Happy New Month FamBam!!! May the month of August be a delightful month for us all!
How was your week though?! I bring you great tidings from the well of happiness, which is my very heart: Tomi’s bottomless energy.
But first, have you caught up on our latest blog post?
Last year, a lifestyle journalist made a financial decision to move cities in Nigeria (from Lagos to Ibadan). Read all about it here!
Without further ado, let’s jump into some great news, shall we?!
A July To Remember
July has been the greatest month for the US stock market since 2020
I knowwwww right?!?! It sure don’t feel like it!
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 6.7%, while the S&P 500 climbed 9.1%, making July each index’s best performing month since November 2020. *Insert new Tomi dance here because ayyeeee!!!* Since April 2020, the Nasdaq Composite, which is heavily weighted in tech, also increased by 12%. That’s not all! This month alone, 86% of stocks in the S&P 500 have risen.
Won’t He Do It? Literal Footage of Tomi From Trove right now…
If you’re wondering why I am so happy… I mean this whole year has given everyone a run for their money but let me keep you up-to-date on the US stock market gist:
The first half of the year saw the S&P and Nasdaq decline by 21% and 29%, respectively, making it the worst first-half performance (for the $44 trillion US equities market) in more than 50 years.
Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Ford are some of the stocks that drove the stock market to this new high.
Heavy Tech investors
Stocks be like: We will not be down forever, y’all
THE AMD x INTEL ‘BUGA’
Still on this ongoing rivalry matter
AMD’s market capitalization exceeded Intel’s. 
School time: What is market capitalization? Think of it as the stock price multiplied by the total number of outstanding shares of the company. The stock price is the more volatile value of the two components in the market cap. So essentially, the higher the stock price, the higher the market capitalization… in a nutshell.
But Intel Investors
Sooo AMD’s market capitalization hit $153 billion BUT Intel shares dropped by almost 9% (i.e. market cap in the murrdd), on the same day, because their earnings report failed to meet expectations. At the close of the trading day on Friday, Intel’s market cap was at about $148 billion.
aMeannnn… potato.. Potahtooo… $148 <> $153
All the gains could disappear at the tap of a finger. Ask AMC 
In any case, this rivalry for both chipmakers exceeds just the race to a higher market cap but also cuts across both companies’ business models. An asset-light AMD may be more appreciated than an asset-heavy Intel. AMD contracts production to external chip factories, while Intel continues to establish and operate its own plants. Both business models most certainly have their pros & cons though..!
The bigger crux is that Intel’s chips used to be perceived as more superior to AMD’s but…
Recently, AMD chips have become almost at par with Intel’s products …as some even outperform Intel’s speed and efficiency.
This competition is getting more intense, baby!
SAD TIMES FOR ROKU
Digital hardware streaming company, Roku, experienced an almost share price slum of about 23% during trading hours on Friday due to the company’s poor earnings report. Deep Sigh. Must be a rough time for Roku’s management right about now. Not only did Roku report severe earning losses of 82 cents per share and revenues of $764 million both lower than analysts’ estimates, they also revealed their third-quarter forecast which fell ~$200 million short of expectations.
Roku’s board right now
As with many others, Roku partially blamed the loss and lower sales on issues such as inflation and supply chain problems (AKA high gas/fuel prices).
Tech companies this year, when it’s time to explain their earnings
Roku has lost more than 62% of its value this year alone.
Market Capitalization in the murrdddd
Shopify Be Like: See Y’all …Never
On Tuesday, the CEO of Shopify through an internal memo to employees said that the company will be cutting down 1000 employees (about 10% of its global staff). On this episode of ‘another bad scenario’, the CEO said he had overestimated the duration of the pandemic driven e-commerce boom, which is why the company had tripled its workforce to prepare for their projected “global transition to e-commerce.”
The stock market of course didn’t react well to the news (who’s shocked?), as the company’s shares fell by about 14.7% that same day on both the US and Toronto stock exchanges.
So far this year, Shopify shares have lost 75% of their value.
OUCH !!!
If I bought Shopify at the top of the year:
I guess there’s always a need for cautious optimism… especially in such an uncertain environment but you can’t really blame Tobi (Tobias), the founder & CEO of Shopify… The company nearly doubled in size in 2020 and recorded a 57% increase in revenue for 2021, which was about $4.6 billion.
Anywayssss, the severance package for the affected employees is decently hefty: they get 16 weeks of severance pay and an additional week for every year spent at the company.
The company will also give them access to career coaching, resume crafting, interviewing support, and so on.
Soooo… Not so bad, right? My exact sentiments.
It’s a wrap!
What are you waiting for?!?!
Forget not this ministry of yours: Tell a friend to tell a friend to:
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YOU ARE A BEACON OF LIGHT!!! Never forget that, Ok?!
Your dearest and favorite Stocks Market Gist Partner,
Tomi, From Trove 
