SSNLF - Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: New Tesla Factory In Shanghai

2023-04-10 07:16:59 ET

Listen on the go! Subscribe to Wall Street Breakfast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Tesla (TSLA) to build new factory in Shanghai for Megapack battery. Baidu (BIDU) sues Apple (AAPL) and app developers over bogus Ernie bot apps - report. Emirates Telecom to buy 50% of Uber's (UBER) Careem super app for $400M. Learn more about these stocks with Seeking Alpha Premium .

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

• Tesla has plans to build a new factory in Shanghai. Construction is expected to begin in Q3.

• Nonfarm payrolls rose 236K in March, the unemployment rate fell and the participation rate increased.

• Samsung Electronics ( OTCPK:SSNLF ) announced its reducing its memory chip production. The company reported its smallest profit since the 2009 financial crisis.

OUR TOP STORY

Tesla plans to build a new factory in Shanghai to produce its Megapack large-scale energy unit.

According to media reports, the electric vehicle maker made the announcement at a signing ceremony for the project in Shanghai.

Tesla confirmed the new factory in a tweet on sunday. The factory will be able to produce 10K Megapacks a year. Elon Musk tw eeted that the Megapack factory in Shanghai will supplement output of the Megapack factory in California.

Reports say that construction on the new factory is expected to start in the third quarter and the plant will begin production in the second quarter of 2024.

The factory will be the company's second in Shanghai as it already has a facility where it manufactures its electric vehicles.

The Tesla Megapack is described as a battery that provides energy storage and support, helping to stabilize the grid and prevent outages, often used for utilities .

Last week, Tesla reportedly cut prices on all U.S. models. Tesla cut the price of the Model 3 and Model Y by at least $1,000 and trimmed prices of the Model S and Model X by $5,000 or more.

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Today is catalyst watch Monday so we’re looking ahead to what could move the market this week. Wednesday the latest CPI numbers will be released. Also on Wednesday, the March FOMC minutes will be made available. PPI is Thursday. And on Friday Citi, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo will report earnings.

NOW MORE ON THE MARKET

U.S. stocks on Thursday eked out gains.

The Nasdaq ended up 0.76%. The S&P 500 settled 0.36% higher, while the Dow added 0.01%.

Of the 11 S&P sectors, eight ended in the green, led by Communication Services and Utilities. Energy, Materials and Industrials were the three losers.

For the week, the Nasdaq slipped 1.10%, while the S&P retreated 0.10%. The Dow advanced 0.63%.

March nonfarm payrolls rose 236K . The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 3.5% with a rise in the participation rate to 62.6%. We had a special edition of the Wall Street Breakfast podcast Friday that took a deeper dive into those numbers. Be sure to check it out!

Speaking of the March jobs report. There’s an article by Lawrence Fuller entitled “The March jobs report is just right.” In the article they say the number is just right for a soft landing and a very gradual deceleration in job creation and wages should tame the inflation beast month after month.

Fuller has more than 13,000 followers on Seeking Alpha and is the leader of the Investing Group, The Portfolio Architect.

I’ll leave a link to that article in show notes.

MORE OF OUR TOP STORIES

According to Reuters, Chinese search engine giant Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU ) has taken legal action against Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and "related" app developers for counterfeit versions of its Ernie bot programme that are available on Apple's app store.

Baidu's AI powered Ernie bot is China's answer to ChatGPT by Microsoft ( MSFT ).

The company says until it’s official announcement, any Ernie app you see from App Store or other stores are fake.

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Emirates Telecommunications Group, the largest UAE telco company will purchase a 50.03% stake in Uber's (NYSE: UBER ) Middle East, super app Careem.

The deal is signed for $400M. Careem’s super app includes a dozen services including food and grocery delivery. Careem began seeking outside investors last year to help finance its services.

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It has been a year since the Warner Bros. Discovery deal was signed and now Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and three Democrat lawmakers are requesting that the U.S. Dept. of Justice investigate the deal over alleged anticompetitive behavior.

Warren and the three representatives claim that the Warner Bros. Discovery ( WBD ) deal has led to reduced consumer choice and harmed workers in affected labor markets.

Following the deal, WBD announced job cuts and product cancellations.

Warner Bros. Discovery ( WBD ) was created a year ago when Discovery combined with AT&T's ( T ) WarnerMedia unit.

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Samsung Electronics ( OTCPK:SSNLF ) announced its reducing its memory chip production after reporting its smallest profit since the 2009 financial crisis.

The world's largest maker of memory chips reported on Friday that operating profit fell more than 95% to 600 billion won ($450 million) in the three months ended in March, according to a press release.

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The largest meeting in the world of cancer research is set to kick off this week in Orlando, Florida.

Pharma companies are scheduled to highlight their latest oncology research at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

We’ve got a full breakdown of what to expect from certain companies including Eli Lily, Relay Therapeutics and SpringWorks Therapeutics.

I’ll include a link to the article in show notes.

The conference begins Apr. 14 and continues into early next week.

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And finally, congratulations to Jon Rahm for his Masters win. This is his second major championship win and his first time slipping on the green jacket.

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Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6:20 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the red. The Dow is down 0.1%. The S&P 500 is down 0.2% and the Nasdaq is also down 0.2%. Crude oil is up 0.5% at more than $81 a barrel. Bitcoin is up 1.5% at $28,317.

The markets in London, France and Germany are closed for the Easter holiday.

On today’s economic calendar, at 12:30 pm the Investor Movement Index.

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