Tweet of the Morning
Positions: None.
Quantum Computing Stocks Hit Hard
Quantum computing stocks sold off hard on Wednesday ahead of the Quantinuum IPO at the Nasdaq Market Site on Thursday. Quantinuum, which is majority owned by Honeywell ($HON), will officially begin trading later today under the ticker symbol “QNT.”
On Wednesday, Infleqtion ($INFQ) gave up 12.4%, Rigetti Computing ($RGTI) gave back 10.4%, and D-Wave Quantum ($QBTS) surrendered 7.9%. Even the mighty IBM ($IBM) lost 7.2%.
Last night, Quantinuum announced that it has raised $1.68 billion in its initial public offering after pricing 28 million shares at $60 apiece.
I will be adding to my long position in IBM (still up 31.6%) at some point this morning.
Positions: Long IBM equity.
Palantir’s New Partner: 8 Key Items Shaping the Stock Market Thursday
Broadcom’s earnings, TSM’s multiyear view on AI chips, the Quantinuum IPO, and other headlines are moving stocks this morning.
Newest on Market Recon
Wall St. Takes Hit on Iran Fire, SpaceX Takes Off, Middle-Class ‘Struggle’
90 Minutes to Go
S&P Futures: -32 vs FV.
Nasdaq Futures: -430 vs FV.
10-Year Note: 4.46%.
2-Year Note: 4.05%.
3-Month T-Bill: 3.71%.
US Dollar Index: -0.33%
WTI Crude: $93.53.
Gold: +1.17%
Silver: +0.74%.
Bitcoin: -4.54%.
Position: Long physical gold & silver
Wall St. Takes Hit on Iran Fire, SpaceX Takes Off, Middle-Class ‘Struggle’
Iran ceasefire looks near collapse; SpaceX valuation at $1.75 trillion; Beige Book sees some in middle-income bracket ‘struggling more.’
The End of an Era
Since 2001, day traders in the U.S. have been required to maintain a balance of $25K in their accounts. If these traders failed to do that, they would only be permitted to execute three day trades over a five-day period. Making a fourth trade in five days would flag them as pattern day traders and they would then be locked out of their accounts. The pattern day trading rule was adopted by FINRA in 2001 in response to the collapse of the dot-com bubble. These requirements were implemented in order to cut excessive risk-taking and reduce speculative activity.
Under a new system, effective today, the $25K minimum balance has gone the way of the blacksmith. So has the rule that counts trades and so has the “Pattern Day Trader” moniker. Instead, broker-dealers will utilize new tools to assess the actual risk of any one trader’s activity.
By the way, existing margin requirements aren’t going anywhere. I, for one, am in favor of this development, as at times, I have had one smaller account or another become more active. The system did not adjust for traders with several accounts that might hold a larger balance in aggregate who needed to be active for a short time in a smaller account.
Position: None
150 Minutes to Go
S&P Futures: -33 vs FV.
Nasdaq Futures: -395 vs FV.
10-Year Note: 4.48%.
2-Year Note: 4.06%.
3-Month T-Bill: 3.71%.
US Dollar Index: -0.21%
WTI Crude: $95.27.
Gold: +0.67%
Silver: -0.15%.
Bitcoin: -4.61%.
Position: Long physical gold & silver
It’s Time to Make Some Moves as a Shift in Market Character Develops
Chips rolling over on Broadcom and IBIT testing structural support are testing the market.