Monthly Buzz: This looks already like a bull market

Hey, mooers!

Welcome back to Monthly Buzz!

As the month began, markets continued to be optimistic as inflation turned out to be better than expected. Equity markets continued to rise, led by the small-cap Russell 2000 Index. At the same time, the Nasdaq 100 underwent a special adjustment to address its weighting.

Later in the month, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by another 25 basis points, leaving the door open for another rate hike. After the strong gains in equities, bulls are looking for the next catalyst to move the market higher.

The three major indexes finished the month with strong results. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 3.81%, the S&P 500 was up 3.11% during the month, and the Dow was up 3.35%.

In terms of sector performance during the month, almost all major sectors closed green, and the Energy, Communication Services, and Financials are the most outperformed. Consumer Discretionary and Industrials sectors have slowed their pace a little. (Data as of July 31, 2023)

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

July 03: Tesla shares soared 6.90% on the EV maker's record deliveries. The company reported record-breaking second-quarter deliveries of 466,140 units, a quarter-over-quarter increase of over 10% and a staggering 80% rise from a year earlier. Quarterly production also soared, with a sequential growth of nearly 9% and a year-over-year surge of 88%, reaching a total of 479,700 units.

July 17: Tesla shares rose 3.20% after it announced over the weekend that the first Cybertruck had been built at the company's factory in Texas. The electric pickup's launch could provide a boost to Tesla as the focus turns to its second-quarter earnings report and questions about its margins.

July 20: Tesla shares dropped 9.74% after its Q2 results saw a slightly weaker-than-expected Q2 operating profit margin and free cash flow due to headwinds from a lower price/mix, foreign exchange and other costs.

July 24: AMC Entertainment shares rocket 32.95% after a judge blocked AMC's plan to convert its so-called APE shares into common stock. AMC has filed a revised stock conversion proposal in a bid to address the court's concerns. CEO Adam Aron said if the court is satisfied, he hopes to go ahead with the plan "as soon as possible."

July 31: The shares of AMC Entertainment rallied 7.11%. AMC saw its "best week ever" in terms of admissions from July 21 to July 27, driven primarily by the "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" releases. The company said it saw its highest admissions revenues in both the U.S. and globally.

July 05: Mullen Automotive shares rallied 69.38% after the company announced it had retained Christian Attar, formally known as Christian Levine Law Group, in partnership with Warshaw, Burstein, LLP, to combat naked short selling activities.

July 06: Mullen Automotive shares rallied 29.02% after the company said it had authorized a share-buyback program of up to $25 million through the end of the year.

July 13: Mullen Automotive shares were trading 10.67% higher after the company said the New York Power Authority (NYPA) began testing its EV Cargo Vans. NYPA is a power generation and transmission company. It's the largest state public power organization in the nation.

July 05: NIO shares jumped 3.51% after Chinese electric vehicle makers reported mixed second-quarter deliveries, with Li Auto rising on an annual basis, while NIO and Xpeng logged declines. NIO delivered 10,707 vehicles, representing a month-over-month increase of 74% but down from 12,961 in June 2022.

July 10: NIO shares jumped 7.91% with Hang Seng Technology closed up 1.47% and the entire automobile industry chain exploded. Data from the China Automobile Association showed that in June, automobile production and sales reached 2.561 million units and 2,622 million units respectively, up 9.8% and 10.1% month-on-month, and 2.5% and 4.8% year-on-year respectively.

July 24: NIO shares surged 10.87% on above-average trading volume. A top Chinese government meeting on Monday boosted investor optimism, with Nio and Xpeng, the laggards of the past few months, coming into more favor.

July 06: T2 Biosystems shares were trading 12.16% higher after it announced the conversion of approximately 20% of the term loan from the Crg Servicing affiliated entities into shares of common stock and Series B Convertible Preferred Stock.

July 12: T2 Biosystems shares slid 15.74% after the company announced preliminary results for Q2 2023 and lowered its full-year product revenue guidance. T2 said it now expects full-year total sepsis and related product revenue between $9.5 million and $10.5 million, lower than the previous guidance of $11 million to $13 million.

July 12: NVIDIA shares were trading 3.53% higher. According to a Financial Times report, SoftBank-owned Arm is in talks with Nvidia as the chip designer gears up for an IPO, which could come as soon as September. The company recently produced its first CPU using Arm designs for its Grace Hopper super chip.

July 13: Nvidia stock was trading 4.73% higher amid overall market strength following a lighter-than-expected June inflation report. Shares have also rallied some 213% on a year-to-date basis amid increased investor attention toward AI-related stocks.

July 28: Nvidia stock was trading 1.85% higher. Shares of semiconductor and chip stocks are trading higher after Intel Corporation and KLA Corp reported strong quarterly results, with Nasdaq 100 rising 1.85%.

July 17: Apple stock was trading 1.73% higher and extended its rally, closing at a record high, after Morgan Stanley analysts quantified the opportunity that lies ahead for the company as it expands in India. Morgan Stanley analyst reiterated an overweight call, the equivalent of Buy, on Apple. The firm raised its price target to $220 from $190 earlier, implying that the stock could rise more than 15.5% from Friday's close by July 2024.

July 20: Apple shares dropped 1.01% among facing a potential shortage of new iPhone models, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, at their September launch as the company struggles with manufacturing larger screens for the units. Tech stocks were lower with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index falling almost 4%.

July 28: Apple stock was trading 1.35% higher. Shares of semiconductor and chip stocks are trading higher after Intel Corporation and KLA Corp reported strong quarterly results, with Nasdaq 100 rising 1.85%.

July 03: Xpeng shares jumped 4.17% after the company said Saturday it delivered 8,620 smart electric vehicles in June, representing a 15% increase over the prior month. Total deliveries for Q2 were 23,205 units, representing a QoQ growth of 27%.

July 11: Xpeng shares soared 5.80% after it began deliveries of the G6 in China. The G6 has received many orders, which would help Xpeng see monthly deliveries reach 15,000 units in the third quarter and 20,000 units in the fourth quarter, an executive previously said.

July 21: Xpeng shares dropped 3.19% after J.P. Morgan downgraded XPeng and recommended investors sell ahead of earnings, as there is very little scope for a positive margin surprise given the "survival competition" seen in China's auto market.

July 05: Meta platform shares rallied 2.92% before its new text-based app 'Thread' is expected to begin operations on Thursday, according to listings on Apple's App Store. The Twitter-rivalling app allows users to keep their usernames, find followers, connect over a conversation, and share points of view with anyone, profiles they follow or only those mentioned in the post.

July 12: Meta platform shares rallied 3.70% as the stock continued to climb following the release of the company's new app, Threads. Threads had a very successful launch with Meta's newest social media app receiving over 100 million sign-ups in the first five days of its release.

July 27: Meta platform shares rallied 4.40% after it reported Q2 earnings of $2.98 per diluted share, up from $2.46 a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30 was $32 billion, up from $28.82 billion a year earlier, beating a Street consensus estimate.

July 27: Singapore Airlines shares dropped 0.14% after it reported a record SG$ 734.0 million quarterly net profit in 1Q, up 98.4% from SG$ 370.4 million a year ago. The national flag carrier of Singapore attributed the surge in profit to strong demand for air travel through the mid-year school holidays and the start of the summer travel season.

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