Streetbeat News

Products Services

META

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, announced the consolidation of the company's two AI research groups, FAIR and GenAI, into a single unit. This move is aimed at enhancing the synergy between the teams and accelerating AI innovation within the company.

Portfolio Pulse from Benzinga Newsdesk

January 18, 2024 | 5:55 pm

BMY

LLY

NOVO

PFE

Drugmakers have raised prices for popular diabetes treatments Ozempic and Mounjaro, used off-label for weight loss, in 2024. Novo Nordisk's Ozempic increased by 3.5% to nearly $970, and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro by 4.5% to around $1,070. The increases are above the 3.4% consumer price inflation rate of December. The industry justifies price hikes with rising R&D costs, but critics argue for policies ensuring fair pricing. Other drugs, like Eliquis by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, also saw a 6% price increase to $594. Price hikes may be moderated due to political pressure and penalties for exceeding inflation rates.

Portfolio Pulse from Neil Dennis

January 18, 2024 | 5:48 pm

BLK

JPM

Franklin Templeton, a $1.5 trillion fund, handed over its Twitter account to its Digital Assets Research Team, which posted memes and bullish takes on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Solana. This reflects a broader culture shift in traditional finance towards embracing cryptocurrency culture. The fund's actions, including adding 'laser eyes' to its avatar and discussing a potential Solana ETF, indicate a growing accommodation of crypto by traditional financial institutions. Industry figures like Nic Carter and Emin Gün Sirer reacted to the event, while BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon expressed support for tokenization.

Portfolio Pulse from Ivan Crnogatić

January 18, 2024 | 5:44 pm

HMC

Shares of Honda Motor Company, Ltd. (NYSE:HMC) are rising after American Honda provided a positive outlook for its U.S. automobile business for 2024. The company expects sales of up to 1.3 million units for the Honda brand and 150,000 units for the Acura brand, indicating a 10%-15% increase compared to 2023. American Honda ended 2023 with 1.3 million units in sales, a 33% increase year-over-year. The Honda CR-V hybrid was the best-selling hybrid vehicle in the U.S. in 2023. The company plans to capitalize on hybrid models, light trucks, and begin sales of high-volume BEV models in 2024.

Portfolio Pulse from Nabaparna Bhattacharya

January 18, 2024 | 5:41 pm

ALK

SPR

UAL

The FAA has completed inspections on 40 Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets, a step towards ungrounding the model after a cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Air Group jet. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines Holdings have canceled thousands of flights due to the incident. Boeing's CEO and Spirit Aerosystems Holdings, the panel supplier, addressed the issue with employees. The NTSB and FAA are investigating the incident, with a focus on the manufacturing process of the door plug. Wall Street analysts generally rate Boeing as a Buy, with a positive outlook based on recent stock performance and revenue growth. Boeing shares are up 3.26% at $209.68.

Portfolio Pulse from Vandana Singh

January 18, 2024 | 5:25 pm

BMWYY

HMC

HYMLF

TSLA

BMW Manufacturing has partnered with robotics startup Figure to deploy humanoid robots at its Spartanburg, South Carolina facility. The collaboration will explore AI, robot control, manufacturing virtualization, and robot integration. Tesla's Elon Musk recently discussed the potential of robots building other robots and unveiled Optimus Gen 2. Other automakers like Honda and Hyundai are also investing in humanoid robots for assembly lines. Tesla's stock was down 2.5% to $210.15.

Portfolio Pulse from Nabaparna Bhattacharya

January 18, 2024 | 5:24 pm

FCX

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) experienced a 'golden cross' as its 50-day SMA crossed over its 200-day SMA, indicating bullish sentiment. The company, a major global copper supplier, is one of Fidelity's top material sector picks for 2024 due to favorable demand-supply dynamics. Goldman Sachs' report suggests FCX could outperform, noting its 26% gross margin five-year average and its trading at a 14% discount to the sector median EV/EBITDA. Freeport-McMoRan is set to report Q4 earnings on Jan. 24 with expected EPS of 24 cents and revenue of $5.86 billion.

Portfolio Pulse from Surbhi Jain

January 18, 2024 | 5:20 pm

NVCR

Novocure Ltd (NASDAQ:NVCR) announced the FDA has accepted its PMA application for Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) therapy for non-small cell lung cancer. The application is under review, with a decision expected in the second half of 2024. Clinical trials showed that TTFields therapy, when used with standard therapies, improved median overall survival in patients. NVCR stock is trading higher by 21.70% following the news.

Portfolio Pulse from Vandana Singh

January 18, 2024 | 5:20 pm

ARKK

DKNG

DraftKings, Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG) stock is trading higher, with a nearly 10% increase over the past five days. Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, sold 229,215 shares of DraftKings through the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK), valued at approximately $8.04 million. DraftKings has launched its online sportsbook in Vermont, expanding its reach to 26 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. BMO Capital analyst Brian Pitz initiated coverage on DraftKings with an Outperform rating and a price target of $43, citing the potential for the U.S. sports-betting market to exceed $100 billion.

Portfolio Pulse from Erica Kollmann

January 18, 2024 | 5:17 pm

MEIP

MEI Pharma has filed a U.S. patent application (No. 20240016781) for the treatment of KRAS mutant cancers. This filing could potentially strengthen MEI Pharma's intellectual property portfolio and support its efforts in developing cancer treatments targeting KRAS mutations, which are common in many cancers.

Portfolio Pulse from Charles Gross

January 18, 2024 | 5:09 pm