50% from here to the price target of $136.02, they would still be 18% below their closing price of 166.72 at the end of 2021.

Read: Here’s why Amazon is Citi’s top internet stock idea

You can see the earnings estimates and more for any stock in this article by clicking on its ticker.

Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

Mid-cap stocks expected to rise the most

The lists of favored stocks are limited to those covered by at least five analysts polled by FactSet.

Among components of the S&P 400 Mid Cap Index, there are 84 stocks with at least 75% “buy” ratings. Here at the 20 expected to rise the most over the next year:

Company	Ticker	Industry	Closing price – Dec. 12	Consensus price target	Implied 12-month upside potential	Share “buy” ratings	Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.	ARWR	Biotechnology	$31.85	$69.69	119%	83%	-52%
Lantheus Holdings Inc.	LNTH	Medical Specialties	$54.92	$102.00	86%	100%	90%
Progyny Inc.	PGNY	Misc. Commercial Services	$31.21	$55.57	78%	100%	-38%
Coherent Corp.	COHR	Electronic Equipment/ Instruments	$35.41	$60.56	71%	84%	-48%
Exelixis Inc.	EXEL	Biotechnology	$16.08	$26.07	62%	81%	-12%
Darling Ingredients Inc.	DAR	Food: Specialty/ Candy	$61.17	$97.36	59%	93%	-12%
Perrigo Co. PLC	PRGO	Pharmaceuticals	$31.83	$49.25	55%	100%	-18%
Mattel Inc.	MAT	Recreational Products	$17.39	$26.58	53%	87%	-19%
ACI Worldwide Inc.	ACIW	Software	$20.75	$31.40	51%	83%	-40%
Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.	MODG	Recreational Products	$21.99	$32.91	50%	83%	-20%
Dycom Industries Inc.	DY	Engineering and Construction	$86.03	$128.13	49%	100%	-8%
Travel + Leisure Co.	TNL	Hotels/ Resorts/ Cruiselines	$37.98	$56.00	47%	75%	-31%
Frontier Communications Parent Inc.	FYBR	Telecommunications	$25.21	$36.18	44%	82%	-15%
Manhattan Associates Inc.	MANH	Software	$120.06	$171.80	43%	88%	-23%
MP Materials Corp Class A	MP	Other Metals/ Minerals	$31.39	$44.79	43%	92%	-31%
Lumentum Holdings Inc.	LITE	Electrical Products	$54.45	$76.44	40%	76%	-49%
Tenet Healthcare Corp.	THC	Hospital/ Nursing Management	$44.22	$62.00	40%	80%	-46%
Repligen Corp.	RGEN	Pharmaceuticals	$166.88	$233.10	40%	82%	-37%
STAAR Surgical Co.	STAA	Medical Specialties	$59.57	$82.67	39%	82%	-35%
Carlisle Cos. Inc.	CSL	Building Products	$251.99	$348.33	38%	75%	2%
Source: FactSet

Wall Street’s favorite small-cap names

Among companies in the S&P Small Cap 600 Index, 91 are rated “buy” or the equivalent by at least 75% of analysts. Here are the 20 with the highest 12-month upside potential indicated by consensus price targets:

Company	Ticker	Industry	Closing price – Dec. 12	Consensus price target	Implied 12-month upside potential	Share “buy” ratings	Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
UniQure NV	QURE	Biotechnology	$22.99	$51.29	123%	95%	11%
Cara Therapeutics Inc.	CARA	Biotechnology	$11.34	$23.63	108%	88%	-7%
Vir Biotechnology Inc.	VIR	Biotechnology	$25.50	$53.00	108%	75%	-39%
Dynavax Technologies Corp.	DVAX	Biotechnology	$11.22	$23.20	107%	100%	-20%
Thryv Holdings Inc.	THRY	Advertising/ Marketing Services	$18.40	$36.75	100%	100%	-55%
Artivion Inc.	AORT	Medical Specialties	$12.93	$23.13	79%	83%	-36%
Cytokinetics Inc.	CYTK	Pharmaceuticals	$38.33	$67.43	76%	100%	-16%
Harsco Corp.	HSC	Environmental Services	$7.17	$12.30	72%	80%	-57%
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.	LGND	Pharmaceuticals	$64.80	$110.83	71%	100%	-35%
Corcept Therapeutics Inc.	CORT	Pharmaceuticals	$20.84	$34.20	64%	80%	5%
Payoneer Global Inc.	PAYO	Misc. Commercial Services	$5.70	$9.33	64%	100%	-22%
Xencor Inc.	XNCR	Biotechnology	$28.69	$46.71	63%	93%	-28%
Pacira Biosciences Inc.	PCRX	Pharmaceuticals	$45.50	$72.90	60%	80%	-24%
BioLife Solutions Inc.	BLFS	Chemicals	$19.72	$31.38	59%	89%	-47%
Customers Bancorp Inc.	CUBI	Regional Banks	$30.00	$47.63	59%	75%	-54%
ModivCare Inc.	MODV	Other Transportation	$92.22	$145.83	58%	100%	-38%
Stride Inc.	LRN	Consumer Services	$32.56	$51.25	57%	100%	-2%
Ranger Oil Corp. Class A	ROCC	Oil and Gas Production	$36.98	$58.00	57%	100%	37%
Outfront Media Inc.	OUT	Real Estate Investment Trusts	$17.59	$27.00	53%	83%	-34%
Walker & Dunlop Inc.	WD	Finance/ Rental/ Leasing	$82.22	$125.20	52%	100%	-46%
Source: FactSet

The Dow

Here are all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average ranked by how much analysts expect their prices to rise over the next year:

Company	Ticker	Industry	Closing price – Dec. 12	Consensus price target	Implied 12-month upside potential	Share “buy” ratings	Price change – 2022 through Dec. 12
Salesforce Inc.	CRM	Software	$133.11	$195.59	47%	80%	-48%
Walt Disney Co.	DIS	Movies/ Entertainment	$94.66	$119.60	26%	82%	-39%
Apple Inc.	AAPL	Telecommunications Equipment	$144.49	$173.70	20%	74%	-19%
Verizon Communications Inc.	VZ	Telecommunications	$37.95	$44.60	18%	21%	-27%
Visa Inc. Class A	V	Misc.s Commercial Services	$214.59	$249.33	16%	86%	-1%
Microsoft Corp.	MSFT	Software	$252.51	$293.06	16%	91%	-25%
Chevron Corp.	CVX	Integrated Oil	$169.75	$191.20	13%	54%	45%
Cisco Systems Inc.	CSCO	Information Technology Services	$49.30	$53.76	9%	44%	-22%
UnitedHealth Group Inc.	UNH	Managed Health Care	$545.86	$593.30	9%	85%	9%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.	GS	Investment Banks/ Brokers	$363.18	$392.63	8%	59%	-5%
Walmart Inc.	WMT	Specialty Stores	$148.02	$159.86	8%	72%	2%
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	JPM	Banks	$134.21	$143.84	7%	59%	-15%
Home Depot Inc.	HD	Home Improvement Chains	$327.98	$346.61	6%	61%	-21%
American Express Co.	AXP	Finance/ Rental/ Leasing	$157.31	$164.57	5%	43%	-4%
McDonald’s Corp.	MCD	Restaurants	$276.62	$288.67	4%	72%	3%
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	Pharmaceuticals	$177.84	$185.35	4%	36%	4%
Coca-Cola Co.	KO	Beverages: Non-Alcoholic	$63.97	$66.62	4%	73%	8%
Boeing Co.	BA	Aerospace and Defense	$186.27	$192.69	3%	77%	-7%
Intel Corp.	INTC	Semiconductors	$28.69	$29.54	3%	13%	-44%
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.	WBA	Drugstore Chains	$41.06	$42.24	3%	17%	-21%
Merck & Co. Inc.	MRK	Pharmaceuticals	$108.97	$110.62	2%	65%	42%
Caterpillar Inc.	CAT	Trucks/ Construction/ Farm Machinery	$233.06	$236.23	1%	41%	13%
Honeywell International Inc.	HON	Aerospace and Defense	$214.50	$217.35	1%	54%	3%
Nike Inc. Class B	NKE	Apparel/ Footwear	$112.07	$112.58	0%	64%	-33%
3M Co.	MMM	Industrial Conglomerates	$126.85	$127.30	0%	5%	-29%
Procter & Gamble Co.	PG	Household/ Personal Care	$152.47	$150.22	-1%	59%	-7%
Travelers Companies Inc.	TRV	Multi-Line Insurance	$187.11	$184.24	-2%	18%	20%
Amgen Inc.	AMGN	Biotechnology	$276.78	$264.79	-4%	24%	23%
Dow Inc.	DOW	Chemicals	$51.11	$48.73	-5%	15%	-10%
International Business Machines Corp.	IBM	Information Technology Services	$149.21	$140.29	-6%	33%	12%
Source: FactSet

Don’t miss: 10 Dividend Aristocrat stocks expected by analysts to rise up to 54% in 2023

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December 13, 2022

Apple, Alibaba, NIO, and More Stock Market Movers Monday

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Stock futures traded lower Monday as investors remained keyed on interest rate policy from the Federal Reserve and as a surge in China stocks over a loosening of Covid-19 restrictions in the country failed to boost U.S. equities.

