Monthly Buzz: Tech giants are back

Hey, mooers!

Welcome back to Monthly Buzz!

At the start of March, the market seemed calm. On March 7, Jerome Powell's speech hinted that the Fed was open to increasing its pace of hikes, which sent markets into a panic. The strong employment data put upward pressure on inflation. However, the situation was reversed by a little trouble in the banking sector. Silicon Valley Bank's attempts to shore up its finances failed miserably, leading to a run in the global banking industry. As we entered late March, more banks were entangled in the crisis. Despite high inflation, the Fed chose to slow down the tightening process in response to the banking crisis, spurring a recovery in tech and other sectors.

All three major indexes finished the month in the green. The Dow was up 1.89%, and the S&P 500 was up 3.51% during the month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 6.69% and entered a technical bull market on March 29, rallying more than 20% from its December low.

In terms of sector performance during the month, financials and banks were the biggest losers. Oil prices plunged and gold prices marched as the banking crisis sparked recession fears. Internet, semiconductors, and housing sectors were the leading gainers. Cryptocurrencies have expanded their gains due to the financial crisis, with BTC and ETH both up over 50% this year. (Data as of Mar 31, 2023)

Let's take a look at how the stocks that created the most buzz on the moomoo app performed during the month.

Mar 02: Tesla shares fell 5.85% due to a lack of short-term details in its high-profile investor meeting, as investors were anticipating a cheaper model.

Mar 14: Tesla shares rallied 5.03%, ending a bearish week. The Nasdaq jumped 2.32%, and the S&P 500 rose 1.65% the same day following recent inflation data.

Mar 21: Tesla shares soared 7.82% after its new car registrations in the European Union surged in February, figures released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. On March 20, Moody upgraded Tesla’s credit score by one notch to Baa3, following a similar action by S&P Global Ratings in October.

Mar 09: First Republic Bank shares fell 16.51%. On March 8, SVB reported that it had to sell bonds at a loss to deal with heightened deposit outflows. Investors might be worried that other banks are dealing with similar issues, with the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index sinking 7.5%.

Mar 13: First Republic Bank shares plummeted 61.83%, the biggest one-day drop since its IPO, as the market turmoil triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank continued to grow on Monday.

Mar 20: First Republic Bank shares were down 47.11% to 12.180, with S&P Global cutting the bank's credit rating into junk territory and indicating that the recent $30 billion deposit infusion from 11 big banks may not solve its liquidity issues on March 19.

Mar 06: Troika Media shares climbed 48.64% as its cost-to-borrow (CTB) fee reached 101.77%. CTB signifies the yearly rate that short sellers must pay to borrow shares, so the increase may reflect short sellers capitulating due to high CTB fees.

Mar 07: Troika Media shares fell 26.85% after it announced its H1 2022 results, where its revenues hit a record high, but earnings missed expectations. The stock soared 28% after the opening bell but then went down.

Mar 29: Troika Media shares climbed 49.50% after Roger Hamilton, the CEO of Genius Group, tweeted that he had sent to Troika Media a non-binding offer to acquire the company.

Mar 01: The shares of AMC Entertainment dropped 7.98% after it reported its 14th consecutive quarterly loss, though it beat Wall Street's estimates.

Mar 02: HUB Cyber Security shares dropped 71.35% on the first day of their Nasdaq debut after the merger with SPAC Mount Rainier Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: RNER). The company was traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange before the merger.

Mar 14: HUB Cyber Security shares rallied 10.60% after it announced that it had issued and sold approximately 400,000 shares to two of the original PIPE investors at $10 per share for proceeds of approximately $4 million dollars in a private placement.

Mar 16: HUB Cyber Security shares gained 20.71% after it said Israeli investment bank A-Labs Advisory & Finance Ltd. reaffirmed its commitment to a $20 million private investment. A-Labs has fulfilled more than $2.2 million of its commitment and expects to complete the remainder in the near future, HUB said.

Mar 03: Apple shares were trading 3.51% higher. US stocks edged up after data on the US services sector came in slightly higher than expected, as Nasdaq rose 1.97% and S&P 500 rose 1.61%.

Mar 10: Apple shares slid 1.39% after the stock was downgraded to "Sell" from "Neutral" and announced a $120 price target by LightShed Partners.

Mar 29: Apple shares were trading 1.98% higher after it announced that this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) would be held between June 5 and 9, during which many suspects Apple will release its first mixed-reality headset.

Mar 09: Mullen Automotive stocks dropped 9.03% after Nasdaq approves a 180-Day extension for it to meet the minimum $1 bid price.

Mar 31: Mullen Automotive stocks rallied 8.96% after announcing that its class 1 EV cargo vans had been delivered to MGT Company, with the vehicle order fulfilled by Randy Marion Automotive Group, a distributor of Mullen's commercial EVs.

Mar 14: Nvidia stocks climbed 4.78%, with Nasdaq rising 2.32% and the S&P 500 rising 1.65%. Kress Colette, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer of Nvidia, sold 6,000 shares of Nvidia for $1,375,747 on that day.

Mar 16: Nvidia stocks climbed 5.42%, with AMD rising 7.72% and Nasdaq rising 2.48%. Shares of companies in the tech sector are trading higher amid overall market strength following Credit Suisse's announcement of a loan from the Swiss National Bank and reports of banks discussing a capital infusion into the First Republic.

Mar 08: Bed Bath & Beyond shares dropped 2.99%, despite the company saying it had raised another $135 million from an equity offering, bringing the total up to $360 million. The company has used proceeds received to date to repay outstanding revolving loans, creating additional liquidity opportunities to support business operating activities.

Mar 14: Bed Bath & Beyond shares dropped 7.26% after it announced an amendment to its warrants to purchase Series A Convertible Preferred Stock previously issued on February 7, 2023. This amendment will further facilitate up to $100 million of additional funding in April 2023, for a cumulative total of $460 million to date.

Mar 20: Bed Bath & Beyond shares were down 21.12% as the company sought a reverse stock split, and the stock was booted from the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. The company plans to reestablish liquidity with a reverse stock split at a ratio in the range of 1-for-5 to 1-for-10, with such ratio to be determined at the board's discretion.

Mar 09: SVB Financial Group shares plummeted 60.41% after it planned to sell $1.25 billion worth of common stock and had completed the sale of its $21 billion in marketable securities and suffered a $1.8 billion after-tax loss as a result. Moody then downgraded its credit ratings for Silicon Valley Bank, citing a "deterioration in the bank's funding, liquidity and profitability."

Mar 10: SVB Financial Group stock was halted at around 8:41 a.m. ET. after its stock tumbled more than 68% in pre-market trade in a continued response to its financial selloff.  Later that day, Silicon Valley Bank was closed down by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI).

Mar 28: After days of being halted, shares of SVB Financial Group plummeted 99.62% after it started trading in the over-the-counter market on March 28.

That's all for today's Monthly Buzz. Thanks for reading!