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Shares of Booking Holdings (BKNG) are up $86 to $4,322.
That’s after the travel stock gapped from about $5,100 to a low of $4,175 on AI fears. Just this morning, Gordon Haskett Research Advisors said BKNG was being overlooked because of those fears, with a buy rating and a price target of $5,440.
“We believe investors have overreacted to AI-driven competitive encroachment concerns and discounted key aspects of BKNG’s operational advantages and defensive positioning,” said the firm as quoted by CNBC.
“BKNG’s advantages, combined with high startup costs and legal risks associated with building a competing online travel platform, should serve as a deterrent to AI companies directly competing.”
BKNG also has earnings coming up on February 18.
Shares of Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) are up $46.61, or by 11%, this morning on earnings.
Its EPS of 4.43 euros was better than the estimates for 2.74 euros. Revenue of 4.53 billion euros was also ahead of estimates for 4.52 billion euros. Active monthly users jumped 11% year over year to 751 million, which was above estimates of 744.7 million.
Moving forward, Spotify expects to grow monthly active users by eight million to 759 million, surpassing a 752.4 million estimate. Also, for the current quarter, Spotify expects revenue to total 4.5 billion euros, which is short of a 4.58 billion euros estimate.
The major indices are down again.
The S&P 500 is up about 0.13%, or by nine points. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is down fractionally. The Dow is down 0.18%, or by 90 points. The Nasdaq is down 0.17%, or by 42. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is getting beaten up again, down $1,572 to $68,590.
Not helping, retail sales slowed.
Retail sales were flat for December, following a 0.6% increase in November. Economists expected an increase of 0.5%. Excluding autos, sales also were unchanged, against the estimate for a 0.3% increase. On an annual basis, sales rose 2.4%, which was slower than the 3.3% pace in November. Sales excluding autos were up 3.3% annually in December.
$12,000 Gold?
Gold last traded at $5,051 and could test $7,000, even $10,000 at some point, according to analysts. That’s on speculation of more rate cuts, mounting geopolitical tensions, and a wave of central bank buying, especially as countries diversify away from the U.S. dollar.
In fact, according to SAMCO Securities, gold could test $7,000, driven by further geopolitical uncertainties, sky-high deficits, central bank demand, and the real interest rate environment, as noted by Business Standard.
Others, according to SBG Securities, are calling for $10,000 gold based on monetary policy, geopolitical issues, and a weaker U.S. dollar, as noted by Investing.com.
They added that a key driver of gold prices depends on the outlook for interest rate cuts. Markets are currently pricing in two cuts this year, but the firm seems to see room for more, noting that “three cuts could push gold to $7,000 by year’s end (SBG’s base case) and a more dovish Fed may send gold to $10,000.”
Now, according to Myrmikan Capital’s founder Daniel Oliver, we’re in the early phases of a massive bull market for the metal.
“Oliver explains that over history, markets have forced central banks to keep gold reserves at between one-third and one-half of their balance sheets, implying a price between $8,395 and $12,595 per ounce. As long-term Treasury bonds are ‘worth less than where the Fed-manipulated market prices them,’ a panic could bring those reserves at least temporarily up to 100%, he says,” as noted by Morningstar.com.
Coca-Cola Slips on Mixed Results
Shares of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) are lower this morning after posting mixed results for its fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings per share were better than expected for the period, but adjusted revenue came in at $11.82 billion — short of the $12.03 billion Wall Street was expecting. It also forecast 4% to 5% organic revenue growth in 2026. Much like Pepsi, KO has seen weaker demand as shoppers try to cut back on some of their costs.
Deutsche Bank reiterated a buy rating on Micron (NASDAQ: MU), with a price target of $500 from $300. The firm says it sees a favorable environment for MU in the coming quarters. Despite the buy rating, MU is down by $8.50 per share in premarket.
Raymond James just upgraded Take-Two (NASDAQ: TTWO) to a strong buy, noting it’s a “fear-driven buy opportunity,” with a price target of $285.
And Bernstein just reiterated an outperform rating on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) with a $340 price target. The firm says, “The bigger story will be Apple Intelligence / Siri 2.0 coming sometime this year. Although much of investors’ current worries remain stuck in memory price impact on margins and demand, our analysis shows that the impact on EPS should be relatively muted, and the upcoming Apple Intelligence release will be the bigger story,” as quoted by CNBC.