Here are some stocks that could make moves Monday:

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December 5, 2022

Apple Makes Plans to Move Production Out of China

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In recent weeks, Apple Inc. has accelerated plans to shift some of its production outside China, long the dominant country in the supply chain that built the world’s most valuable company, say people involved in the discussions. It is telling suppliers to plan more actively for assembling Apple products elsewhere in Asia, particularly India and Vietnam, they say, and looking to reduce dependence on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn Technology Group.

Turmoil at a place called iPhone City helped propel Apple’s shift. At the giant city-within-a-city in Zhengzhou, China, as many as 300,000 workers work at a factory run by Foxconn to make iPhones and other Apple products. At one point, it alone made about 85% of the Pro lineup of iPhones, according to market-research firm Counterpoint Research.

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December 2, 2022

Dow down by more than 500 points as Fed officials point to more rate hikes, China protests rattle markets

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U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday as protests in China raised the risks to global growth and Federal Reserve policy makers said more interest-rate increases are needed to control inflation.

How stocks are trading

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 523 points, or 1.5%, at 33,824, near its session low.
The S&P 500
SPX,
-1.65%
retreated 68 points, or 1.7%, to 3,958.
The Nasdaq Composite shed 195 points, or 1.7%, dropping to 11,031.

U.S. stocks had notched weekly gains last week for the second time in three weeks. The Dow rose 1.8%, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5% and the Nasdaq gained 0.7%.

What’s driving markets

Wall Street started the week in a downbeat mood as traders absorbed the impact of unrest in China and assessed interest-rate commentary by a pair of Fed officials on Monday.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told MarketWatch that he favors more aggressive interest-rate hikes to contain inflation, and that the central bank will likely need to keep interest rates above 5% into 2024. Meanwhile, his colleague John Williams, president of the New York Fed, said that U.S. unemployment could climb to as high as 5% next year, versus October’s rate of 3.7%, in response to the central bank’s series of rate hikes.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
HSI,
-1.57%
closed down by 1.6% and most equity indexes across Asia also fell, with the exception of India’s, on concerns about unrest in China. Those concerns also spilled over into commodity markets, where West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery
CLF23,
+0.93%
briefly fell to less than $74 per barrel before recovering and settling at $77.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Meanwhile, copper prices HG00 were off 0.9% at $3.594 per pound.

“What people are worried about is the potential for protests in China to spread and whether the population is reaching its breaking point,” said Derek Tang, an economist at Monetary Policy Analytics in Washington. “At the same time, Fed speak is ramping up and the message is there’s more hikes to come. So investors aren’t finding relief.”

Signs that economic activity in China will continue to be disrupted by the protests or by additional anti-COVID measures will likely continue to weigh on commodity prices, analysts said. Meanwhile, concerns about global growth helped to support government bond markets earlier on Monday, when the yield on the 10-year note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.693%
briefly traded at its lowest level since October.

The unprecedented waves of protest in China “have caused ripples of unease across financial markets, as worries mount about repercussions for the world’s second-largest economy,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. “As demonstrations spread across the country from Beijing to Xinjiang and Shanghai, reflecting rising anger about the zero-Covid policy, a sustained recovery in demand across the vast country appears even further away.”

But the news wasn’t all bad: Reports of strong online Black Friday sales helped boost shares of Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+0.29%,
which were up 0.6%.

Investors can expect more information about the health of the U.S. economy in what’s shaping up to be a busy week for U.S. economic data: Later this week, investors will receive the ADP employment report followed by the November jobs report. Revised data on third-quarter gross domestic product is due on Wednesday, along with the Fed’s Beige Book report. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is set to speak publicly on Wednesday, and a closely watched gauge of inflation is due on Thursday.

Read: ‘We see major stock markets plunging 25% from levels somewhat above today’s,’ Deutsche Bank says

Single-stock movers

Shares of Apple Inc.
AAPL,
-2.74%
were down 2.9% amid reports of a production shortfall of as many as 6 million iPhone Pros.
Activision Blizzard Inc.
ATVI,
+1.82%
shares traded 2% higher as Wall Street analysts said the stock looked undervalued even if Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-2.47%
doesn’t receive clearance for its buyout.
Class A shares of DraftKings Inc.
DKNG,
-4.59%
tumbled 4.8% after J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff turned bearish on the online-sports-betting and fantasy-sports company.
Shares of some of China’s biggest technology companies saw their U.S.-traded shares surge on Monday despite the unrest at home. Shares of Alibaba Group
BABA,
+0.44%
and Tencent Holdings
TCEHY,
+2.02%
were up 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively, while the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF
KWEB,
+3.77%
was 3.7% higher.

— Jamie Chisholm contributed to this article.

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November 28, 2022

China’s zero-COVID strategy makes no sense and its homegrown vaccines are not ‘particularly effective,’ says Fauci

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Widespread protests across China over the government’s zero-COVID policy dominated pandemic headlines Monday, with Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, weighing in with the view that the strategy does not make public-health sense.

China’s biggest challenge is low vaccination rates — and a vaccine that has not been “particularly effective at all” compared with the ones being used in the West that are made by Pfizer
PFE,
+0.50%
and its German partner BioNTech
BNTX,
+5.68%
and by Moderna
MRNA,
+1.08%,
said Fauci, who is retiring next month.

Fauci recalled that when New York hospitals were overwhelmed by COVID cases three years ago, the decision was made to introduce restrictions, such as social distancing and shutdowns, to help flatten the curve of infections. But he noted that it was a temporary move aimed at buying time to get more people vaccinated and move personal protective equipment to where it was needed.

The first vaccine was distributed in the U.S. in December 2020.

Read: U.S. stock futures fall as Chinese protests rattle markets, oil hits 2022 low

“It seems that in China, it was just a very, very strict, extraordinary lockdown where you lock people in the house, but without, seemingly, any endgame to it,” said Fauci, who is also head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci said one mistake the Chinese government has made is to refuse outside vaccines. “But also, interestingly, they did not, for reasons that I don’t fully appreciate, protect the elderly by making sure the elderly got vaccinated,” he said. “So if you look at the prevalence of vaccinations among the elderly, that was almost counterproductive. The people you really needed to protect were not getting protected.”

The protests have roiled financial markets and caused oil prices to erase their entire year-to-date gain. In a highly unusual move, protesters in Shanghai called for China’s powerful leader Xi Jinping to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled Sunday to suppress demonstrations that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party, as the Associated Press reported.

The BBC said reporter Ed Lawrence, who was arrested while covering protests, was beaten and kicked by police while in custody.

“We have had no explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught COVID from the crowd,” the broadcaster said in a statement. “We do not consider this a credible explanation.”

For more, see: BBC says official explanation for journalist arrest in China is that he was detained to prevent contraction of COVID

In a rare show of defiance, crowds in China gathered for a third night as protests against COVID restrictions spread to Beijing, Shanghai and other cities. People held blank sheets of paper, symbolizing censorship, and demanded that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, step down. Photo: Noel Celis/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

In the U.S., known cases of COVID are rising again with the daily average standing at 41,997 on Sunday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 6% from two weeks ago.

Cases are currently rising in 22 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Guam, but are falling elsewhere.

The daily average for hospitalizations is up 4% to 29,053. Hospitalizations are rising in 23 states, the tracker shows.

The daily average for deaths is up 4% to 330.

Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

• The World Health Organization said Monday it is recommending the term “mpox” as a new name for monkeypox disease and that it would use both names for a year while “monkeypox” is phased out. “When the outbreak of monkeypox expanded earlier this year, racist and stigmatizing language online, in other settings and in some communities was observed and reported to WHO,” the agency said in a statement. “In several meetings, public and private, a number of individuals and countries raised concerns and asked WHO to propose a way forward to change the name.” The WHO has responsibility for assigning names to new — and exceptionally, to existing — diseases, under the International Classification of Diseases and the WHO Family of International Health Related Classifications through a consultative process that includes WHO member states, it explained. The new name was decided upon following consultations with global experts, it said.

Residents in Shanghai received the world’s first inhaled COVID-19 vaccine by taking sips from a cup. WSJ’s Dan Strumpf explains how the new type of vaccine works and what it means for China’s reopening. Photo: Associated Press/Shanghai Media Group

• Unrest at one of China’s biggest manufacturing centers may cause a production shortfall this year of possibly 6 million Apple iPhone Pros, according to a source cited by Bloomberg. The Foxconn Technology 2354 facility in Zhengzhou, which makes the majority of Apple’s premium phones, has been struggling for weeks as workers rebel against COVID lockdown policies. Apple
AAPL,
-2.13%
recently lowered its overall production target from 90 million units to 87 million units. However, Foxconn believes it can make up any shortfall from Zhengzhou in 2023.

