On Wednesday, fear struck investors that the seemingly settled phase-one trade agreement between the U.S. and China was a done deal. Given that stocks were at all-time highs, a few days of selling wouldn’t have been surprising. Thursday was mild, while we saw small gains in the stock market today.
In other words, investors have been weathering the news pretty well given the headlines. Perhaps on Friday, there was enough to focus on given the news from individual companies.
Tesla Truck Time
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) officially unveiled its futuristic-looking electric pickup truck. Named Cybertruck, the vehicle will have a starting price of $39,900 when it rolls off the lines in late 2021 and 2022.
The truck will have a towing capacity of 7,500 pounds — and reportedly beat a Ford (NYSE:F) F-150 in a tug-of-war battle.
Stepping outside of the schoolyard, the base model will reportedly have a 250-mile range per charge. Tesla will also offer a dual-motor version starting at $49,900, complete with 10,000 pounds in towing capacity and a 300-mile driving range. The tri-motor version will start at $69,000, sport a towing capacity of 14,000 pounds and have a driving range of 500 miles.
The Cybertruck was supposed to have shatterproof windows, although the on-stage demo didn’t go quite as expected. Both windows broke upon testing.
Leaving London?
Uber (NYSE:UBER) is on the verge of being shut down in London. Back in 2017, the company had its license to operate suspended. Now, its extension is about to expire. The Transport for London organization concluded that Uber wasn’t doing proper background checks on drivers and didn’t report serious criminal offenses.
They also weren’t happy with the fact that Uber’s Greyball software essentially blocked the government from catching drivers that were breaking the law. Now, they only have a few days to be granted a new license before roughly 45,000 drivers lose their ability to give rides on the platform.
The U.S. is safe from another government shutdown through Dec. 20, as President Donald Trump signed a short-term spending bill at the last minute. This gave lawmakers a little more time to come to a long-term deal. There is already a two-year agreement passed by Congress that suspends the U.S. debt ceiling and sets budget levels. However, lawmakers still have the decision of how and where the money is spent.
Movers in the Stock Market Today
After last month’s launch of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new AirPods Pro, the public demand has “surpassed expectations,” according to Bloomberg sources. Last quarter, wearables accounted for roughly 10% of Apple’s $64 billion in total revenue.
In semi-related news, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is taking a little more time to release Surface Earbuds, its version of AirPods. Originally, Microsoft was planning on a late 2019 release date but is now aiming for spring 2020.
Following pressure from investors, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) is working to shed assets. The company is looking to divest up to $25 billion of assets in Africa, Asia and Europe. XOM wants to exit its gas and oil operations in Europe and decrease operations in Southeast Asia. Further, it plans on shedding its assets in both Indonesia and Malaysia.
The excess capital will allow Exxon to move forward in Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique and the U.S.
Heard on the Street
Macquarie initiated Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) with an “outperform” rating and assigned a price target of $231, implying upside of roughly 24%.
Cerner (NASDAQ:CERN) shares were also initiated with an “outperform” rating. RBC slapped a price target of $80 on CERN stock, implying more than 17.5% upside prior to Friday’s session.
Stifel analysts upgraded Uber to “buy” from “hold.” However, the analysts kept their price target unchanged at $34. While not exactly an enormous boost of confidence, the analysts argued that profitability could come sooner than investors expect.
Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long AAPL.
