Read the 5 main market news this Thursday

U.S. stock futures are higher, pointing to a continued recovery on Wall Street after the decline seen earlier this week.

Cisco Systems lowered its annual guidance and outlined plans to reduce headcount as executives at the networking equipment maker warn of weak future demand. Elsewhere, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reduces its stake in tech giant Apple. In Brazil, the government's housing program can count on future resources.

1. US futures rise

US stock futures rose on Thursday (Feb 15, 2024), after stocks recovered in the previous session from a decline earlier in the week.

At 7:57 am (Brasília time), the contract S&P 500 futures had gained 0.14%, the Nasdaq 100 futures had added 0.14% and the Dow futures it had risen 0.12%.

Wall Street's main indices made gains on Wednesday (14.Feb), partially recovering from a drop on Tuesday (13.Feb), triggered by hotter-than-expected US inflation numbers, which led to markets to postpone their bets on the timing of possible interest rate cuts by the Fed (Federal Reserve).

The benchmark S&P 500 rose 1.0%, the high-tech index Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3% and the blue-chip index Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%.

AI (artificial intelligence) chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) jumped ahead of its much-anticipated quarterly results next week, surpassing Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), owner of Google, as the 3rd most valuable company on the US stock market.

Ride-hailing group Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) also rose more than 30% thanks to an upbeat annual free cash flow outlook and better-than-projected profit, while rival Uber (NYSE:UBER) soared with a new $7 billion stock buyback plan.

Meanwhile, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) lowered guidance for the year and detailed plans to cut its global workforce as part of a broader restructuring effort, causing shares to fall in US pre-market trading on Thursday (Feb 15).

The networking equipment maker said it expects to report full-year EPS (adjusted earnings per share) of $3.68 to $3.74 on revenue between $51.5 billion and $52.5 billion, compared to a previous estimate of adjusted EPS of $3.87 to $3.93 and revenue of $53.8 billion to $55.0 billion.

At a conference with analysts, chief executive Charles Robbins signaled that the company expects to see “weak demand with our telecommunications customers and cable providers.”

Cisco added that it would reduce headcount by about 5%. The company said the move will result in an expense of $800 million for severance and other one-time termination benefits and other costs. The majority of these expenses are expected to be recognized in the 1st half of its 2025 fiscal year.

Results from agricultural equipment company Deere & Company (NYSE:IN), from sports betting service DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) will be the highlights of the profit calendar this Thursday (Feb 15).

2. Berkshire Hathaway company shares

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa), by Warren Buffett, reduced his position in technology giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the 4th quarter.

According to a securities filing on Wednesday (Feb 14), Berkshire divested 10 million shares of the iPhone maker, or about 1.1% of its stake in the company.

Apple still remains crucial to Berkshire, the huge investment conglomerate that has stakes in a number of large corporations across multiple industries.

After the sale, Berkshire, which first invested in Apple in 2016, had stakes in the group worth $174 billion at the end of last year – well ahead of its second-largest investment in lender Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).

Speaking at Nebraska-based Berkshire's 2023 annual meeting, Buffett praised Apple — whose stock price has soared more than 330% in the past five years — as “a better business than any other we own.”

However, Apple has recently fallen behind its peers in the high-end technology sector as concerns grow over its operations in China and regulatory scrutiny of its App Store. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company earlier this year.

3. TSMC shares jump

Shares of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) reached a new record high this Thursday (Feb 15), after Morgan Stanley analysts raised their target price for client Nvidia.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, is a key supplier to tech titans like Nvidia and Apple. The surge in shares of TSMC, which restarted trading after the Lunar New Year holiday, spurred a broader rally in technology stocks in Asia.

The basis of the increase was a note from analysts at Morgan Stanley in which they raised their price target for Nvidia to $750 from $603, citing growing demand for the nascent AI technology.

Nvidia makes the powerful graphics processing units needed to power large language models like the popular ChatGPT chatbot, making the California-based group one of the focal points of the growing excitement around AI.

4. Oil down

Oil prices hovered around the flat line in early European trading on Thursday (Feb 15), as investors digested a substantially larger-than-expected rise in US inventories and Japanese quarterly growth figures.

Crude oil prices Brent futures fell 0.58%, to US$ 81.13 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate crude futures it was 0.65% lower, at US$76.14 per barrel.

Oil prices lost more than $1 each on Wednesday (Feb 14) after data showed that US crude inventories rose by a staggering 12 million barrels in the week to February 9, far more than expected. expectations of an increase of 3.3 million barrels.

The reading was driven primarily by record U.S. production, indicating the world's biggest fuel consumer remained well supplied with oil.

Meanwhile, Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) data showed the country unexpectedly entered a technical recession in the fourth quarter, due in part to persistent weakness in private consumption.

5. FGTS Future in Brazil

The federal government wants to release the use of the FGTS (Service Time Guarantee Fund) for the acquisition of MCMV (Minha Casa, Minha Vida) properties from March onwards.

If the regulation is approved, deposits from the fund that have not yet been made by the employer may be used to pay installments. Today, payment occurs when contributions have already been made.

With a focus on expanding access for low-income people to own housing, the modality will be aimed at the first range of the housing program, which includes families with incomes of up to R$2,600.

According to the Ministry of Cities, the initiative can benefit around 60 thousand families per year, but the action still requires approval from the FGTS Board of Trustees – which should address the issue next month.

At 7:58 am (Brasília time), the EWZ ETF (NYSE:EWZ) rose 0.77% in the pre-market.

With information from Investing Brasil.