The Rundown - Boeing CEO to Step Down, EU Investigating Apple, Meta, Alphabet

Starting point is 00:00:00 Public.com presents the rundown, your daily market update in five minutes. My name is Zadadmani, and today is Monday, March 25th. In today's episode, we get you ready for the week. Only four trading days this week. The markets are closed on Good Friday, but we still got a lot to talk about this week. Like the latest investigation from the EU into big tech giants like Apple, meta, and Google, what do they do now? We'll give you all the details.

Starting point is 00:00:23 Also, breaking news, the CEO of Boeing is stepping down. This news literally just broke as I'm recording the intro. So keep listening to the show to get the details. And then we wrap the show highlighting some stocks making moves today. Like AMD and Intel stumbling out of the gates this week, thanks to a new law in China. All right, let's just get into it. Let's start with a quick recap of the markets last week. The stock market rallied last week after the good vibes coming from the Fed meeting.

Starting point is 00:00:48 Now, in case you were too locked into March Madness and didn't have time to listen to the podcast last week, I mean, I get it, but like the pod's like five to six minutes. So you could probably squeeze this in. But to recap, the Fed isn't changing interest rates, but they say, still expect to cut rates three times this year. The Fed expressed optimism about inflation continuing to cool. That was enough to add fuel to the markets and the Dow, S&P, and NASDAQ finished higher for the week and even made all-time highs in the process. Stocks are now on track for the fifth consecutive positive month in a row going back to November of last year. Now, we only got four trading days this week as the markets will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.

Starting point is 00:01:25 While this week might not be as action-packed as the last couple, we still got stuff to look forward to. Like the PCE price index comes out on Friday, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. So get ready for that. Oh, and GameStop earnings are coming out this Tuesday, you know, if you're still into that. Well, they're at it again. The EU has launched a new investigation into big tech giants like Apple, meta, and Google, also known as Alphabet. I feel like the EU launches a new big tech investigation like every two weeks at this point. This investigation is to see if these big tech giants are in compliance with the EU's new digital markets. It's a new law from the EU that's supposed to regulate the so-called gatekeeping powers of the largest digital companies.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Apple and Google are being investigated for noncompliance of the anti-steering rules. Anti-steering rules prevent big tech companies from blocking businesses from telling their users about cheaper options for their products or subscriptions outside the app store. Apple and Google historically haven't allowed developers to tell their customers about cheaper options outside the app store. And that's not allowed in Europe. So this investigation is going to confirm that they aren't doing that in Europe. Another investigation has to do with Google potentially favoring their own products in Google search results. Like, for example, Google shopping results showing up in a Google search. That's not allowed.

Starting point is 00:02:37 So this investigation will check in on that. And then finally, META is being investigated for their pay-to-consent model. Last year, META introduced an ad-free version of Facebook and Instagram in Europe. If you paid this monthly fee, you weren't going to be shown any ads. And apparently that might be a violation of the Digital Markets Act. Now, this investigation just started. It's probably going to take months, maybe even years. to sort all this out. But the fines are pretty steep. These companies can be hit with a fine up to 10% of

Starting point is 00:03:04 global revenue, not just profits made in Europe or revenue made in Europe, global revenue. That is insane. And repeat offenders can be fined up to 20%. Oh boy. So tough stretch for big tech companies right now, especially Apple. Remember, they got hit with an antitrust lawsuit by the DOJ late last week, saying that their iPhone ecosystem was a monopoly. And then earlier this month, they got hit with a $2 billion fine from the EU for violating some other antitrust law. Tough, tough going right now for big tech companies. Speaking of companies having a tough go right now, no company might be having it worse than Boeing. And we got breaking news this morning.

Starting point is 00:03:40 The CEO of Boeing, Dave Calhoun, is resigning from his position, effective at the end of the year. Now, I can't say the news is that surprising with everything happening with Boeing this year, with door plugs flying off mid-flight and other manufacturing and safety issues that are coming to light now. I'm surprised he's sticking around until the end of the year, to be honest. But the news this morning was that not just the CEO is stepping down, Boeing is cleaning house in the entire executive suite. The chairman of the board is also resigning. The president and CEO of Boeing commercial airplanes is leaving immediately. It's a full house cleaning.

Starting point is 00:04:09 So maybe this is the fresh start that Boeing need. Investors are like in the news. Boeing stock is up more than 3% in pre-market trading. I just wonder who's going to take over as a CEO. I mean, it's a tough job right now. All right, let's talk about some stocks making moves today. Big winner this morning was Boeing up 3%. We've already talked about them.

Starting point is 00:04:25 Another company having a good start to the week is Canopy Growth. The shares of this cannabis company are up more than 10% after Germany brought in a new law that will allow full legalization of the drug nationally. On April 1st, possession, growing, and distribution of cannabis will be allowed in Germany. And Canopy currently receives 12% of its revenues from Germany, so this will likely help their business in that country. On the flip side, two companies struggling out of the gates are Intel and AMD. Both of their stocks are down more than 2% in pre-market trading this morning. because of new rules in China not allowing AMD and Intel chips and government computers.

Starting point is 00:05:00 On top of that, China also plans to remove its use of American software such as Microsoft Windows. They're trying to move away from all American-based tech. I didn't know there was any alternative to Windows or Mac. Are they going to go Linux or something? Like, what operating system are they going to use? And this is for any forms of government in China above a town leadership. And they're going to have to include technologies that are listed as safe and reliable by China's industry ministry. And all these tech companies that are listed have Chinese origin.

Starting point is 00:05:27 Now, this news comes as President Xi of China is set to meet with U.S. executives in Beijing on Wednesday of this week to discuss the country's economy. Big time players expected to attend this meeting like Apple's Tim Cook and Citadel's Ken Griffin. Pfizer CEO and Blackstone CEO are also expected to attend. I wonder if anyone's going to bring up the TikTok ban in that meeting. All right, guys, let's end the show with a fun fact of the week. Today's fun fact is about meta and Reddit. Meta makes an average of $12.57 per user.

Starting point is 00:05:56 Compared that to Reddit, which just IPOed last week, Reddit makes $3.42. So meta makes almost four times per user than Reddit does. And meta has like 3 billion daily active users compared to Reddit's like 50 million daily active users. I know it's kind of a nerdy fact, but I just wanted to paint a perspective of like how massive meta's business actually is compared to other social media companies like Reddit. All right, guys, that's all I got for you guys today. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. This is the part of the show where I try to chill for five-star ratings.

Starting point is 00:06:28 We have now crossed more than 400 five-star ratings on Spotify. Are we going to get to 500 by the end of the week? That's the goal. We really appreciate if you guys enjoyed this show, please consider giving us a five-star rating on Spotify or even Apple Podcasts. We'll take both. We really appreciate all the support and engagement on the show. It's really helped the show grow.

Starting point is 00:06:45 Thank you guys so much for listening today, and we'll see you guys back here tomorrow. This is The Rundown, your real-time resource for news events and trends in the markets. All views presented in this show reflect the opinions of the guests. You should not take any mention of a publicly traded security as recommendation to buy, sell or hold that security. Rundown guests are not financial advisors and are not affiliated with public holdings or its subsidiaries. You should make your own financial and investment decisions or consult respective professionals. Learn more at public.com disclosures. In partnership with

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The Rundown - Boeing CEO to Step Down, EU Investigating Apple, Meta, Alphabet

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