Latest Tech News 2022
Get the latest tech news updates on Tesla, Netflix, Elon Musk and Twitter. Read before trading shares with iFOREX as CFDs.
H1Mid-Year Tech Updates
When it comes to tech news, there’s no denying Elon Musk and Twitter have been occupying much of the tech headlines in Q2 of this year, spurring plenty of volatility along the way. Between Musk’s bid to buy out the social media giant on April 14th and the end of May, Twitter share prices lost as much as 12% and shareholders even sued the Tesla CEO because of the disorderly company acquisition. Tesla shares also suffered in that period, losing a huge 28%.
Back on April 21st, however, after a strong first quarter earnings report, Tesla shares gained 10.5% to find themselves at $1,079.90. The American EV giant was performing better than other tech stocks, up 16% for the month thus far, as compared with Rivian and Lucid Group, which were both down 14%, General Motors, which was down 28%, and Ford, which was down 22%. High inflation rates, increasing central bank hawkishness, and the Ukraine conflict had been pressuring high-valuation tech stocks so far in the quarter, but “Tesla has one key advantage over most tech names – it is still in the early innings of its growth story”, explained Nicholas Colas of Datatrek Research. Ark Investment Management expected Tesla stock price to multiply by four before 2026 to end up at $4,600. For those readers interested in trading shares with iFOREX as CFDs, let’s fill in more of Tesla’s story since then and also take a look at two other big names in tech: Netflix and Meta.
Tesla
Tesla shares went through a challenging June, clocking up a 45% loss for the year by the last week of the month. The high US inflation reading of 8.6% in May triggered a big Fed interest rate hike of 75 basis points and this brought on a general decline in equities, especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, which fell 4.68% to close at 10,809.23 during a selloff on 13th June. A bit earlier in the month, Musk said he would have to let go of 10% of Tesla’s staff, sparking a share price plunge of 9% on 4th June. However, Seth Goldstein, an analyst at Morningstar said the resulting $750 share price was “fair value” for Tesla, adding, “Musk’s position in the firm is linked to its brand. Tesla doesn’t advertise its products, so we think the market intertwines their brand with his.”
By June 25th, Tesla stock was still down 36% since April despite the big improvements the company had made in their Chinese production. Musk’s statement that Tesla factories in Texas and Germany were losing money, together with the doubtful state of Musk’s Twitter bid and the imminent Tesla layoffs, were holding stock prices down. At the same time, competitors were seeing gains boosted by improved market sentiment after resolved supply challenges in the industry helped out Chinese EV makers Nio, XPeng, and Li Auto.
Netflix
Despite the recent global tune-in of the final season of one of its flagship shows “Stranger Things,” on June 10th Netflix shares sank 5% to $184.06 after Goldman Sachs lowered their price target for the company from $265 to $186 and changed their recommendation from “neutral” to “sell”. “The cost-of-living crisis will have a major impact on all streaming services”, said PaoloPescatore of PP Foreight. Indeed, the rising costs of food and gasoline had been leaving consumers with less funding for entertainment for some time. Additionally, Netflix put an end to its services in Russia after the Ukraine invasion, which affected their bottom line. The first half of the year cut Netflix share prices by a massive 68%.
Meta
Meta shares took a plunge after the February announcement that user growth had hit a barrier and,by the final week of June, share prices had never been lower in relation to company earnings, so value funds grew interested in the shares. “We… are very upbeat about [Meta] here”, said David Katz of Matrix Asset Advisors, adding, “Meta has a good outlook”. Between Meta’s IPO and the end of 2021, shares gained a huge 780% but in the first half of 2022 they lost half their value. The company has also faced the obstacle of regulatory attention this year. For the rest of the year, revenue is only expected to increase by 6.8%.
Summing Up
If you’re going to be trading shares with iFOREX, don’t miss any news about Elon Musk and Twitter because the progress of the acquisition has the potential to affect both Tesla and Twitter share prices directly. To echo Goldstein’s sentiment above, Musk and Tesla are considered by the public to be part of the same brand, so what he says and does may show up in market performance. Also, bear in mind that “Electric cars as an industry is still in any early part of its life cycle”, in the words of SteveSosnick of Interactive Brokers LLC. Aside from this, news of changes in US Fed interest rates will be relevant to all tech shares in times to come, so if you plan to start trading shares with iFOREX as CFDs, stay aware of Fed decisions.