• A blood-thinning drug called Apixaban, which has been used for patients recovering from COVID, does not work and can cause major bleeding, according to new research reported by the Guardian. The anticoagulant, given to patients when they are discharged from a hospital after being treated for moderate or severe COVID, is widely used by hospitals across the U.K.’s National Health Service. However, the government-funded Heal-Covid trial has found that the drug does not work. Charlotte Summers, the chief investigator of the trial, said: “These first findings from Heal-Covid show us that a blood-thinning drug, commonly thought to be a useful intervention in the post-hospital phase, is actually ineffective at stopping people dying or being readmitted to hospital.”

Here’s what the numbers say:

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 641.6 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.63 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 98.6 million cases and 1,079,199 fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 228.4 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.8% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

So far, just 37.6 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 12.1% of the overall population.

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November 28, 2022

U.S. unlikely to see another late-year omicron wave, but Fauci urges people to get new COVID booster

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The U.S. is unlikely to suffer the same surge of COVID-19 infections this winter as it did last year, when the omicron variant first emerged and swept across the country, senior health officials said Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, addressed reporters for the last time ahead of his retirement, saying that the current combination of infections and vaccinations means there’s “enough community protection that we’re not going to see a repeat of last year at this time.”

But Fauci urged those Americans who have not yet gotten their updated booster to do so quickly, telling them it’s the best one so far. Only 35 million Americans have received the bivalent booster since it was rolled out in September.

“[What] may be the final message I give you from this podium is that please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible,” Fauci said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that the new boosters, which target the original virus as well as the latest omicron variants, provide an additional 30% to 56% protection against symptomatic infection, depending on a person’s age, how many prior vaccine shots they have had and when they had them, as the Associated Press reported.

The people who get the greatest benefit from the new booster are those who got two doses of the original COVID-19 vaccine at least eight months earlier and never got a prior booster, said the CDC’s Ruth Link-Gelles, who led the study.

The original shots have offered strong protection against severe disease and death no matter the variant, but their protection against mild infection wanes. The CDC’s analysis has tracked only the first few months of the new boosters’ use, so it’s too early to know how long the added protection against symptomatic infection will last.

But “certainly as we enter the holiday season, personally I would want the most possible protection if I’m seeing my parents and grandparents,” Link-Gelles said. “Protection against infection there is going to be really helpful, because you potentially would stop yourself from getting a grandparent or other loved one sick.”

The Biden administration announced a six-week campaign urging people — especially older people — to get the boosters, saying the shots could save lives as Americans gather for the holidays.

Physicians are reporting high numbers of respiratory illnesses like RSV and the flu earlier than the typical winter peak. WSJ’s Brianna Abbott explains what the early surge means for the winter months. Photo illustration: Kaitlyn Wang

Don’t miss: Confused about COVID boosters? Here’s what the science and the experts say about the new generation of shots.

In the U.S., known cases of COVID are rising again, with the daily average standing at 42,220 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 7% from two weeks ago. Cases are rising in 25 states, led by Washington state, where they are up 279% from two weeks ago.

The daily average for hospitalizations is flat at 27,923, while the daily average for deaths is up 3% to 319.

Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

• Employees at the world’s biggest Apple
AAPL,
+0.59%
iPhone factory were beaten and detained in protests over contract disputes amid antivirus controls, according to witnesses and videos posted on social media Wednesday, as tensions mount over Beijing’s severe zero-COVID strategy, the AP reported. Videos reportedly filmed at the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields. Police kicked and hit one protester with clubs after he grabbed a metal pole that had been used to strike him. Frustrations have boiled over into protests in some parts of China where shops and offices have been closed and millions of people confined to their homes for weeks at a time with little warning. Videos on social media show residents in some areas tearing down barricades set up to enforce neighborhood closures.

Footage shows police in protective suits beating workers at the Foxconn facility in Zhengzhou, China. The world’s biggest Apple iPhone factory had been under COVID-19 lockdowns in recent weeks. Screenshot: Associated Press

• The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Mike DeWine’s authority to end Ohio’s participation in a federal pandemic unemployment aid program ahead of the federal government’s 2021 deadline for stopping the payments, the AP reported. The court’s unanimous decision on Tuesday called the case “moot” without any additional explanation. At issue before the court was a weekly $300 federal payment for Ohioans to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The federal government ended that in September of last year, but DeWine stopped the payments two months earlier, saying the need was over.

• Infections from antibiotic-resistant pathogens known as superbugs have more than doubled in healthcare facilities in Europe, an EU agency said on Thursday, providing further evidence of the wider impact of the COVID pandemic, Reuters reported. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said reported cases of two highly drug-resistant pathogens increased in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, then sharply jumped in 2021.

• The National Institutes of Health has set up a website for people to anonymously self-report the results of at-home COVID-19 tests, whether positive or negative. The site, MakeMyTestCount.org, will gather the data and then share the information, stripped of personal identifiers, with the public-health systems that track COVID-19 test results provided by healthcare providers and laboratories. The widespread use of at-home COVID tests in 2022 meant the U.S. had a more limited understanding of COVID surges than in the past.

Here’s what the numbers say:

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 639.1 million on Wednesday, while the death toll rose above 6.62 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 98.4 million cases and 1,077,800 fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 228.2 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.7% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

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November 23, 2022

UK Regulator Opens Cloud Gaming, Browsers Probe After Reports of Apple, Alphabet Duopoly

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By Kyle Morris

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into cloud gaming and mobile browsers after an earlier report that Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have an effective duopoly on mobile ecosystems.

The regulator said the duopoly allows them to exercise a stranglehold over operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices.

Write to Kyle Morris at kyle.morris@dowjones.com

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November 22, 2022

Manufacturing hub Guangzhou is latest Chinese city to face lockdowns as COVID cases rise

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The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou is the latest to see lockdowns amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, as the government presses ahead with the strict zero-COVID policy that has frustrated citizens.

The latest lockdowns have further disrupted global supply chains and sharply slowed growth in the world’s second-largest economy, as the Associated Press reported.

Residents in districts encompassing almost 5 million people have been ordered to stay home at least through Sunday, with one member of each family allowed out once a day to purchase necessities, local authorities said Wednesday.

The order came after the densely populated city of 13 million reported more than 2,500 new cases over the previous 24 hours.

China has retained its strict zero-COVID policy despite relatively low case numbers and no new deaths. The country’s borders remain largely closed, and internal travel and trade is complicated by ever-changing quarantine regulations.

Apple
AAPL,
-3.32%
and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn
2317,
-1.95%
said over the weekend that restrictions are crimping production and will delay shipments of the high-end iPhone 14.

For more, read: All eyes on China as Apple and Foxconn outline zero-COVID issues. Meanwhile, cases are rising again in the U.S.

In the U.S., known cases of COVID are climbing again for the first time in a few months. The daily average for new cases stood at 39,578 on Tuesday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 5% versus two weeks ago.

As always, the increase in cases is not uniform across the nation. Some states are seeing sharp spikes, led by Nevada, where cases are up 96% from two weeks ago. Tennessee is second with cases up 69%, followed by Louisiana with cases up 68%, New Mexico, where they are up 62%, and Utah, where they have climbed 61%.

Cases are up by a double-digit percentage in 22 states.

The daily average for hospitalizations was up 3% to 27,713, while the daily average for deaths was down 14% to 308.

Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

• Novavax Inc.
NVAX,
-5.19%
on Tuesday tweaked its full-year sales outlook to the low end of its expected range and reported a surprise quarterly loss, but sales for the COVID-19 vaccine maker were far better than expected. The company reported a net loss of $168.6 million, or $2.15 a share, compared with a loss of $322.4 million, or $4.31 a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales were $735 million, compared with $178.8 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected Novavax to earn $1.57 a share on revenue of $586 million.

• A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee said this week that Veru Inc.’s
VERU,
+3.95%
COVID treatment Sabizabulin demonstrated a clear clinical benefit with a favorable benefit-to-risk profile. Veru is seeking emergency-use authorization for treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at high risk for acute respiratory distress syndrome.

• A Massachusetts man who admitted to lying on his application for federal coronavirus business stimulus funds and using some of the $400,000 he received to pay his mortgage has been sentenced to 15 months in prison, federal prosecutors said, as the AP reported. In addition to the time behind bars, Adley Bernadin, 44, of Stoughton, was sentenced last week to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $280,000, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Here’s what the numbers say:

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 633.5 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.60 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 97.8 million cases and 1,072,943 fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 227.3 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.5% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

So far, just 26.3 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 8.4% of the overall population.

