The S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) finished flat for the week, while all three US benchmarks closed the week in the red.
As always, here are my three key takeaways from the week.
Big tech reports
I’ve probably said it many times, but it truly is difficult to look beyond the big tech names including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) for those looking to invest in the current market.
All three were sold-off following ‘weak’ earnings results that saw Apple’s profits double and iPhone sales jumping 36% in a quarter, whilst Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) saw profit triple and revenue grow 62% in the same period.
I continue to view investments in these types of companies as portfolio ‘protection’ against the disruption that is occurring throughout Australia’s predominantly old-fashioned, mature growth business models.
Blood on the streets
There is no doubt blood on the streets in Asia right now, the question is who is willing to invest.
Similar to last year, the sentiment has turned from negative to an avalanche in a short period of time after the regulator made some strong announcements.
However, it has since been reported that those were very much ‘targeted’ and not intended to hurt companies in other industries, suggesting a rally in the domestic Chinese names may well be around the corner.
If it’s free you are the product
‘If it’s free, you are the product’ is the best way to describe Robinhood (NASDAQ: HOOD) and its struggling IPO.
The company fell on listing, the same day it paid a US$60 million fine to the regulator.
A closer look at the prospectus showed that the bulk of the group’s revenue came from ‘Payment for Order Flow’, meaning the company sells customer trading data to High Frequency Trading hedge funds.