Weekly StockWatch: Ford Sales Update, Amazon-Just Eat Collaboration, Meta VR Push & More
Ford Sales Update
The historic car maker, announced on Tuesday that it sold 152,262 vehicles in June in the US [1], which marked a strong 31.5% jump year-over-year, but was lower compared to the prior month's 154,461 figure.
The Ford Motor Company noted that its year-over-year growth outpaced the industry - which registered an 11% decline - in spite of ongoing semiconductor chip and supply constraints.
Sales of electric vehicles surged 76.6% compared to the same month last year, while the recently launched and long-awaited F-150 Lightning sold 1,837 units in June, bringing the total to 2,296 trucks. The Lightning, is the electric variant of the best-selling F-series truck.
EV start-up Rivian Automotive, which had beaten Ford to the electric truck market with the R1S, said this week, that it had produced 4,401 vehicles and delivered 4,467 units during the second quarter of the year. [2]
The company that popularized the electric truck concept, is non-other than the EV king Tesla (TSLA) with the futuristic Cybertruck, which is not expected for delivery this year though. Tesla Motors Inc. delivered 254,695 vehicles in Q2, marking a decline from the record figures of the previous quarter. [3]
F.us started the week with new 2022 lows, but advanced yesterday in an effort to post a positive week.
Amazon-Just Eat Takeaway Deal
Just Eat Takeaway (TKWY.nl) is a Netherlands-based global online food delivery firm, with more than 634,000 connected partners and presence in many countries, including the United States with Grubhub.
On Wednesday, it announced a collaboration with Amazon, under which Prime members in the US can sign up for a free, one-year Grubhub+ membership and access unlimited $0 delivery fees. [4]. Furthermore, Amazon (AMZN) will get a 2% stake in Grubhub, making an important step into the food delivery market.
Just Eat Takeaway.com had only recently bought Grubhub, since the acquisition was completed in June 2021 [5], but it is looking for a partial or full sale, which it reaffirmed with this week's announcement.
Amazon.com meanwhile faced new regulatory scrutiny this week as UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into suspected competition law breaches of its Marketplace in the UK [6]. Furthermore, the European Commission forced the tech and retail giant to make cancelation of Prime subscription easier in Europe. [7]
Dutch-listed shares of Just Eat (TKWY.nl) jumped around 15% on Wednesday after the news, heading towards a profitable week.
Meta Virtual Reality Push
The social media giant had changed its name to Meta Platforms, in order to signify its focus on the Metaverse and this week it made another step towards this goal, while distancing it from Facebook.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that starting in August, users will be able to login to their Virtual Reality (VR) headsets without a Facebook account, as Meta accounts will begin rolling out. Users will also need to create a Meta Horizon profile, which will be their social profile in VR. [8]
Speaking on CNBC last month, Mr Zuckerberg had expressed his hope for getting to "around a billion people in the metaverse" [9]. However, the segment responsible for delivering on this vision, Reality Labs, is a money pit, with a Loss of $2.960 in Q1 2022.
FB.us has made a good start to the third quarter, as it is profitable this week, after having wiped out around half of its value during H1 2022.
Virgin Galactic-Boeing Agreement
The space travel company announced on Wednesday its next generation motherships, which are the air launch carrier aircrafts, that carry spaceships to their release altitude of approximately 50,000 feet.
CEO Michael Colglazier stressed the important of this for scaling up the firm's operations and said that it aims to build a fleet to "support 400 flights per year". [10]
In order to design and manufacture the new motherships, Virgin galactic will partner with Aurora Flight Science, a subsidiary of aerospace behemoth Boeing.
The first new mothership is expected to enter service in 2025, while Virgin Galactic's commercial space flights are now expected to launch in the first quarter of 2023, after multiple delays.
A few month back, the company had announced plans to add up to $500 million in debt, in order to "accelerate the development of its spacecraft fleet". [11]
Around a year ago, Virgin Galactic had successfully completed its first manned spaceflight, with founder Sir Richard Branson aboard. [12]
SPCE.us rallied more than 10% on Thursday after the news and is having profitable June for now, after three straight losing months.
Next Week (July 11-15)
The US stock market had a brutal first half of the year, amidst fears of stagflation and an aggressive tightening cycle by the Federal Reserve, which has already delivered 175 basis point worth of rate hikes.
The tech sector and growth stock are particularly vulnerable to the current high interest rates environment, with NAS100 ending the second quarter deeply in bear territory, with losses in excess of 30% from the November record high. The broader SPX500 could not escape the same fate, having erased a little over 20% from its January all-time high.
A bear market is generally considered when the stock market loses more than 20% from a recent peak.
Against this backdrop, investors now gear up for the latest earnings season, which gets underway in the US. Big Banks are typically the ones that kick things off, with JP Morgan Chase reporting on Thursday, while Delta Airlines releases its results a day before, on Wednesday.
Nikos Tzabouras
Senior Financial Editorial Writer
Nikos Tzabouras is a graduate of the Department of International & European Economic Studies at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has a long time presence at FXCM, as he joined the company in 2011. He has served from multiple positions, but specializes in financial market analysis and commentary.
With his educational background in international relations, he emphasizes not only on Technical Analysis but also in Fundamental Analysis and Geopolitics – which have been having increasing impact on financial markets. He has longtime experience in market analysis and as a host of educational trading courses via online and in-person sessions and conferences.
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