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November 9, 2022

WSJ News Exclusive | Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg Says He Is Accountable as Company Preps for Mass Layoffs

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Layoffs are to begin on Wednesday morning, the CEO told hundreds of executives on Tuesday

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November 8, 2022

All eyes on China as Apple and Foxconn outline zero-COVID issues. Meanwhile, cases are rising again in the U.S.

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China’s strict zero-COVID policy was making headlines Monday after Apple and iPhone manufacturer Foxconn said over the weekend that restrictions are crimping production and will delay shipments of the high-end iPhone 14.

“We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models,” Apple
AAPL,
-0.82%
announced in a Sunday evening press release. “However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated and customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.”

Also read: Will Apple’s latest production issues destroy demand?

Foxconn, meanwhile, which trades as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.
2317,
-0.50%,
lowered its fourth-quarter guidance and said anti-COVID measures were affecting some of its operations in Zhengzhou, China, as Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Foxconn said that the Henan provincial government had made it clear that it would fully support the company. Foxconn’s most advanced iPhone plant, located in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, has been battling a COVID outbreak.

Foxconn said it is working with the government to halt the outbreak and resume production at full capacity as quickly as possible.

Workers at the world’s biggest assembly site for Apple’s iPhones walked out last week as Foxconn struggled to contain a COVID-19 outbreak. The chaos highlighted the tension between Beijing’s rigid pandemic controls and the need to keep production on track. Photo: Hangpai Xinyang/Associated Press

Investors have been closely watching China for signs that its government would start to lift the tough pandemic restrictions that have been in place for almost three years. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the country’s leaders are considering steps but have not yet set a timeline.

Chinese officials have become concerned about the costs of their zero-tolerance approach to COVID, which has resulted in lockdowns of cities and whole provinces, crushing business activity and confining hundreds of millions of people to their homes for weeks and sometimes months on end.

But they are weighing those concerns against the potential costs of reopening on public health and on support for the Communist Party. On Saturday, officials from China’s National Health Commission again reaffirmed their commitment to a firm zero-COVID strategy, which they described as essential to “protect people’s lives.”

Still, there are plans in Beijing to further cut the number of days incoming travelers must quarantine in hotels from 10 to seven, followed by three days of home monitoring, the paper reported, citing people involved in the discussions.

And officials have told retail businesses that they intend to reduce the frequency of PCR testing as soon as this month, partly because of the cost.

In the U.S., known cases of COVID and hospitalizations are climbing again for the first time in a few months.

The daily average for new cases stood at 39,954 on Sunday, according to a New York Times tracker, up 6% compared with two weeks ago. But cases are sharply higher in several states, led by Nevada, where they are up 96% from two weeks ago, followed by Tennessee, where they are up 69%; Louisiana, where they are up 68%; Utah, where they have climbed 61%; and New Mexico, where they are up 56%.

Cases are climbing in 30 states and in Washington, D.C.

The daily average for hospitalizations was up 2% to 27,419, while the daily average for deaths was down 11% to 320.

Physicians are reporting high numbers of respiratory illnesses like RSV and the flu earlier than the typical winter peak. WSJ’s Brianna Abbott explains what the early surge means for the winter months. Photo illustration: Kaitlyn Wang

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants accounted for 35.3% of new cases in the week through Nov. 5, up from 27.1% a week ago.

The two variants accounted for 52.3% of all cases in the New York region, which includes New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, up from 42.5% the previous week. That was more than the BA.5 omicron subvariant, which accounted for 24.9% of new cases in the New York area in the latest week.

The BA.5 omicron subvariant accounted for 39.2% of all U.S. cases, the data show.

BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were still lumped in with BA.5 variant data as recently as three weeks ago, because at that time, their numbers were too small to break out. BQ.1 was first identified by researchers in early September and has been found in the U.K. and Germany, among other places.

Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

• BioNTEch SE
BNTX,
+2.84%,
the German biotech that has partnered with Pfizer
PFE,
-0.53%
on a COVID vaccine, posted earnings early Monday, showing a roughly 50% drop in profit that sent its stock lower, despite beating consensus estimates. The Mainz-based company said it had invoiced about 300 million doses of its bivalent vaccine, which targets the omicron variant as well as the original virus. The company chalked up €564.5 million ($563.9 million) in direct COVID vaccine sales in the quarter, down from €1.351 billion a year ago. BioNTech raised the lower end of its full-year COVID vaccine revenue range to €16 billion to €17 billion, from a previous €13 billion to €17 billion.

• Thousands of runners took to the streets of the Chinese capital on Sunday for the return of Beijing’s annual marathon after a two-year hiatus, the Associated Press reported. However, the good news was offset by anger about another death related to COVID restrictions, this time of a 55-year-old woman in a sealed building. An investigation report released Sunday in Hohhot, the capital of China’s Inner Mongolia region, blamed property management and community staff for not acting quickly enough to prevent the death of the woman after being told she had suicidal tendencies.

• The U.S. flu season is off to an unusually fast start, contributing to an autumn mix of viruses that have patients filling hospitals’ and physicians’ waiting rooms, the AP reported separately. Reports of flu are already high in 17 states, and the hospitalization rate hasn’t been this high this early since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, there have been an estimated 730 flu deaths, including at least two children. The winter flu season usually ramps up in December or January.

Here’s what the numbers say:

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 632.6 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.60 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 97.7 million cases and 1,072,598 fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 227.3 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.5% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

So far, just 26.3 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 8.4% of the overall population.

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November 7, 2022

Apple warns that iPhone 14 Pro shipments will be hit by China production snags

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Apple Inc. said Sunday that it now expects lower shipments of its high-end iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max devices than it did previously, as COVID-19 issues hamper production in China.

“We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models,” the company announced in a Sunday evening press release. “However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated and customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.”

Apple
AAPL,
-0.19%
acknowledged in its release that COVID-19 issues have “temporarily impacted” production of the devices at the Zhengzhou site that is the “primary” assembly facility for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. That facility is currently seeing “significantly reduced” operating capacity.

“We are working closely with our supplier to return to normal production levels while ensuring the health and safety of every worker,” the company added in the release.

Analysts have been discussing iPhone production disruption at manufacturer Foxconn’s
2354,
+1.31%
Zhengzhou facility for the past week amid fallout from COVID-19 restrictions in the city.

“Although Apple earnings were only a week ago, supply shortages at the high end of the market and recent COVID lockdowns in China impacting a Foxconn plant could negatively impact iPhone units in the December quarter,” UBS analyst David Vogt wrote Wednesday, ahead of Apple’s press release. “While we believe iPhone demand tends to not be perishable, a slippage of a couple of million units is possible below our 86 million forecast.”

While Apple was the only Big Tech company to see its shares rally in the wake of its late-October earnings report, shares have struggled more since then. They logged their worst weekly performance since March 2020 last week.

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November 6, 2022

Apple and Google stocks just had their worst week in more than two years

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Shares of Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. both suffered their largest weekly declines since the beginning days of the pandemic this week, as Big Tech companies continued to draw closer scrutiny from Wall Street.

Apple’s stock
AAPL,
-0.19%
finished down 11.2% on the week, its worst weekly performance since the week that ended March 20, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The stock declined 17.5% during that early-pandemic stretch.

Shares of Apple fell during all five sessions this week.

Shares in Google parent Alphabet
GOOG,
+3.84%

GOOGL,
+3.78%
declined 10.1% during the week, their worst one-day percentage drop since that same March 20, 2020 week, when they fell 12.03%. The stock’s biggest weekly tumble in more than two years came even as Alphabet snapped a four-session losing streak in Friday trading.

While Apple’s stock has fared better than that of Alphabet and other Big Tech peers, the company faces potential pandemic-related challenges owing to new COVID-19 setbacks at manufacturer Foxconn’s major facility. In addition, the realities of the current economic climate may be catching up to Apple, as Bloomberg News reported Thursday that the company had paused hiring in several areas unrelated to research and development.

See more: Apple reportedly pauses hiring for many roles, joining Amazon in belt-tightening

Though there didn’t seem to be any major news developments pegged to Alphabet specifically in the past week, investors are putting more pressure on big internet companies, according to Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik. He recently conducted a Big Tech “autopsy” of results from Alphabet, Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+1.88%,
and Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
+2.11%,
concluding that “perfection is required from here” for the three tech giants since Wall Street has less patience for weak performance in any one of their many business areas.

Read: Amazon closes below $1 trillion valuation for the first time since 2020

All three names suffered negative stock reactions in the wake of their latest earnings reports, which indicated challenges in the ad market due to economic pressures. At Alphabet specifically, “Search was more or less in-line with the buy-side bogey and the Cloud beat, but disappointing YouTube results combined with margin contraction drove a ~10% fall after-hours,” Shmulik wrote.

