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Microsoft (MSFT.us) delivered $2.93 EPS on a revenue of $62.02 billion for the quarter ended 31 December 2023. This is ahead of Wall Street estimates of $2.77 EPS and $61.1 billion. In effect, the company’s earnings increased 33% on a year-over year basis and sales increased by 18%.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, acknowledged that the demand for artificial intelligence chips is booming. According to reporters in Taiwan, he said that AI is a “rebirth of the industry” with this year as “a huge year.”

The EV leader recorded its smallest revenue increase in years and warned of slower vehicle volume growth in 2024, but Mr Musk sounded optimistic around the future and touted a next gen model

Netflix (NFLX.us) posted better-than-expected revenue for Q4. The company also added 13.1 million net new subscribers in the quarter, which is a substantial beat over the 8.7 million net subscribers the company had forecast. This makes it the best-ever fourth quarter for new subscribers. Promising was that the growth was for all regions, and the company now has 260.3 million subscribers globally.

Apple has been banned from selling current versions of its Apple Watch in the US as a federal appeals court decides on the patent dispute regarding a sensor. This suggests that the company may pull the watches from stores for the second time in less than a month.

FXCM’s US.BANKS basket has risen strongly since its low in mid-October last year. However, the strong appreciation resulted in an overbought condition to start 2024 (red vertical). As a result, it not a surprise to see the basket pulling back over the last week and a half as the oscillator normalises.

Microsoft (MSFT.us) is expanding the scope of its Copilot artificial intelligence software. In particular, the company will focus on consumers and small businesses.

On Friday, Microsoft (MSFT.us) passed Apple (AAPL.us) as the world’s most valuable company. Microsoft’s value is $2.89 trillion, whilst Apple’s is $2.78 trillion. Over the last 12 months, Microsoft has rallied almost 63% against Apples 40%. This has effectively ended Apple’s more than 500 days as the highest valued company in the world, with Microsoft last holding the spot in November 2021.

Netflix (NFLX.us) has surpassed 23 million global active users on its ad-based plan. This is a sharp increase from November when the company said it had 15 million active users on its less expensive plan. More information will be available on 23 January when the company releases its Q4 earnings.

Apple (AAPL.us) shares have stalled into 2024 since being downgraded by Barclay's analyst Tim Long (neutral to underweight). The basis for the downgrade was weak hardware sales as iPhone 15 demand disappoints. In his note to clients, Long says that "We are still picking up weakness on iPhone volumes and mix, as well as a lack of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables," with "worse data points out of China,…

In a report, Bank of America analysts led by Justin Post, suggest that advertising revenue growth is a distinct possibility, coming from the addition of adverts to Prime Video this month and from other advertising partnerships.