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Tuesday, January 7

Some of the largest macro moves in the market today: Gold +0.9%. Natural Gas -9.1%. Noteworthy US mega-cap moves today: Apple Inc (AAPL) -1.0%. 

Recent economic data releases have shown mixed results across major European economies. In the Euro Area, inflation rose to 2.4% in December, aligning with expectations and marking a rebound from previous months' lower rates. Meanwhile, France's annual inflation remained steady at 1.3%, below market forecasts of 1.5%. Italy also reported unchanged inflation at 1.3%, indicating persistent disinflationary pressures that could influence future monetary policy decisions by the European Central Bank.

In political developments impacting markets, U.S President-elect Donald Trump has denied reports suggesting he might narrow his tariff plans to focus only on critical imports instead of implementing broad tariffs as initially proposed during his campaign trail; this uncertainty continues to affect investor sentiment towards risk assets globally and contributes to fluctuations in currency values such as the USD against other currencies like EUR and GBP.

Additionally, equity indices are experiencing slight upward movements today following positive performance trends observed earlier this week driven largely by technology stocks amid optimism surrounding AI investments highlighted during recent tech conferences like CES2025 where Nvidia announced advancements in its product lineup aimed at enhancing computational capabilities for various applications including autonomous vehicles.

VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) [+0.8%]
Nvidia's stock reached a record high, driven by speculation surrounding new product announcements and AI-enhanced processors set to debut at CES 2025. This contributed to the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) experiencing a daily return increase of approximately 0.85%. Concurrently, Foxconn reported robust fourth-quarter results, buoyed by demand for AI servers and cloud computing products, further enhancing sentiment in semiconductor equities. Social media discussions reflected mixed sentiments; while one user cautioned against potential price drops when market sentiment appears overly bullish, another highlighted SMH's recent positive price movement, suggesting it had found a bottom and was poised for further gains. Among the ETF's holdings, Micron Technology saw a significant share price increase following confirmation of its memory supply for NVIDIA's upcoming gaming chips. Advanced Micro Devices secured approval for its acquisition of ZT Group International, strengthening its position in the technology sector.

AUR | +33.7%| +4.5B
Aurora Innovation Inc | Application Software
Aurora Innovation, Inc. has announced a long-term strategic partnership with Continental and Nvidia to deploy driverless trucks at scale. This collaboration will integrate Nvidia's next-generation DRIVE Thor system-on-a-chip into Aurora's SAE Level 4 autonomous driving system. Continental plans to begin mass manufacturing this technology in 2027. Aurora is finalizing the validation of its Aurora Driver for driverless operations on public roads, with a planned launch of its driverless trucking service in Texas set for April 2025. Social media discussions indicate that Aurora's stock experienced significant pre-market trading activity following the announcement, with reports of a substantial increase in its price. CEO Chris Urmson highlighted the transformative potential of delivering thousands of driverless trucks, which is expected to significantly alter transportation dynamics.

MU | +4.3% | +4.9B
Micron Technology Inc | Semiconductors
Micron Technology Inc's shares rose significantly in premarket trading, following an announcement from NVIDIA's CEO at the CES event. The CEO confirmed that Micron will supply memory for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 50 Blackwell family of gaming chips. This series will utilize Micron's G7 memory, which offers 1.8 terabytes per second performance, doubling that of the previous generation. Social media highlighted that Micron's stock has surged from approximately $90 to over $105 in recent trading sessions. Additionally, discussions pointed out Micron's critical role in the semiconductor space, particularly as Samsung Electronics faces slowing profit growth due to AI chip supply issues.

CVNA | +4.2% | +1.7B
Carvana Co | Automotive Retail
Carvana Co's stock has risen in pre-market trading, responding positively to recent analyst upgrades. RBC Capital has upgraded the company's rating to "Outperform," increasing the price target from 270 to 280. This upgrade was published just 24 minutes ago. Additionally, Needham analyst Chris Pierce has reiterated a "Buy" rating, maintaining a price target of 330. Social media discussions reflect this sentiment, highlighting the optimism surrounding Carvana's turnaround last year. However, there are concerns regarding the CEO's ability to explain the company's rapid profitability improvements, with references to a Hindenburg Research report. There are also mentions of ongoing subprime loan sales and potential regulatory scrutiny due to complaints filed with the SEC regarding Carvana's 8K filings.

NVDA | +2.1%| +80.7B
NVIDIA Corp | Semiconductors
NVIDIA Corp's DRIVE Hyperion platform has achieved significant automotive safety and cybersecurity milestones, passing assessments by TUV SUD and TUV Rheinland. The platform, featuring the DRIVE AGX Thor SoC based on the Blackwell architecture, is set for release in the first half of 2025. Additionally, NVIDIA introduced Project DIGITS, a personal AI supercomputer powered by the GB10 Grace Blackwell superchip, priced at $3,000 and available in May. The company also unveiled its new GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, which promise substantial performance enhancements. During CES 2025, CEO Jensen Huang predicted that autonomous vehicles will become a multi-trillion-dollar industry and announced a partnership with Uber to advance AI-powered autonomous driving technology. Micron Technology shares rose following the announcement that it will supply memory for NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce RTX 50 Blackwell gaming chips, contributing to NVIDIA's recent price increase of approximately 2.7%.

UBER | +2.9% | +4.2B
Uber Technologies Inc | Passenger Ground Transportation
Uber Technologies Inc. has announced a collaboration with Nvidia to enhance AI-powered autonomous driving technology. This partnership aims to integrate data from Uber trips with Nvidia's Cosmos platform and DGX Cloud, potentially accelerating the development of AI models for autonomous vehicles. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted that this collaboration could significantly expedite the timeline for safe and scalable solutions in autonomous driving. Concurrently, social media discussions have highlighted the importance of this partnership, with Khosrowshahi emphasizing that generative AI will be crucial for the future of mobility. Additionally, New York City has introduced a $9 congestion fee, which may affect operations for Uber and Lyft. Analysts have expressed optimism regarding Uber and Lyft stocks for 2025, suggesting confidence in their market positions despite competition from firms like Tesla and Alphabet.

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