Alphabet’s stock has declined 40% so far in 2022, while Apple’s is off 22% over the same span. The S&P 500
SPX,
+1.36%
is down 21% on the year while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.26%
is off 11%.

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November 5, 2022

Tim Cook has been an excellent leader for Apple — these numbers prove it

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How good is a company’s chief executive officer at investing your money most efficiently? This is an important question for long-term investors. It may underline the difference between a steady long-term performer and a flash in the pan.

And Apple Inc.
AAPL,
-4.24%
now makes up 7% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
SPY,
-1.03%,
the first and largest exchange-traded fund (with $360 billion in assets), which tracks the benchmark S&P 500
SPX,
-1.06%.
That’s close to an all-time record, and the iPhone maker has a whopping 14.1% position in the Invesco QQQ Trust
QQQ,
-1.95%,
which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index
NDX,
-1.98%.
Looking at the full Nasdaq Index
COMP,
-1.73%,
which has 3,747 stocks, Apple takes a 13.5% position.

Apple now makes up 7.3% of the S&P 500 by market capitalization, close to the 8% record it set late in September.

FactSet

This is very much an Apple stock market, with the company topping the broad indexes that are weighted by market capitalization. You are likely to be invested in the company indirectly. You also might be feeling Apple’s impact in other ways. Apple’s App Store ecosystem drives more than $600 billion in annual revenue for developers.

Tim Cook’s tenure as Apple’s CEO has been nothing short of breathtaking when measured by the company’s financial performance. Apple is not one of the fastest-growing companies when measured by sales or earnings — it is too big for that. But its excellent stock performance has reflected Cook’s ability to deploy invested capital with improving efficiency. Cook has also been a market trendsetter in other important ways. He has Apple repurchasing $90 billion of its shares annually, setting the pace for stock buybacks in the market. Cook’s steady hand has also helped Apple withstand the market’s tech wreck and remain a stable pillar for the teetering Nasdaq Composite index generally. For all these reasons, Cook has earned a spot on the MarketWatch 50 list of the most influential people in markets.

Apple keeps improving by this important measure

Investors in the stock market are looking for growth over the long term. The best measure of that is whether or not a company’s share price goes up or down. But Cook isn’t just managing Apple’s stock. Digging a bit deeper into the company’s actual operating performance can provide some insight into what a good job Cook has done.

What should a corporate manager focus on? The stock price? How about the most efficient and most profitable way to provide goods and services? There are different ways to do this, and Apple has focused on quality, reliability and excellent service to build customer loyalty.

Apple’s commitment can be experienced by anyone who calls the company for customer service. It is easy to get through to a well-trained representative who will solve your problem. How many companies can say that at a time when it seems many companies cannot even handle answering the phone?

Getting back to actual performance, Cook took over as Apple’s CEO in August 2011 when Steve Jobs stepped down. The chart below shows the company’s quarterly returns on invested capital from the end of 2010 through September 2022.

Apple’s returns on invested capital have increased markedly over the past six years.

FactSet

A company’s return on invested capital (ROIC) is its profit divided by the sum of the carrying value of its common stock, preferred stock, long-term debt and capitalized lease obligations. ROIC indicates how well a company has made use of the money it has raised to run its business. It is an annualized figure, but available quarterly, as used in the chart above.

The carrying value of a company’s stock may be a lot lower than its current market capitalization. The company may have issued most of its shares long ago at a much lower share price than the current one. If a company has issued shares recently or at relatively high prices, its ROIC will be lower.

A company with a high ROIC is likely either to have a relatively low level of long-term debt or to have made efficient use of the borrowed money.

Among companies in the S&P 500 that have been around for at least 10 years, Apple placed within the top 20 for average ROIC for the previous 40 reported fiscal quarters as of Sept. 1.

As you can see on the chart, Apple’s ROIC has improved dramatically over the past five years, even as the wide adoption of the company’s products and services has led to an overall slowdown in sales growth.

A quick comparison with other giants in the benchmark index

It might be interesting to see how Apple stacks up among other large companies, in part because some businesses are more capital-intensive than others. For example, over the past four quarters, Apple’s ROIC has averaged 52.9%, while the average for the S&P 500 has been a weighted 12.1%, by FactSet’s estimate.

Here are the 10 companies in the S&P 500 reporting the highest annual sales for their most recent full fiscal years, with a comparison of average ROIC over the past 40 reported quarters:

Company	Ticker	Annual sales ($mil)	Avg. ROIC – 40 quarters	Total Return – 10 Years
Walmart Inc.	WMT, -0.02%	$572,754	11.0%	142%
Amazon.com Inc.	AMZN, -3.06%	$469,822	6.8%	693%
Apple Inc.	AAPL, -4.24%	$394,328	33.0%	721%
CVS Health Corp.	CVS, +1.03%	$291,935	6.8%	161%
UnitedHealth Group Inc.	UNH, +0.03%	$287,597	13.7%	1,031%
Exxon Mobil Corp.	XOM, +1.36%	$280,510	9.9%	85%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B	BRK.B, -1.94%	$276,094	8.2%	233%
McKesson Corp.	MKC, -0.61%	$263,966	6.6%	353%
Alphabet Inc. Class A	GOOGL, -4.07%	$257,488	16.6%	405%
Costco Wholesale Corp.	COST, +0.57%	$226,954	16.2%	558%
Source: FactSet

Among the largest 10 companies in the S&P 500 by annual sales, Apple takes the top ranking for average ROIC over the past 10 years, while ranking second for total return behind UnitedHealth Group Inc.
UNH,
+0.03%
and ahead of Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-3.06%.
UnitedHealth has been able to remain at the forefront of managed care during the period of transition for healthcare in the U.S., in the wake of President Barack Obama’s signing of the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010.

Here’s a chart showing 10-year total returns for Apple, UnitedHealth Group, Amazon and the S&P 500:

Apple is only slightly ahead of Amazon’s 10-year total return. But what is so striking about this chart is the volatility. Apple has had a smoother ride. During the bear market of 2022, Apple’s stock has declined 18%, while the S&P 500 has gone down 20%, the Nasdaq has fallen 32% (all with dividends reinvested) and Amazon has dropped 45%.

The broad indexes would have fared even worse so far this year without Apple.

TO SEE THE FULL MARKETWATCH 50 LIST CLICK HERE

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November 3, 2022

AAPL Stock Price | Apple Inc. Stock Quote (U.S.: Nasdaq) | MarketWatch

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Apple, Inc. engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables and accessories, and other varieties of related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Americas segment includes North and South America. The Europe segment consists of European countries, as well as India, the Middle East, and Africa. The Greater China segment comprises China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The Rest of Asia Pacific segment includes Australia and Asian countries. Its products and services include iPhone, Mac, iPad, AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, AppleCare, iCloud, digital content stores, streaming, and licensing services. The company was founded by Steven Paul Jobs, Ronald Gerald Wayne, and Stephen G. Wozniak in April 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, CA.

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November 1, 2022

Hospitalizations on the rise in New York City as new COVID strains spread rapidly

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Hospitalizations are rising again in New York City with the spread of new COVID-19 subvariants that are better at evading immunity. Cases of flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, are also increasing.

State data show about 1,100 patients hospitalized with COVID as of Oct. 24, up from 750 in mid-September, as the New York Times reported. Case numbers have held steady, although with many people testing at home where data are not being collected, those numbers are not reliable.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the omicron sublineages named BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounted for 42.5% of all cases in the New York region in the week through Oct. 29, up from 37% the previous week.

That was more than the BA.5 omicron subvariant, which accounted for 35.7% of new cases in the New York region in the latest week. The two sublineages were not even registering as recently as three weeks ago, demonstrating just how fast they are spreading.

Experts are also concerned about a nationwide surge in RSV, which can cause breathing difficulties in small children and older adults and for which there is currently no vaccine.

There was good news from Pfizer Inc., however, which said Tuesday that data from a late-stage trial of an RSV vaccine had proved effective in preventing severe illness in children up to 6 months old.

The Phase 3 trial found that the vaccine, given to pregnant mothers, achieved vaccine efficacy of 81.8% in infants from birth through the first 90 days of life. The trial found efficacy of 69.4% through the first 6 months of life.

Pfizer
PFE,
+3.14%
said it expects to make its first U.S. regulatory application for the vaccine by the end of 2022 and to follow on with other regulatory bodies. It will also submit the results of the trial for peer review in a scientific journal.

The daily U.S. average for new COVID cases stood at 37,665 on Monday, according to a New York Times tracker, which was flat as compared with two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was up 2% to 27,184, while the daily average for deaths was down 3% to 348.

