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Straits Times
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BMV IPC
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DAX 30
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FTSE 100
7,273.79
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JSE Top 40
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Last Week’s Highlights
Rivian rallies on strong deliveries
Rivian Automotive shares soared 18% after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly deliveries. Rivian delivered 12,640 vehicles in the second quarter, beating market estimates and showing steady customer demand. Trading volume in the company’s shares hit a record high on Friday, indicating its popularity among retail investors. Analysts have raised their price targets for Rivian’s stock as they believe it has overcome production and supply chain issues. Despite struggling to deliver its electric vehicles, Rivian remains focused on boosting production and is sticking to its goal of making 50,000 EVs this year.
Levi’s downgrades its annual profit forecast
Levi Strauss & Co reduced its prices and cut its annual profit forecast due to weak consumer spending and higher costs that are affecting the company’s margins. Falling sales in its North American wholesale channels led the company to cut prices on six products sold at retailers such as Macy’s and Nordstrom. Consumers are spending less on apparel items due to the rising cost of living in the United States, so Levi’s is looking to compete by offering more comparable rates to competitors. In addition, the company’s supply chain has struggled due to inventory backlogs, hampering its ability to meet demand. As a result, U.S. wholesaler revenues have declined and promotions and price cuts are expected to continue in the future. In the second quarter, Levi’s recorded a net loss of $1.6 million.
Coming Up This Week
Starbucks to face more labor struggles
Starbucks faces labor problems as pro-union workers attempt to recruit customers to picket the coffee chain’s non-union stores. The union is conducting a multi-city bus tour and plans a national “adopt-a-store” day. Negotiations have dragged on and both sides are blaming each other for the delays. The company has been charged with more than 570 unfair labor practice complaints and has been sued by the National Labor Relations Board. So far, the union has only been able to recruit 320 of Starbucks’ 9,000 locations across the United States.
Meta’s Threads surpasses 100 million users
Meta Platforms’ Threads app has surpassed 100 million users, after reaching 70 million last week. This growth has been faster than that of Chat GPT, and is due to Threads’ interconnectivity with Instagram, giving it a user base of 2 billion people. These developments come at a time when Twitter is facing changes and restrictions on its platform such as the recent restrictions on the number of tweets a user can view per day. On top of that, Twitter’s legal actions remain a potential threat to Meta. Overall, Mark Zuckerberg’s company has a strong buy valuation, and its shares are up 133% year-to-date.
