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Luke Kawa1/30/25

Microsoft is lagging behind the Nasdaq 100 since the launch of ChatGPT

Microsoft has seemingly gone all in on the AI boom, with billions upon billions of investment to bolster its capabilities in this new frontier, more than Meta, Alphabet, or Amazon’s AWS division.

What does it have to show for that in the stock market?

The tech giant has a partnership with OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT. But since the public launch of ChatGPT at the end of November 2022, Microsoft is lagging the Nasdaq 100 by more than 10 percentage points.

Shares are getting hit on Thursday after Microsoft’s cloud business posted underwhelming results.

Now, a more than 70% gain is nothing to sneeze at — and Nvidia’s more than 600% gain to lift the tech-heavy benchmark over this period is something that must be kept in mind — but it’s still noteworthy that the company most eager to implement this new technology hasn’t kept pace with the Nasdaq 100 since the product that aggressively accelerated interest in AI hit the scene.

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Luke Kawa, Nia Warfield

S&P 500’s losing streak extends to three

The longest run in the red for the benchmark US stock index in over a month.

Bears awaken from hibernation at the zoo in Thale

markets

Retail traders are dumping Bloom Energy after near 300% rally, says JPMorgan

Retail traders are swarming for the exits in fuel cell company Bloom Energy, causing what was once a near 300% year-to-date rally to sour.

JPMorgan strategists led by Arun Jain flagged that Bloom’s net imbalance — the balance of buying versus selling among retail traders — was exceptionally negative as of 11 a.m. ET, even worse than during its double-digit drop on Wednesday.

JPM retail BE

The fuel cell company, which counts Oracle among its customers, eclipsed a market cap in excess of $20 billion earlier this week despite generating less than $2 billion in sales over the past year.

Wall Street began to sound some alarm bells about the extent of Bloom’s run this week, with Jefferies downgrading its rating for the stock to “underperform” from “hold” on Wednesday while Bank of America analysts wrote, “We are still not buying into BE’s AI hype.”

Italian Hemp Growers Struggle With Anti-drug Laws

Investors are growing bullish on weed stocks. But why?

We spoke to ATB Capital Markets analyst Frederico Gomes about why institutional investors are growing bullish on cannabis.

J. Edward Moreno9h

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Matt Phillips9h

Duolingo rises as executives talk up China opportunity

Duolingo posted a solid gain Thursday, the latest in a series of relatively light-on-news moves in the stock this month as it has regained some attention among options-trading retail investors.

There was a story in China’s official China Daily where executives laid out their plans for the language-learning app’s push into the People’s Republic, which has been a focus of Wall Street analysts on recent post-earnings conference calls.

China, where the company began doing business in 2018, is Duolingo’s fastest-growing market for its language-learning app. It’s also the largest source of test takers for its Duolingo English Test proficiency exam business, a recent focus for management spotlighted in its recent Duocon product announcements.

It’s hard to say if the China Daily story is the reason for today’s upswing in the stock, but given the necessities of working within a country controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, a relatively favorable story appearing in its international propaganda organ suggests a relatively healthy working relationship is developing there.

Duolingo to expand local team, products

Duolingo to expand local team, products

China, where the company began doing business in 2018, is Duolingo’s fastest-growing market for its language-learning app. It’s also the largest source of test takers for its Duolingo English Test proficiency exam business, a recent focus for management spotlighted in its recent Duocon product announcements.

It’s hard to say if the China Daily story is the reason for today’s upswing in the stock, but given the necessities of working within a country controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, a relatively favorable story appearing in its international propaganda organ suggests a relatively healthy working relationship is developing there.

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Matt Phillips12h

Oklo dives after insider sale

Oklo dove Thursday after an SEC filing showed company director Michael Klein sold some $6.7 million in stock in transactions that, importantly, were not part of a pre-set insider sales plan.

Wall Street analysts forecast that the nuclear power startup will make losses for years to come. But the company’s ties to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who served as Oklo’s chairman until April, have helped make the stock a favorite of retail traders and a popular momentum play.

Even after today’s stumble, it’s up more than 400% this year and nearly 1,300% over the past 12 months.

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