Coronavirus Update: MarketWatch’s daily roundup has been curating and reporting all the latest developments every weekday since the coronavirus pandemic began

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

• Apple
AAPL,
-1.75%
supplier Foxconn
2317,

said Tuesday it has quadrupled bonuses for workers at its Zhengzhou plant in central China as it seeks to quell discontent over COVID restrictions and retain staff at the giant iPhone manufacturing site, Reuters reported. Daily bonuses for employees, who are part of a Foxconn unit responsible for making electronics including smartphones, have been raised to 400 yuan ($55) a day for November from 100 yuan, according to the official WeChat account of Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant. The move comes after workers fled the site over the weekend to avoid COVID curbs after complaining about their treatment and provisions via social media.

Workers at the world’s biggest assembly site for Apple’s iPhones walked out as Foxconn has struggled to contain a COVID-19 outbreak. The chaos highlights the tension between Beijing’s rigid pandemic controls and the urge to keep production on track. Photo: Hangpai Xinyang/Associated Press

• The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Hong Kong stocks appeared to be rallying after an anonymous post on Chinese social media suggested that the government may intend to soften pandemic-related restrictions beginning in March. Other outlets also reported on the rumor. American depositary receipts for Chinese companies surged on the news.

See: Alibaba and Nio among Chinese stocks surging as hopes build about potential reopening

• Pfizer’s COVID antiviral Paxlovid brought in $7.5 billion in sales in the third quarter of the year, compared with a FactSet consensus of $7.6 billion. The drug company also reiterated guidance for Paxlovid revenues in 2022, saying it still expects $22 billion in sales for the year. The FactSet consensus is $22.5 billion. Pfizer raised its full-year revenue guidance for the company’s Comirnaty COVID vaccine by $2 billion to $34 billion. The guidance includes doses expected to be delivered in fiscal 2022, primarily under contracts signed as of mid-October.

• AstraZeneca PLC’s
AZN,
+1.77%

AZN,
+0.90%
COVID vaccine Vaxzevria has been granted full marketing authorization in the European Union, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant said Vaxzevria has been shown to be effective against all forms of the virus. Vaxzevria was originally granted conditional marketing authorization due to the urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

Here’s what the numbers say:

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 630.6 million on Monday, while the death toll rose above 6.59 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 97.5 million cases and 1,070,429 fatalities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker shows that 226.9 million people living in the U.S., equal to 68.4% of the total population, are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had their primary shots.

So far, just 22.8 million Americans have had the updated COVID booster that targets the original virus and the omicron variants, equal to 7.3% of the overall population.

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November 1, 2022

As subscription prices rise, here’s what’s worth streaming in November 2022: ‘The Crown,’ ‘Willow,’ ‘Mythic Quest’ and more

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So here’s some bad news and some, well, slightly less bad news.

First, the bad-bad: Streaming prices are increasing almost across the board (Hulu and Apple TV+ rose in October, Disney+ will rise in December, while Netflix and Prime Video rose earlier this year), putting even more of a crunch on budget-conscious consumers.

But now the less bad: If you can put up with commercials, there are cheaper, ad-supported versions coming your way (Netflix on Nov. 3, Disney+ in December).

Of course, the other money-saving solution is to double down on a churn-and-return strategy and cut down on recurring subscriptions even more.

Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold and sell. We also pick the best content to help you make your monthly decisions.

Consumers can take full advantage of cord-cutting by churning and returning — adding and dropping streaming services each month. All it takes is good planning. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month, and keep an eye out for lower-priced tiers, limited-time discounts, free trials and cost-saving bundles. There are a lot of offers out there, but the deals don’t last forever.

Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in November 2022, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee.

Netflix ($6.99 a month for basic with ads starting Nov. 3, $9.99 basic without ads, $15.49 standard without ads, $19.99 premium without ads)

Netflix has another really good month coming up.

“The Crown” (Nov. 9), returns for its fifth season, set this time in the 1990s as scandals involving Charles and Diana plaster London’s tabloids and the role of Britain’s monarchy in modern society is thrown into question. Imelda Staunton takes over the role of Queen Elizabeth, with Dominic West as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip. Controversy has already erupted over the new season, which will include Diana’s tragic death, as some have spoken out about the show’s increasingly blurry line between truth and fiction. Pryce recently told Vanity Fair, ““The vast majority of people know it’s a drama,” not a documentary. And it’s a pretty good drama.

Netflix
NFLX,
-0.41%
hasn’t had much success developing original sitcoms, but is hoping to finally break through with “Blockbuster” (Nov. 3), a workplace comedy set at the last Blockbuster video store in America, starring network sitcom veterans Randall Park (“Fresh Off the Boat”) and Melissa Fumero (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”). There’s also “Wednesday” (Nov. 23), a horror-comedy series from Tim Burton starring Jenna Ortega as the terrifyingly snarky teen Wednesday Addams, with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman playing her creepy and kooky parents, Morticia and Gomez; and the third and final season of the dark comedy “Dead to Me” (Nov. 17), starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, which returns after a two-and-a-half-year layoff.

On the drama side, there’s “1899” (Nov. 17), a mystery-horror series set aboard a transatlantic steamer ship at the turn of the last century, from the makers of the mind-bending German sci-fi series “Dark” — and if it’s even half as trippy and addictive, it’ll be terrific; Part 1 of the fourth season of the supernatural drama “Manifest” (Nov. 4), which Netflix rescued from NBC’s cancellation; and Season 6 of the soapy Spanish high-school drama “Elite” (Nov 18).

More: Here’s everything new coming to Netflix in November 2022, and what’s leaving

There’s also the timely documentary “FIFA Uncovered” (Nov. 9), digging into the scandal-plagued organization behind the World Cup; “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet” (Nov. 17), a documentary about a man who sued Pepsi in the 1980s to get a free Harrier fighter jet; the fifth installment of “The Great British Baking Show: Holidays” (Nov. 18); and the new standup comedy special from the outgoing “Daily Show” host, “Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would” (Nov. 22).

On the movie front, there’s “Enola Holmes 2” (Nov. 4), a sequel to the hit 2020 movie about Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister, played by Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”), as young detective Enola sets out to investigate her first case; “Slumberland” (Nov. 18), a comedy adventure about a young girl exploring the dreamworld, starring Mallow Barkley and Jason Mamoa; and Lindsay Lohan is back with a Christmas rom-com, “Falling for Christmas” (Nov. 10).

Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.

Play, pause or stop? Play. When it’s at the top of its game, as it is again this month, Netflix is a must-have, at whatever price tier.

Disney+ ($7.99 a month)

The TV world has been abuzz about prequels for the past few months, but it’s all about sequels in November for Disney+.

The biggest of the bunch is “Willow” (Nov. 30), a follow-up series to the cult-favorite 1988 fantasy movie of the same name. The magical adventure is set 20 years after the events of the film, and Warwick Davis returns as farmer-turned-sorcerer Willow Ufgood, who leads an unlikely group of heroes on a quest to save their world. It should be fun for the whole family.

Disney
DIS,
+1.45%
also has “Disenchanted” (Nov. 18), a sequel to the 2007 hit movie “Enchanted.” The musical fantasy is set 10 years after the happily-ever-after ending, with Giselle (Amy Adams) questioning her happiness and inadvertently setting her two worlds askew. Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Maya Rudolph co-star. And then there’s “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 16), as Tim Allen reprises his role of Santa Claus, who’s now facing retirement and looking for a replacement, in a new miniseries spinoff of the family-movie trilogy.

Also of note: “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” (Nov. 25), as Star-Lord and the gang kidnap Kevin Bacon; the live performance “Elton John: Live from Dodger Stadium” (Nov. 20), the pop icon’s final show in North America; and weekly episodes of “Dancing With the Stars” (season finale Nov. 21), the “Star Wars” prequel “Andor” (season finale Nov. 23) and “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” (season finale Nov. 30).

And heads up: Prices for the ad-free tier will jump to $10.99 a month in December, after Disney+ launches its ad-supported tier for $7.99 a month.

Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s library can be lacking.

Play, pause or stop? Play. There’s something for everyone in the household — even grumps who aren’t “Star Wars” fans can get into “Andor,” which absolutely works as a dark, gripping, spy thriller. Meanwhile, fans are realizing it just might be the best “Star Wars” series or movie ever made.

HBO Max ($9.99 a month with ads, or $14.99 without ads)

HBO Max is bringing back “The Sex Lives of College Girls” (Nov. 17) for its second season. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble (who also teamed on Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever”), the ensemble comedy about four college roommates picks up right after Thanksgiving break, with the girls organizing a “sex-positive” male strip show. It’s sharp, funny, and less cringey than its title suggests.

Then there’s “A Christmas Story Christmas” (Nov. 17), a nostalgic sequel to the 1983 classic, starring Peter Billingsley as a grown-up Ralphie who returns to his hometown to try to give his kids a perfect Christmas. It’s risky reviving such a beloved movie, and this could either be wonderful or terrible, there’s really no middle ground.

