1. Tesla, Meta, Alphabet and Microsoft release earnings
All eyes were on major tech players this week as they shared their latest quarterly results. Elon Musk’s Tesla shared its results on Tuesday (April 23). Although the company missed Wall Street earnings per share expectations by 11.11 percent, shares ended the week up nearly 20 percent, partially on news that the company will go forward with the production of an affordable electric vehicle model.On Wednesday (April 24), Meta (NASDAQ:META) announced a 27 percent annual revenue increase in the first quarter of the year. The company expects its 2024 capital expenditures to be in an increased range of US$35 to US$40 billion, which CFO Susan Li said will support infrastructure investments for Meta’s AI strategy; however, higher expenditures and slower-than-anticipated sales growth sent shares of Meta down 14.74 percent on Friday (April 26) morning, its steepest fall since October 2022.Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Q1 results, which came out on Thursday (April 25) exceeded analyst’ expectations, with sales reaching US$67.6 billion and net income coming in at US$1.89 per share. Along with its results, the company announced its first dividend and a US$70 billion stock buyback, resulting in a 12 percent share price jump and a US$2 trillion market cap, its highest valuation since November 2021. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) also achieved strong financial results for the quarter, reporting a 17 percent year-on-year revenue increase and 20 percent growth in both operating income and diluted earnings per share. Cloud revenue from Azure rose 31 percent with 7 percent due to artificial intelligence (AI) contributions. Shares rose to US$412.40 on Friday morning, a 3.35 percent increase from Thursday’s close.
2. Bitcoin stabilizes in the first week after halving
On Friday (April 19) at approximately 8:10 p.m. EDT, the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving occurred, reducing the reward rate from 6.25 Bitcoins to 3.125. Bitcoin remained stable over the weekend, staying within the US$63,000 to US$65,000 range. However, the cryptocurrency’s trading volume experienced significant fluctuations through the weekend, with a 45 percent increase from Friday to Saturday (April 20) followed by a 68 percent decline from Saturday to Sunday (April 21).Bitcoin opened with a slight uptick at US$64,936 on Monday (April 22) and closed at US$66,842. However, by midweek it had fallen below the US$65,000 mark, with factors such as weak corporate earnings, geopolitical tension and global macroeconomic conditions possibly contributing to the decline. Bitcoin ETFs, which have taken in nearly US$54 billion since their approval in January, faced challenges this week as investors withdrew nearly US$218 million on Thursday (April 25), possibly a market reaction to the likelihood of interest rate cuts in June becoming increasingly slim. The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (TSX:FBTC) experienced its first significant decline in value on Thursday with a US$23 million drawdown. Also, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) saw its 71 day streak come to an end on Wednesday (April 24) when the daily inflow effectively hit zero.Despite this, Bitcoin still remains a strong contender in the market, holding steady in the range of US$63,000 heading into the weekend.
3. Amazon debuts new generative AI tools
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services’ Bedrock announced a series of new features and updates designed to build more robust and secure artificial intelligence (AI) applications, expand the platform’s capabilities and ensure the responsible use of AI technology on Tuesday (April 23). Among the key enhancements is the ability to import custom AI models, allowing users to tailor applications to their specific needs. Additionally, Amazon Bedrock has introduced new Amazon Titan models that are pre-trained for diverse AI tasks, providing advanced performance and versatility.The new Amazon Titan Text Embeddings V2 enhances the existing model for creating embeddings, which are numerical representations crucial for generating accurate responses in various AI applications. This updated version improves accuracy and reduces the computational resources and storage requirements needed for text processing, allowing developers to create more efficient and sophisticated AI applications that understand language more effectively. The Amazon Titan Image Generator was also made generally available on Amazon Bedrock, along with Meta’s Llama 3. Cohere’s Command R and Command R+ are “coming soon,” according to a press release. Amazon Bedrock is also rolling Guardrails, a built-in safeguard against harmful content.
4. Tesla faces renewed probe
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a renewed probe into Tesla’s Autopilot system. This investigation comes as concerns arise over the effectiveness of a recent software update in preventing misuse, particularly regarding driver monitoring safeguards. The NHTSA seeks to determine if the update sufficiently addresses the safety concerns that prompted an initial recall of Tesla vehicles.In December 2023, Tesla was forced to recall 2.03 million vehicles after an NHTSA investigation found that the company’s Autopilot contained defects that “created unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.” The most recent probe into the company’s remedy comes after reports of at least 20 crashes involving vehicles that received Tesla’s software update, which requires owners to opt in and can easily be reversed, according to the inquiry. The probe was announced just days after Tesla reported its Q1 2024 earnings. During the earnings call, the company’s CEO Elon Musk reaffirmed his commitment to the previously announced unveiling of an autonomous robotaxi on August 8.
5. Stablecoin bill could advance to House of Representatives “soon”
A stablecoin bill may be ready to send to the US House of Representatives for a vote “soon,” according to Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the US House Financial Services Committee, strengthening hopes that it will be signed into law this year ahead of the election.
“We are on our way to getting a stablecoin bill in the short run,” she told Bloomberg on Wednesday, adding that the US Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department and the White House have all contributed to crafting it.
A new bill was originally presented by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) on April 17. It requires tokens to be fully backed by reserve assets and proposes a ban on algorithmic stablecoins like Terra, the essentially defunct stablecoin that was designed to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar through an algorithmic mechanism that involved minting and burning Terra’s native cryptocurrency, LUNA.
Discussions amongst lawmakers have involved the possibility of pairing the stablecoin legislation with the SAFER Banking Act, advanced by Senate Banking Committee chairman Sherrod Brown in September 2023, and attaching both to the Federal Aviation Administration spending bill, which must be passed by May 10. This pairing could potentially increase the chances of passing both bills in Congress.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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