Good morning. US stock futures inched higher in Wednesday morning trading as investors pored through earnings reports from major companies.

"History does not repeat itself — at best it sometimes rhymes"

Mark Twain

Top News

Investment bank predicts soaring markets for rest of 2023

WHAT: Credit Suisse just cranked up the dial on their S&P 500 year-end target! In a recently released research note, the investment bank said they expect the S&P 500 index to clear 4700, a significant jump from its initial target of 4050. Credit Suisse cited a decline in US near-term recession risks, and a stronger earnings outlook for the largest technology-related companies.

WHY: “Our base case is that a recession will be averted, inflation will remain sticky near current levels, and monetary policy will tighten incrementally” Jonathan Golub, chief US equity strategist at Credit Suisse wrote in the note.

Drugmaker sues US gov’t over Medicare

WHAT: Johnson & Johnson is lawyering up against the US government. The company joins the ranks of other drugmakers aiming to halt the enforcement of a program that grants Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices. The pharmaceutical industry believes the program, part of US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act could erode profits and force them to scale back on drug development.

WHY: US drugmakers Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck & Co. and the US Chamber of Commerce as well as industry lobbyist Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have also sued the government over the plan.

“Robocalls” face regulatory crackdown

WHAT: Unwanted and annoying phone calls, your days are numbered! The crackdown, known as “Operation Stop Scam Calls”, is being spearheaded by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 101 other federal and state authorities. And the FTC isn’t holding back either — they’ve issued more than 180 enforcement actions and initiatives to put an end to pesky robocalls and telemarketing scams.

WHY: Authorities also want to stop “lead generators” that trick consumers such as by offering free rewards or job interviews into providing personal information that can be sold to telemarketers and “consent” to receive unwanted solicitation.

In Other News

Meta unleashes AI model for commercial use

 WHAT: Meta Platforms is releasing Llama, their very own open-source AI model into the wild! The company said that Llama would be a free-of-charge alternative to models sold by OpenAI and Google to allow startups and other businesses to use and build on.

WHY: The model, which Meta only provided to select academics for research purposes, also will be made available via direct download, and through Amazon Web Services, Hugging Face, and other providers according to a blog and Facebook post by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Apple, Amazon fined big $$ in Spain

WHAT: Apple and Amazon got caught in the naught corner for playing favorites and teaming up against their competitors according to Spain’s antitrust watchdog. The companies were fined a total of 194 million euros ($218 million) by Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission for favoring sales of Apple products directly from the online retail giant.

WHY: Europe has led the way in cracking down on Big Tech companies over allegations of abusing their dominant market positions, with numerous antitrust investigations launched by the European Union and national authorities.

That’s an expensive iPhone!

WHAT: Talk about an iPhone with serious appreciation! In a jaw-dropping auction, a first-generation iPhone fetched a whopping $193,393, leaving its original price of $499 in the dust. LCG Auctions, which hosted the sale, said the 4GB iPhone model was 20 times rarer than the 8GB model released at the same time for $599.

WHY: The iPhone is considered one of the world’s most successful electronic products and helped make Apple the first publicly held company with a $3 trillion market value.

Key Economic Events

• Wednesday - No Major Economic News

• Thursday - Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook

• Friday - No Major Economic News

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