HBO Max also has a slew of documentaries, including “Love, Lizzo” (Nov. 24), about the pop superstar’s inspiring life story; “Shaq” (Nov. 23), a four-part docuseries chronicling the rise to superstardom of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal; “Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty” (Nov. 3), a true-crime series about a South Carolina lawyer’s scandalous fall; and “Say Hey, Willie Mays!” (Nov. 8), a film exploring the life, career and social impact of the greatest baseball player who ever played the game.

See more: Here’s everything new coming to HBO Max in November 2022, and what’s leaving

And every week brings new episodes of Season 2 of the very dark vacation comedy “The White Lotus,” Season 3 of “Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler” and Season 2 of the cult documentary “The Vow.”

Who’s HBO Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers.

Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. “The White Lotus” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls” are both worth watching, but beyond that it’s kinda “meh” this month. And Max is too pricey for “meh.”

Amazon Prime Video ($14.99 a month)

Amazon
AMZN,
-6.80%
is bringing the star power in November, starting with the Western drama series “The English” (Nov. 11), starring Emily Blunt as an aristocratic Englishwoman who teams with a Pawnee scout (Chaske Spencer) on a mission to cross the violent 1890s American frontier. It looks stylish and bloody — and promising.

Meanwhile, James Corden and Sally Hawkins star in “Mammals” (Nov. 11), a dark comedy series about modern marriage; pop star-turned-actor Harry Styles stars in “My Policeman” (Nov. 4), a drama about forbidden romance that’s getting very “meh” reviews in its theatrical release; and Kristen Bell, Ben Platt and Allison Janney star in “The People We Hate at the Wedding” (Nov. 18), a raunchy comedy set at a dysfunctional family wedding.

More: Here’s what’s coming to Amazon’s Prime Video in November 2022

There’s also NFL Thursday Night Football every week, and new episodes of the intriguing sci-fi drama “The Peripheral,” which is giving very “Westworld”-but-slightly-less-confusing vibes.

Who’s Amazon Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s good stuff here, but nothing that feels must-see.

Paramount+ ($4.99 a month with ads but not live CBS, $9.99 without ads)

Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone,” “1883,” “Mayor of Kingstown”) has another new series: “Tulsa King” (Nov. 13), starring Sylvester Stallone as a former New York mafia capo who gets freed from prison after 25 years and settles in Tulsa, Okla., to build a criminal empire of his own. Showrunner Terence Winter (“The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire”) knows a thing or two about mob shows, and this one could be good.

Paramount+ also has the spinoff series “Criminal Minds: Evolution” (Nov. 24), about an elite team of FBI profilers unraveling a network of serial killers; the family movie “Fantasy Football” (Nov. 25), about a girl who can magically control how her NFL-player dad performs on the field; and the series finale of “The Good Fight” (Nov. 10), which its creators promise will be “cataclysmic.”

There’s also the Thanksgiving Day Parade (Nov. 24) and a ton of live sports, including college football on Saturdays, NFL football on Sundays (and Thanksgiving Day), and group-stage matches for UEFA’s Champions and Europe leagues.

Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global
PARA,
+3.37%
broadcast and cable shows.

Play, pause or stop? Pause. Besides its solid live-sports lineup, it’s a good time to catch up and binge “The Good Fight,” and “Tulsa King” could be worth a watch too.

Hulu ($7.99 a month with ads, or $14.99 with no ads)

Hulu has a couple of interesting offerings in November, but nothing that screams must-see. Yet, at least.

FX’s “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (Nov. 17) stars Jesse Eisenberg as a newly divorced dad whose promiscuous dive into app-based dating is disrupted when his ex-wife disappears and leaves him with their kids. Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody co-star in the eight-episode drama, which is based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s best-selling novel.

There’s also “Welcome to Chippendales” (Nov. 22), a true-crime series starring Kumail Nanjiani as the immigrant founder of the 1980s male-stripper franchise, which chronicles his business empire’s rise and fall amid a blizzard of sex, drugs and violence.

Meanwhile, Adam McKay (“The Big Short”) and Billy Corben (“Cocaine Cowboys”) have the documentary “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty” (Nov. 1), about the private life of Christian televangelist and former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. and his very public downfall.

See: Here’s everything new on Hulu in November 2022 — and what’s leaving

There are also the final two episodes of “Atlanta” (series finale Nov. 10), whose fourth season has returned to brilliance after an underwhelming Season 3 over the summer, and new episodes every week of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.”

Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. While you won’t regret paying for Hulu if you already do, there’s not a lot to lure new subscribers this month.

Apple TV+ ($6.99 a month)

Apple TV+ is too inconsistent to be worth the $2-a-month price hike that was just announced, so it’s best to strategically plan when to stream — wait until a good series or two are completed, for example, and binge them all in a month, then cancel. Repeat as needed.

And it actually is a decent month for Apple. Its second-best comedy, “Mythic Quest” Nov. 11), returns for its third season, with Ian (Rob McElhenny) and Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) gearing up for war against their old videogame company. With a perfect blend of humor and heart, it’s one of the best workplace comedies on TV.

Meanwhile, Season 2 of “The Mosquito Coast” (Nov. 4) finds the fugitive Fox family finally hiding out in Central America, after a tedious premise-pilot of a first season that wasted good actors (Justin Theroux and Melissa George) and beautiful cinematography with nonsensical plot twists, while the action series “Echo 3” (Nov. 23) stars Luke Evans and Michiel Huisman as former soldiers trying to rescue a kidnapped scientist in the jungles of South America.

Apple
AAPL,
+7.56%
also has a pair of high-profile original movies: “Causeway” (Nov. 3), starring Jennifer Lawrence as a former soldier struggling to adjust to civilian life in New Orleans, co-starring Brian Tyree Henry, and “Spirited” (Nov. 18), a musical twist on “A Christmas Carol” told from the ghosts’ point of view, starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell.

Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s just not enough to justify a month-to-month subscription. December is a better bet, with “Mythic Quest” and a new season of “Slow Horses” running concurrently.

Peacock (free basic level, Premium for $4.99 a month with ads, or $9.99 a month with no ads)

The World Cup from Qatar (Nov. 20-Dec. 18) will be broadcast on Fox and FS1, so cord-cutters are out of luck, unless you subscribe to a live-streaming service like Hulu Live or YouTube TV. However, Peacock will stream every match in Spanish, which could be a decent Plan B for soccer fans.

And that “it’ll-do-but-it’s-not-exactly-what-I’m-looking-for” description is the running theme for Peacock. November will bring a handful of originals that are unlikely to move the needle, subscriber-wise: There’s the musical-comedy spinoff series “Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin” (Nov. 23), starring Adam Devine; “The Calling” (Nov. 10), a crime drama about a religious cop, from David E. Kelley and Barry Levinson; the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (Nov. 24); and the streaming debut of Jordan Poole’s sci-fi/horror hit “Nope” (Nov. 18).

Sports-wise, Peacock has the National Dog Show (hey, it’s a competition!) on Nov. 24, NFL Sunday Night Football every weekend, a full slate of English Premier League matches through Nov. 13, and a ton of golf and winter sports.

Who’s Peacock for? If you have a Comcast
CMCSA,
-0.06%
or Cox cable subscription, you likely have free access to the Premium tier (with ads) — though reportedly not for much longer. The free tier is almost worthless, but the recent addition of next-day streaming of NBC and Bravo shows (like “Saturday Night Live” and “Real Housewives”) bolsters the case for paying for a subscription. Still, Peacock is still not really necessary unless you need it for sports.

Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s not a lot that’s particularly enticing right now, even on the sports side.

Discovery+ ($4.99 a month with ads, or $6.99 with no ads)

More of the same in November for Discovery+, which is a feature, not a bug. Highlights include the vegan cook-and-chat show “Mary McCartney Serves It Up” (Nov. 1); “Tut’s Lost City Revealed” (Nov. 3), about a 3,000-year-old Egyptian city recently discovered by archaeologists; “Vardy vs Rooney: The Wagatha Trial” (Nov. 19), the inside story of the tabloid-fodder “Wagatha” scandal between the wives of English soccer stars; and Season 2 of the excellent CNN food series “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” (Nov. 30). Full disclosure: There are also a handful of sappy holiday movies guest-starring some HGTV and Food Network stars, but they look terrible and I expect better from you, a discerning reader/viewer.

Who’s Discovery+ for? Cord-cutters who miss their unscripted TV or who are really, really into “90 Day Fiancé.”

Play, pause or stop? Stop. Discovery+ is still fantastic for background TV, but it’s not worth the cost. Still, it should add value when the reconfigured Warner Bros. Discovery
WBD,
+3.68%
combines it with HBO Max next summer.

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October 30, 2022

The Dow is soaring as Big Tech tumbles: What that says about the Fed, recession fears, and the path ahead for stocks

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The past week offered a tale of two markets, with gains for the Dow Jones Industrial Average putting the blue-chip gauge on track for its best October on record while Big Tech heavyweights suffered a shellacking that had market veterans recalling the dot-com bust in the early 2000s.

