#22 - Apple's first $100bn+ quarter
Shorting stocks just became a lot more risky. Tesla launched the fastest accelerating production car ever and Elon Musk tweets about bitcoin
Markets
Earnings are always exciting - a few personal favourites this week:
Apple booking more than $100 billion for the first time
Apple delivered its largest quarter by revenue of all time on Wednesday at $111.4 billion in its first-quarter earnings report for fiscal 2021. It’s the first time Apple crossed the symbolic $100 billion mark in a single quarter, and sales were up 21% year-over-year.
Tesla’s 6th quarter in a row of being profitable
Tesla reports it produced 179,757 vehicles in Q4 (+71% Y/Y) and delivered 180,667 vehicles (+61%). The company says it recorded its 6th quarter in a row of being profitable through volume growth and regulatory credit revenue growth. Tesla expects to achieve 50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries over a multi-year horizon.
Tesla also announced the fastest accelerating production car ever made.
- and now back to reality…
The Dollar's crash is only just beginning. America's net domestic savings rate has fallen by the most on record, making the economy even more reliant on foreign money.
While the USD is getting weaker against EUR and other major currencies (DXY) - the question is: For how long? The EUR/GPB/CHF can’t compete against the cheap USD in the long run so will it all balance out as it has done in the past?
One thing is certain, the purchasing power of fiat currencies will continue to go down.
Shorting a stock is risky
I guess everyone heard about the GameStop frenzy and WallStreetBets by now, if you missed it the tweets below sort of sums it up:
- and a short commentary video
If you are interested in hanging out with the crowd, head over to WallStreetBets on Reddit (not financial advice ;-)
Tech
Telegram feature exposes your address
If you’ve allowed Telegram to view your location and find other users in close geographic proximity, there’s a high likelihood your specific address has been exposed.
Phishing scam exposes thousands of passwords to Google search
Check Point Research recently uncovered a blunder by cyberattackers that left thousands of credentials discoverable via a simple Google search.
Cryptocurrency wallets might be compromised on iOS
Apple has issued new security updates for its mobile operating system after the iPhone maker discovered vulnerabilities that could compromise cryptocurrency wallets.
“If you are using a mobile crypto wallet on an iOS device, be sure to update iOS as soon as possible!” Kim tweeted Tuesday. “The update includes a fix for a remote arbitrary code execution vulnerability that may have been actively exploited.”
Health
Social media damages teenagers' mental health
Research from the Education Policy Institute and The Prince's Trust said wellbeing and self-esteem were similar in all children of primary school age. Boys and girls' wellbeing is affected at the age of 14, but girls' mental health drops more after that, it found.
Bitcoin
Visa mentioned Bitcoin in their most recent earnings call:
In this space, we see ways that we can add differentiated value to the ecosystem. And we believe that we are uniquely positioned to help make cryptocurrencies more safe, useful and applicable for payments through our global presence, our partnership approach and our trusted brand. We think of the crypto market in two segments. First, there are cryptocurrencies that represent new assets such as Bitcoin.
Second, there are digital currencies or stable coins that are directly backed by existing fiat currencies. We see all currencies in that first segment as digital gold. They are predominantly held as assets that are not used as a form of payment in a significant way at this point. Our strategy here is to work with wallets and exchanges to enable users to purchase these currencies using their Visa credentials or to cash out onto our Visa credential to make a fiat purchase at any of the 70 million merchants where Visa is accepted globally.
… and this happened
In the following video Michael Saylor explains why Microstrategy decided to buy Bitcoin, and how the pandemic spurred that. He also talks about what parts of the bitcoin industry could be improved to better serve corporate interests. Michael also touch on weather he intends to take any “money off the table”, impact of regulation and what it would take for him to sell any bitcoin.
Headlines
Marathon Patent Group has bought bitcoin worth about $150 million
Blockstream ramps up mining operations with $25m miner purchase
Tweets
This newsletter is for informational purposes only. Individuals and entities should not construe any such information as legal, tax, investment, financial, accounting or other advice. Nothing contained in this newsletter constitutes a recommendation or endorsement by the author to buy or sell bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, music rights or other financial instruments. #DYOR
Don’t trust. Verify.
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