1) KSS says market expecting 25bps rate hike by Fed next week
Krungsri Securities expected Thailand’s SET Index to move within 1,680 – 1,695 points, boosted by positive sentiment of the U.S. Federal Reserve to increase rates by only 25 basis points in the meeting next week. The analyst expected that there should be speculation on stocks with unique catalysts such as strong 4Q22 earnings and tech stocks.
Still, the analyst noted that fund flows started to slow down and a selloff from technical signals might cause the index to slow down.
2) Microsoft announces a multibillion-dollar investment with OpenAI
Microsoft on Monday announced a multibillion-dollar investment with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, its third phase of the partnership between the two companies after the investment in 2019 and 2021 by Microsoft.
“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a blog post.
Microsoft declined to provide a specific investment amount, but earlier this year, there were reports that Microsoft was negotiating with OpenAI for an investment amounting $10 billion.
3) Bitcoin rises to $23,100 on Monday
The price of Bitcoin briefly topped $23,100 on Monday as the world’s number one token extended gains in 2023 by nearly 40%. Bitcoin rose to its five months high after reaching $23,333.83 on Saturday.
Bitcoin lost almost 65% in 2022 as the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world turned dovish and raise interest rates continuously to combat rising inflation.
As inflation is now showing signs of slowing down in the U.S. some risk asset traders are hopeful that central banks will start easing the pace of rate rises or even slash rates in the second half of this year. Still, some Fed’s officials are pushing for rates above 5% to ensure that inflation will remain low.
4) For Motor plans to cut 3,200 jobs, worker union says
Ford Motor is planning to cut up to 3,200 jobs in Europe, while moving some of its product development work to the United States, according to the statement from Germany’s IG Metall union.
2,500 jobs are to be axed in product development and up to 700 in administrative roles in response to rising costs for electric vehicle battery materials amid projection of economic slowing down in the U.S. and Europe.
