Microsoft/Activision Last Stop

Today is Tuesday, July 18, 2023.

The Early Bird Index today is 58.51.

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Microsoft/Activision Last Stop

The long-awaited deal for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to acquire Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI) might close today, but there are some recent complications that could delay it.

Details: Microsoft originally announced that it was buying Activision Blizzard in January 2022 and had until today to complete the deal in order to avoid a large termination fee. But some reports indicate that the acquisition is unlikely to close today due to regulations in the U.K., which will likely add an extension to the deadline. Both companies will continue to talk during this time to try and close the deal.

However: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is considering its options to stop the acquisition over concerns about how the deal could be harmful to consumers, according to a report on Monday from Reuters.

Also: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) lowered its stake in Activision Blizzard from 6.3% in March to now just 1.9% today, according to a filing on Monday.

Stock Price: Shares of Activision Blizzard went up 3% on Monday. Microsoft is up 44% this year.

Final Thoughts: The feeling is that Microsoft will eventually close the deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, although we’ll see what concessions the companies will have to make.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW), Western Alliance Bancorp (NYSE: WAL), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (Nasdaq: JBHT), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), PNC (NYSE: PNC), Pinnacle Financial Partners (Nasdaq: PNFP), Prologis (NYSE: PLD), Hancock Whitney (Nasdaq: HWC), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), United Community Banks (Nasdaq: UCBI), Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF), Fulton Financial (Nasdaq: FULT), Mercantile Bank (Nasdaq: MBWM), Equity Bancshares (NYSE: EQBK), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), Omnicom (NYSE: OMC).

Notable IPOs Today: Complete Solaria, Inc. Common Stock (Nasdaq: CSLR).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: N/A.

Notable Economic Events Today: Retail Sales / Core Retail Sales (8:30 a.m. ET), Industrial Production (9:15 a.m. ET), Business Inventories (10:00 a.m. ET), TIC Net Long-Term Transactions (4:00 p.m. ET), API Weekly Crude Oil Stock (4:30 p.m. ET).

Chainlink’s Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol

Photo by Shubham Dhage / Unsplash

As other cryptocurrency prices fell on Monday, Chainlink jumped 6% due to a new tech update.

Details: Early access for Chainlink's Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) launched on Monday and it is available to support token transfers from different blockchains.

Price: Chainlink is up 14% in the last week and up 28% so far in 2023.

Final Thoughts: Despite the strong year, Chainlink’s price increase still lags other cryptos.

Pinterest Gets Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) jumped 2.78% in after-hours trading on Monday due to an upgrade from an analyst.

Details: Evercore ISI analyst Mark Mahaney is now positive about the direction of Pinterest. He said that there is evidence that the company is improving. Combined with a better digital ad market, Mahaney notices a “fundamental inflection point” for the stock.

Stock Price: Pinterest is up 27% in 2023, including a 15% increase in the last 30 days.

Final Thoughts: Pinterest is in a better place now than last year, but still hasn’t recovered all of its losses from two years ago.

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Trends to Watch

Crisis Not Over: Big Banks’ Earnings Have Some Bad News for Smaller Banks (The Wall Street Journal)

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