Bulls, Bitcoin, & Beyond

Market Moves Yesterday

S&P 500 @ 5,352.96 ( ⬇️ 0.02%)

Nasdaq Composite @ 17,173.12 ( ⬇️ 0.086%)

Bitcoin @ $71,071.80 ( ⬆️ 0.42%)

Hey Scoopers,

Happy Friday! We’ve got an exciting newsletter for you today:

👉 Nio’s expansion plans

👉 Trade deficit surges over $74 billion

👉 Robinhood’s acquisition plans

So, let’s go 🚀

Market Wrap 📉

U.S. equity markets traded marginally lower on Thursday as investors are gearing up for the upcoming nonfarm payrolls report.

The stocks came off a winning session powered by Nvidia, which overtook Apple as the second-largest company globally in terms of market cap.

All eyes will now move to the nonfarm payrolls report for May as investors hope for signs of a weakening labor market, eventually leading to interest rate cuts.

Economists expect 190,000 job additions in May, while wages were forecast to grow 3.9% year over year.

In case these numbers hold up, it would mean the U.S. unemployment rate will be around 3.9%, the longest stretch of sub-4% unemployment since the early 1950s.

Trending Stocks 🔥

Vail Resorts - The resort operator is down over 6% after it posted fiscal Q3 earnings of $9.54 per share on sales of $1.28 billion, below estimates of $9.97 per share and $1.3 billion.

DocuSign - The electronic signature company slumped close to 7% in pre-market after it reported Q1 earnings of $0.82 per share and revenue of $710 million vs. estimates of $0.79 per share and $707 million.

Braze - The customer engagement platform provider gained 13% after it reported revenue of $135 million and a loss per share of $0.05. Comparatively, analysts forecast sales at $132 million and losses at $0.10 per share.

Nio Unveils Expansion Plans

China’s electric car company Nio just announced plans to expand to the Middle East this year. It also stated shipments of its lowest-cost brand, Firefly, will begin in the first half of 2025.

Nio recently received funding from investors based out of the Middle East and registered record vehicle deliveries of 20,544 in May.

Currently, Nio sells its vehicles primarily in China and Europe and emphasized it would break even if monthly car sales were over 30,000 vehicles. Its operating losses totaled close to $750 million in Q1 of 2024.

Due to rising competition in China’s EV market, Nio launched a lower-priced brand called Onvo last month. This car is priced at $30,349 and will begin shipments by September 2024.

Nio’s upcoming Firefly will be priced even lower, between 100,000 yuan ($13,807) and 200,000 yuan ($27,615).

These lower-priced cars should help Nio enter and gain traction in emerging markets in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Jobless claims, Trade Deficit, and Labor

Economic data released yesterday showed jobless claims and trade deficit moved higher while labor costs were lower than estimates.

👉 Initial filings for unemployment benefits for the week ending June 1 totaled 229,000, up 8,000 from the previous weak and higher than estimates of 220,000.

👉 The trade deficit for April rose to $74.6 billion, an increase of $6 billion from March and lower than estimates of $76.5 billion.

👉 Revisions indicated nonfarm productivity rose by 0.2% while unit labor costs increased by 4%. Economists were looking for flat productivity and a 5% rise in labor costs.

Robinhood to Acquire Bitstamp

Shares of trading and investment platform Robinhood rose over 6.5% after it agreed to acquire crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million in cash, accelerating its push into digital assets.

The deal is Robinhood's largest ever and should expand its product offerings while allowing it to gain a foothold in Europe. Moreover, the acquisition puts Robinhood in direct competition with giants such as Coinbase and Binance.

Bitstamp is among the most popular crypto platforms in Europe, with more than 85 tradeable assets, including products such as staking and lending.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, even as Robinhood faces regulatory hurdles in the U.S. while experiencing rapid growth.

Robinhood’s crypto business was the driving force behind its Q1 earnings beat last month. In the same week, it disclosed that regulators had issued a “Wells” notice, signaling a possible enforcement action.

While still down 69% from all-time highs, Robinhood stock is up 80% in 2024 as it vowed to chase profitable growth amid an uncertain macro environment.

Headlines You Can't Miss!

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Kraken considers pre-IPO funding round

Chart of The Day

The above chart ranks the 15 most valuable Bitcoin addresses globally. A Bitcoin address is similar to an email address for your cryptocurrencies. It's a combination of letters and wallets that allows people to send digital assets (in this case, Bitcoin) directly to a digital wallet.

Data from BitInfoCharts states the world’s biggest Bitcoin address dates back to late 2018, with a balance of 0.1 BTC worth $660 at that time.

Since then, the address has seen significant swings in value, surging to 180,000 BTC ($1.7 billion) in November 2019 and falling to 1,370 BTC ($9.4 million) in April 2020.

Today, the wallet holds around 248,600 BTC worth $17.5 billion.

Meme of the Day

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. The newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.