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You've Been Acquired
Issue // May 2, 2023
UPDATE
🌤️ Happy Tuesday
We hope you had a great beginning to this week. Yesterday marked the first of May, which is when summer break starts for most universities and institutions (📢 shoutout if you’re subscribed using a .edu email address!)
Whether it’s a busy week ahead, the start of summer break, or just another work week, we wish you all the best!
WEEK IN REVIEW
📈 Market Performance
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon by Steve Jurvetson, via flickr
As we talked about in our Earnings: To Help or to Hurt? issue, several prominent tech and consumer staples companies reported their Q1 2023 earnings last week. Likely in anticipation of the earnings to be released after hours, Tuesday saw the S&P 500 index drop around 50 points, from 4,126 at market open to 4,072 by market close.
Alphabet (GOOGL) beat its revenue estimates by 1.43% and its earnings per share (EPS) estimates by 9.21%. While the stock closed at around $103 per share, the good news sent the value up to $110 within the first hour of after-hours trading. The share price has since cooled and sits at $107.20 as of Monday’s market close.
Similarly, Amazon (AMZN), which reported earnings on Thursday, smashed through estimates. The company beat the EPS estimate by 42.17% and the overall revenue estimate by 2.21%. While the stock closed at $109.82 on Thursday, the good news skyrocketed the share price to $123 during after-hours trading. However, as of Monday’s close, the share price has dropped substantially to $102.05.
🏦 First Republic Bought Up
In our March 21st issue, There's Always a Bigger Fish, we briefly discussed the spring bank failures that rocked the industry. One of these was the San Francisco-based bank First Republic, whose depositors were worried about the bank’s lack of on-hand finances. Ultimately, JP Morgan Chase (JPM) led several other big banks in giving money to First Republic to lessen fears of failure. Source: New York Times
Monday morning seemed to mark the end of First Republic as regulators took over the bank’s assets, ultimately confirming its failure. However, the news to Wall Street was that JP Morgan would buy up much of the assets and some liabilities from the government. Source: NPR
Given the acquisition news, JPM shares opened around 2.3% higher on Monday’s market open when compared to Friday's after-hours trading.
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ONE MORE THING
🤝 Keep in Touch
This week's issue was edited and published by Abbas Akhtar.
For general announcements or updates on what we're working on, follow Abbas on Twitter 👉 @RealAbbasAkhtar
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Thanks again for reading!