“You have a tug of war,” said Dan Suzuki, deputy chief investment officer at Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC (RBA), in a phone interview.

For the technology sector, particularly the megacap names, earnings were a major drag on performance. For everything else, the market was short-term oversold at the same time optimism was building over expectations the Federal Reserve and other major global central banks will be less aggressive in tightening monetary policy in the future, he said.

Read: Market expectations start to shift in direction of slower pace of rate hikes by Fed

What’s telling is that the interest-rate sensitive tech sector would usually be expected to benefit from a moderation of expectations for tighter monetary policy, said Suzuki, who contends that tech stocks are likely in for a long period of underperformance versus their peers after leading the market higher over the last 12 years, a performance capped by soaring gains following the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

RBA has been arguing that there was “a major bubble within major portions of the equity market for over a year now,” Suzuki said. “We think this is the process of the bubble deflating and we think there’s probably further to go.”

The Dow
DJIA,
+2.59%
surged nearly 830 points, or 2.6%, on Friday to end at a two-month high and log a weekly gain of more than 5%. The blue-chip gauge’s October gain was 14.4% through Friday, which would mark its strongest monthly gain since January 1976 and its biggest October rise on record if it holds through Monday’s close, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

While it was a tough week for many of Big Tech’s biggest beasts, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-8.39%
and tech-related sectors bounced sharply on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq swung to a weekly gain of more than 2%, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+2.46%
rose nearly 4% for the week.

Big Tech companies lost more than $255 billion in market capitalization in the past week. Apple Inc.
AAPL,
+7.56%
escaped the carnage, rallying Friday as investors appeared okay with a mixed earnings report. A parade of disappointing earnings sank shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
+1.29%,
Google parent Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
+4.30%

GOOGL,
+4.41%,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-6.80%
and Microsoft
MSFT,
+4.02%.

Mark Hulbert: Technology stocks tumble — this is how you will know when to buy them again

Together, the five companies have lost a combined $3 trillion in market capitalization this year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Opinion: A $3 trillion loss: Big Tech’s horrible year is getting worse

Aggressive interest rate increases by the Fed and other major central banks have punished tech and other growth stocks the most this year, as their value is based on expectations for earnings and cash flow far into the future. The accompanying rise in yields on Treasurys, which are viewed as risk-free, raises the opportunity cost of holding riskier assets like stocks. And the further out those expected earnings stretch, the bigger the hit.

Excessive liquidity — a key ingredient in any bubble — has also contributed to tech weakness, said RBA’s Suzuki.

And now investors see an emerging risk to Big Tech earnings from an overall slowdown in economic growth, Suzuki said.

“A lot of people have the notion that these are secular growth stocks and therefore immune to the ups and downs of the overall economy — that’s not empirically true at all if you look at the history of profits for these stocks,” he said.

Tech’s outperformance during the COVID-inspired recession may have given investors a false impression, with the sector benefiting from unique circumstances that saw households and businesses become more reliant on technology at a time when incomes were surging due to fiscal stimulus from the government. In a typical slowdown, tech profits tend to be very economically sensitive, he said.

The Fed’s policy meeting will be the main event in the week ahead. While investors and economists overwhelmingly expect policy makers to deliver another supersize 75 basis point, or 0.75 percentage point, rate increase when the two-day gathering ends on Wednesday, expectations are mounting for Chairman Jerome Powell to indicate a smaller December may be on the table.

However, all three major indexes remain in bear markets, so the question for investors is whether the bounce this week will survive if Powell fails to signal a downshift in expectations for rate rises next week.

See: Another Fed jumbo rate hike is expected next week and then life gets difficult for Powell

Those expectations helped power the Dow’s big gains over the past week, alongside solid earnings from a number of components, including global economic bellwether Caterpillar Inc.
CAT,
+3.39%.

Overall, the Dow benefited because it’s “very tech-light, and it’s very heavy in energy and industrials, and those have been the winners,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management told MarketWatch’s Joseph Adinolfi on Friday. “The Dow just has more of the winners embedded in it and that has been the secret to its success.”

Meanwhile, the outperformance of the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF
RSP,
+2.08%,
up 5.5% over the week, versus the market-cap-weighted SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
SPY,
+2.38%,
underscored that while tech may be vulnerable to more declines, “traditional parts of the economy, including sectors that trade at a lower valuation, are proving resilient since the broad markets bounced nearly two weeks ago,” said Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research, in a Friday note.

“Stepping back, this market and the economy more broadly are starting to remind me of the 2000-2002 setup, where extreme tech weakness weighed on the major indices, but more traditional parts of the market and the economy performed better,” he wrote.

Suzuki said investors should remember that “bear markets always signal a change of leadership” and that means tech won’t be taking the reins when the next bull market begins.

“You can’t debate that we’ve already got a signal and the signal is telling up that next cycle not going to look anything like the last 12 years,” he said.

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October 29, 2022

Apple stock surges toward best day since 2020 as it’s dubbed rare ‘bright spot’ amid Big Tech ‘carnage’

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Which Big Tech company is not like the others?

Apparently it’s Apple Inc.
AAPL,
+7.56%,
which is set to become the only mega-cap technology company not to see a sharp post-earnings decline in its stock price this week, after the smartphone giant delivered a somewhat mixed earnings report but seemed to reassure Wall Street just enough about the state of its demand.

Read: Apple earnings beat as record back-to-school Mac sales outweigh a slight miss on iPhones

The stock was up 7.6% in Friday morning trading and on track to log its largest single-day percentage gain since July 31, 2020, when it increased 10.5%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Apple is “the bright spot amid mega-cap carnage,” wrote Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers, as Apple topped expectations with its headline results despite the backdrop of “a lot of macro/geopolitical uncertainties” as well as foreign-exchange pressures.

While Apple fell short with its iPhone sales numbers for the September quarter, Rakers noted that the company has been constrained by supply for its Pro models. At the same time, he noted that Mac revenue easily exceeded the consensus view, which supported his thesis that “Apple is solidly positioned as share taker in PCs.”

He further pointed out that Apple results were burdened by a deeper-than-expected impact from foreign exchange. But “look past the FX headwinds & you’ll see why everyone is hiding in Apple,” he said.

Rakers rates the stock at overweight with a $185 price target.

Evercore ISI’s Amit Daryanani called Apple “the last FAANG standing.”

“Overall, revenue and EPS estimates will shift higher from current levels and given the broadly disappointing EPS calls from big tech this was an impressive set of numbers and guide,” he wrote in his note to clients.

Though Apple didn’t give formal financial guidance, it offered various pieces of commentary around the December quarter, including that it could see a 10-point headwind from foreign exchange in the period and recognize a “few hundred” basis points of impact from an extra week being added to the quarter, even as Mac revenue is set for a substantial decline.

“All this results in our assessment that revenue growth will be mid-single digits (our model is at 5% vs. Street was at 2%),” Daryanani wrote.

Admittedly, it’s not just about the December quarter, he noted.

“Eventually the question will be on durability of demand beyond Dec-qtr and the impact from macro not just on iPhones but also services,” Daryanani wrote, though he likes Apple’s long-term potential to grow sales at a mid- or high-single-digit clip and grow earnings at a mid- to low-teens rate.

He rates the stock at outperform with a $190 target.

Wedbush’s Dan Ives wrote that Apple was “the one bright spot” amid “a horror show week for Big Tech earnings.”

“Given the perfect storm of currency/macro this quarter, we would characterize Apple’s results and commentary around the December quarter as net bullish around underlying demand and help throw out the noise that iPhone 14 upgrades are slowing in this cycle,” he wrote, while keeping an outperform rating but cutting his price target to $200 from $220 to reflect a lower multiple.

The latest results could help change what Citi Research analyst Jim Suva said was a relatively negative attitude towards Apple’s stock when compared to the rest of Big Tech.

“The amount of investor negativity on mega-cap tech stocks, especially Apple, is well known as recent surveys show Apple as the least favored stock amongst its peers,” he wrote. “Yes there are valid concerns of electronic retailers working down inventory and consumers having less disposable income given inflation but we believe consumers will adjust their spending allocations and continue to spend on Apple’s growing platform of products and services.”

He rates the stock a buy with a $175 price target, down from $185 before.

Barclays analyst Tim Long stayed more cautious.

“Stepping back from the print, things get tougher heading into Dec-Q and beyond and we maintain our [equal-weight] rating, mainly on headwinds sustaining current demand levels as high-end consumers potentially weaken, tougher comps on Mac, Services weakening further, regulatory overhang (App Store, Google TAC), macro impacting digital advertising as well as a rich valuation,” he wrote as he bumped his price target up by a dollar to $156.

Whether that plays out in the shares is another question.

“Near term, we expect heightened macro uncertainty to remain an overhang for the stock, although some may view AAPL as a relative safe haven in the macro storm,” Long continued.

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October 28, 2022