Tech Stocks Slide on Trimmed Forecasts

Stocks of Apple slid 2% to $147.07 on Monday as the world’s most valuable company announced that it would be slowing hiring and spending growth in 2023 as recession concerns hit the market. Alphabet stock is also down over 2%, a week after it announced that Google would slow hiring for the remainder of 2022. Alphabet has also started trading at its split-adjusted price, which split each stock into 20. Meanwhile, IBM saw its shares drop 4% after-hours after the company cut its 2022 cash forecast from a range of $10 billion – $10.5 billion to just 10 billion even as it beat analyst estimates on revenue and earnings. 

China’s Holdings of US Debt Falls Below $1 Trillion for First Time Since 2010

Mainland China’s holding of US Treausry notes fell to $980.8 billion in May 2022, down $23 billion from April and almost $100 billion year-on-year. With continued aggressive tightening from the US Federal Reserve, rising interest rates have made bonds less attractive. China’s holdings have fallen below $1 trillion for the first time in over 10 years, putting it behind Japan – which holds $1.2 trillion in US T-notes – as the world’s leading holder of US debt. 

Netflix Shares Up Despite Subscriber Dip

A few-than-expected loss of 970,000 subscribers during Q2 for Netflix has seen its stock price rise about 5% on Tuesday. Subscriber count for the streaming giant has dropped two quarters in a row to 220.67 million. The company is aiming to launch a lower-cost, ad-supported tier amid increasing competition. One analyst says that Netflix’s partnership with Microsoft in its ad-supported offerings is a bid by the company to be acquired – coming in after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.