A week packed with economic data and corporate reports
PUBLISHED
2024-07-15
Content
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is less than $100 million away from joining the trillion-dollar club of major US mega companies.
Helped by the surge in Apple shares in the past couple of months, shares of Berkshire Hathaway last week topped the previous high reached in late March, with the company closing at an all-time high valuation of nearly $918 billion.
Berkshire shares are now up nearly 18% year-to-date, while Apple shares have surged 30% in the last three months alone, with a more sedate year-to-date gain of 19%.
The S&P 500, Buffett’s yardstick, is up 18.4%.
That 30% gain has seen Apple reclaim its top position as the most valuable company globally. Friday saw the iPhone giant close at a market cap of $3.54 trillion, with Microsoft next at $3.37 trillion (up 22% year-to-date) and Nvidia third at $3.18 trillion (up 168% year-to-date).
Tesla shares have been recent stars, but their gains slowed last week to just 0.22%, which was only due to a 2.99% rise on Friday.
Worries are returning to the stock about CEO Elon Musk overpromising and underdelivering—this time on the much-hyped (by him) robotaxi, which may not be revealed on August 8 in the form many people believe, if at all.
Apple shares rose 1.48% in the first week of the new quarter, Microsoft shares fell 0.22%, and Nvidia shares managed a 1.48% gain.
This week sees mini-megatech Netflix release its second-quarter figures (due Thursday). Investors seem to be gloomy; the shares were down on Friday and fell more than 5.7% last week. Its market value remains around $279 billion.
Author
Name | Glenn Dyer | Glenn Dyer has been a finance journalist and TV producer for more than 40 years. He has worked at Maxwell Newton Publications, Queensland Newspapers, AAP, The Australian Financial Review, The Nine Network and Crikey. |