SATS - Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Israeli Grant Lifts Intel

2023-12-27 06:41:39 ET

Summary

• Intel rises after securing a grant from the Israeli government for a new chip facility.
• Dish Network's merger with EchoStar is tentatively scheduled to close, with Dish Network's last trading day set for Friday.
• Amazon Prime video will start incorporating advertisements next month, but users can pay to avoid them.

Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Intel ( INTC ) drives semiconductor stocks higher after Israeli grant for chip plant. (00:26) Dish Network ( DISH ) merger with EchoStar ( SATS ) slated to close Sunday. (01:16) Amazon Prime ( AMZN ) getting ads next month, or pay for ad-free streaming. (01:55)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

Semiconductor stocks were largely in the green on Tuesday with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ) leading the charge, rising 5.2%. This happened after the company secured a $3.2B grant from the Israeli government for a new $25B chip facility in the Southern part of the country.

Intel operates four sites in Israel and employs about 11,700 people.

Shares of AMD ( AMD ), Nvidia ( NVDA ) Qualcomm ( QCOM ) and ON Semiconductor ( ON ), among others, were up at least 1% in sympathy.

Besides the grant, Intel also vowed to buy 60B shekels (about $16.6B) worth of goods and services from Israeli suppliers over the next decade, while the new site is anticipated to create several thousand jobs.

The site is scheduled to open in 2027.

Dish Network's (NASDAQ: DISH ) planned merger with EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS ) is tentatively scheduled to close on Sunday .

The last trading day for Dish Network ( DISH ) is slated for Friday, according to a Nasdaq delisting notice .

Dish Network ( DISH ) and EchoStar ( SATS ) announced in August that they were merging in an all-stock transaction. Earlier this month the Federal Communications Commission granted approval for the transfer of control of DISH to EchoStar.

After the merger is completed, existing Dish ( DISH ) shareholders will own about 69% of the common stock of the combined company, while existing EchoStar ( SATS ) stockholders will own the remaining ~31%.

Ads are coming to Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ) Prime video as of January 29 .

The ecommerce and streaming giant announced earlier this year that it would start incorporating advertising into movies and television series, The Verge reported.

“This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” the company said in an email to customers about the “limited advertisements.”

“We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership."

Don't like ads? You can pay $2.99 a month to avoid them.

Amazon joins Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX ) and other streaming services in implementing ads as they seek to boost revenue. In November, Netflix said it had reached 15 million global monthly average users for its ad-sponsored tier.

On our catalyst watch for the day,

• The IPO lockup period expires on blocks of shares of Intensity Therapeutics ( INTS ).

Other articles to look out for on Seeking Alpha:

Big buying opportunities in the financial and industrial sectors - analyst

Nio closes $2.2 billion strategic equity investment from CYVN

Best and worst performing big names of 2023

U.S. stocks on Tuesday kicked off the final week of the year with marginal gains, as Wall Street looks to cap its rally and end 2023 on a high note. Trading is expected to be thin with many on holiday.

The Nasdaq ( COMP.IND ) led the three major averages, rising 0.54%. The Dow ( DJI ) climbed 0.43%, while the S&P 500 ( SP500 ) added 0.42%. The benchmark index is within striking distance of its record closing high of 4,796.56 points.

All 11 S&P sectors ended in the green. Energy was the top gainer, as WTI crude oil futures ( CL1:COM ) jumped more than 2% amid continued tensions in the Red Sea.

Treasury yields were mixed. The longer-end 30-year ( US30Y ) and 10-year yields ( US10Y ) were both down 1 basis point each to 4.40% and 3.89%, respectively. The 2-year yield ( US2Y ) was up 2 basis points to 4.36%.

Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. The Dow is up 0.1%, the S & P 500 is up 0.1% and the Nasdaq is up 0.1%. Crude oil is down 0.5% at more than $75 per barrel. Bitcoin is up 1% and above $43,000.

In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.7% and the DAX is up 0.2%.

The biggest movers for the day premarket: Bit Digital (NASDAQ: BTBT ) is up 9.1% in early trading after announcing the plans to double the size of its fleet in 2024.

On today’s economic calendar:

• 10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg. Index

• 11:00 Survey of Business Uncertainty

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