Good Morning. US equities rose on Monday in anticipation of a busy week of corporate earnings and a possible break from the Fed's tight grip on interest rates. After months of aggressive tightening, investors are hoping that Fed Governor Christopher Waller's remarks on Friday could lead to a quarter-point reduction in the next meeting, a sign that their patience may be paying off.
Meanwhile, most Gulf stock markets also concluded the day with gains amid hopes of an economic recovery in China, the world's top importer, with Abu Dhabi breaking the trend?as crude prices?rose further.
- It appears the Gulf region is gearing up to continue its impressive listing momentum, with the GCC continuing to draw initial public offers. As Kamco Invest's research suggests, there could be another?27-39 companies?in the region ready to take the plunge and float their shares.
- As Dubai's economy continues to flourish, more and more public and government enterprises are considering taking the plunge into the public stock market. At the?first Mena IPO Summit?in Dubai, panelists noted that the optimal time for family offices and small to medium-sized businesses to list and?raise capital for stability and expansion is now.?
Strong investor demand has resulted in a wave of IPOs in the GCC region as economies quickly emerge from the slump brought on by the coronavirus and liquidity is bolstered by high oil prices. The region saw 48 IPOs launched in 2022 compared to 20 in 2021.
- Microsoft (MSFT) and OpenAI, the business behind ChatGPT, announced a new?"multi-billion dollar" partnership?that has everyone talking. While the exact investment amount is still unknown, sources close to the company say the number could be?"up to 10 billion dollars," which is sure to get people's tongues wagging.
- The agreement marks the beginning of a new age of cooperation between the two firms, ushering in a?'technological revolution'?that will help?accelerate AI progress. Microsoft promises that with the help of this partnership, both firms will be able to reap the benefits of the latest and greatest technologies.
This isn't the first time the companies have worked together. Azure, a Microsoft cloud service, collaborates closely with OpenAI. By investing $1B in OpenAI in July 2019, Microsoft became the "exclusive" provider of cloud computing services to OpenAI as a result of the transaction. As of now, Azure will be the only supplier of OpenAI.
- In an internal memo on Monday, Spotify?(SPOT)?revealed that it is?laying off 6% of its global personnel?as it struggles to survive in a?bleak economic climate?where both customers and marketers are cutting back on their spending.
- Around?600 Spotify employees?will be affected by the changes, out of a total of 9,800. CEO Daniel Ek announced that impacted employees will be contacted for individual discussions and that?severance-related costs could reach up to €45M.
- Dawn Ostroff, Spotify's head of content who oversaw securing exclusive podcasting agreements for the Obamas, Kim Kardashian, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle, has left the company following the announcement of cuts.
In October, Spotify reported a tripled loss of 228 million euros for Q3 and attributed it to increased ad spend for expansion and higher staff growth. Meanwhile, last week, Google revealed 12,000 job cuts, following layoffs from Microsoft and Amazon.
