👉 The Investing Week Ahead: China's Market Climb

Before we dive in — massive “Thank You!” to those of you that have helped get the Rich Habits Podcast Instagram page to over 15,000 followers and the Spotify page to over 4,000 reviews!

I really appreciate you being a part of this journey to share digestible personal finance and investing content to the masses!

What We’re Watching:

Walt Disney Company (+25.9% YTD) is slated to report their quarterly earnings on Tuesday, May 7th. Disney experienced a recent proxy battle victory —but remains searching for a new CEO and hopes to avoid familiar mistakes in the replacement process. 

In the streaming wars — Disney+ hopes to better leverage its library of franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and ESPN. Disney is implementing a substantial cost-cutting initiative, aiming to reduce its cost structure by $7.5 billion this fiscal year — nearly 10% of its average total revenue over the past three years.

Investors will often point back to Warren Buffett's 1996 remark on Disney's enduring content value: "It's kind of nice to be able to recycle Snow White every seven or eight years... If you own the mouse, you own the mouse." 

It’s been a strange few years for this entertainment giant — and each earnings report continues to come with a lot of anticipation.

Uber (+12.4% YTD) is set to release earnings on Wednesday, May 8th — two days prior to its 5-Year “IPO-iversary.” 

Uber continues to solidify its lead in the U.S. ride share market, with mobility gross bookings climbing to $19.3B in 4Q23 (+29% YoY) — outpacing primary competitor Lyft. Innovative service expansions such as Uber Rent and Uber Valet have been enhancing its core ride-hailing business.

Uber Eats now serves 88 million active users across 11,000 cities globally — with gross bookings for delivery reaching $17B in 4Q23.

Investments in autonomous technologies signal Uber’s commitment to reducing operational costs long-term, with partnerships in autonomous vehicles and stakes in companies like Aurora and Joby Aviation shaping future strategies.

Uber has been a major winner for the Rate of Return community over the past year (+78.3%) — and I’m interested to see if more profit-taking takes place before and after the report, especially given Tesla’s cyber-cab announcement the other week.

“You have to substitute something else if you’re not going to get those rate cuts… And it had to be guidance because what else is there going to be?”

– Quincy Krosby, Chief Global Strategist at LPL Financial

This shift towards Chinese equities has seen foreign investors redirecting funds to Hong Kong-listed shares amid currency pressures elsewhere. Despite optimism, analysts remain cautious on China as a whole. Some massive Chinese companies to watch as the HSI enters its bull run include Alibaba (BABA), Baidu (BIDU), and JD.com (JD). 

You can watch it live here through May 8th. We’ll be checking back in to see if any market-moving quotes come from the event.

What We’re Watching:

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index in the U.S. declined to 77.2 in April 2024 from a March high of 79.4 — reflecting lower assessments of both current conditions and future expectations. 

"Overall, consumers continue to express uncertainty about the future trajectory of the economy pending the outcomes of the upcoming election, but at this time there is no evidence that global geopolitical factors are on the forefront of consumers' minds." 

— Joanne Hsu, Director of the Surveys of Consumers

U.S. initial jobless claims remained steady at 208,000 for the week ending April 27th — marking the lowest level in two months and surpassing expectations of 212,000.

This was the fourth consecutive week of results that beat expectations — suggesting ongoing labor market tightness and potential delays in Fed rate cuts.