Microsoft buys Nuance to strengthen AI position

Microsoft buys Nuance to strengthen AI position

Microsoft (MSFT) will buy speech-recognition pioneer Nuance Communications (NUAN) for $19.6 billion in cash. The move will speed Microsoft’s ambitions in the healthcare digital record keeping market. Microsofts goal is to use voice recognition technology to develop products that feee doctors from note-taking and allows more effective search of those notes for meaningful treatment solutions. The offer at $56 a share was a premium of 23% to the close for Nuance’s shares on Friday, April 9. Microsoft forecasts that the acquisition will result in a loss than 1% hit to earnings in the fiscal year that begins on July 1 and will add to earnings in the following year.

Apparently everybody decided today that tomorrow’s March jobs report will show accelerating economic growth

Apparently everybody decided today that tomorrow’s March jobs report will show accelerating economic growth

With the financial markets closed tomorrow for Good Friday, traders and investors jumped in to buy today ahead of what is expected to be a jobs report tomorrow morning showing unemployment dropping to 6.0% (by the official measure) from 6.2% in February. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 1.18%. The Dow Jones Industrial average ended 0.52% higher. The NASDAQ Composite finished higher by 1.76%. And the small cap Russell 2000 gained 1.50% on the day.

Apparently everybody decided today that tomorrow’s March jobs report will show accelerating economic growth

Another day, another record for the S&P 500 and Dow

The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 0.65% today and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.53% to set new record highs. Technology stocks rebounded from recent weakness with the NASDAQ finishing ahead by 1.05%. But the big impetus for the continued gains in the big indexes came from a sense that the economy is returning to normal.

Again but not as bad–spike in Treasury yields clips technology stocks today

Again but not as bad–spike in Treasury yields clips technology stocks today

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to 1.62% today, March 12. That’s a jump of 9 basis points on the day. Following the recent pattern, the climb in yields meant a drop in the prices of technology stocks. Among BIG TECH stocks Apple (AAPL) fell 0.76%; Facebook (FB) dropped 2.00%; Amazon (AMZN) was lower by 0.77%; Alphabet (GOOG) slid 1.50%; and Microsoft (MSFT) lost 0.58%.

Microsoft blows away analyst earnings projections after close today; Apple and Facebook report tomorrow

Microsoft blows away analyst earnings projections after close today; Apple and Facebook report tomorrow

Microsoft reported its earnings for the company’s fiscal second quarter 2021 earnings today, Tuesday, January 26, after the close. Revenue of $43.1 billion easily beat Wall Street projections of $40.2 billion. Earnings per share of $2.03 crushed expectations for $1.64 a share. Microsoft’s shares were up 1.22% in the regular session and then gained another 4.30% in after-hours trading.

Saturday Night Quarterback says (on a Sunday), For the week ahead expect…

Saturday Night Quarterback says (on a Sunday), For the week ahead expect…

This week brings fourth quarter earnings reports from Microsoft (MSFT) on Tuesday, and Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB) on Wednesday to add fuel to the Big Tech rally. The NASDAQ 100, the home of big tech stocks, climbed 4.4% last week. Apple is expected to report record fourth quarter earnings. And that will certainly help technology stocks in general. But I’d also count the diversity of the companies reporting this week on the positive side of the ledger.

Today’s rally: Was it Biden or Netflix?

Today’s rally: Was it Biden or Netflix?

Today the Standard & Poor’s 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the NASDAQ Composite all hit record highs. Likely cause? The peaceful inauguration of Joe Biden as President? Yesterday’s report of blow out gains in subscribers in the fourth quarter from Netflix (NFLX)? While the sigh of relief that the country wasn’t enveloped in another wave of violence at the 46th President took the oath of office certainly played a role, my vote on causation today goes to yesterday’s news from Netflix that the company added 8.5 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, far ahead of Wall Street projections for 6.03 million added subscribers. Netflix shares closed up 16.85% today.