Taking A Break -- So Much News This Morning -- Need To Take A Break -- February 22, 2024

Locator: 46871INV.

S&P and NASDAQ on track for best day since November 14, 2023.

Tech stocks on the crawler:

• NVDA: could overtake AAPL
  
• AMD
• SMCI
• ASML
• TSM
• ARM
  

Others:

• Salesforce
• MRNA: up $8 on a stock selling for less than $100
  
• Chord Energy: now down $5 / share

Others:

• CAT: up $5; up almost 2%:
• The big story, of course, this week is NVDA and the other chip companies with some exceptions.

But the other big story: "weaker EV demand." 

I'll come back to this later, but this is a bigger story than most folks realize.

There are a couple of questions with regard to "weaker EV demand" that CNBC analysts are not asking. I've had trouble answering those same questions, but the fog is starting to clear. When I get my energy back, I'll come back to this.

Hint: to "understand" the EV "problem," start with Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, and Rolls Royce.

Phil LeBeau: Rivian is a "luxury-priced EV." And it's not selling. Their guidance is 57,000 vehicles. Will shut down their plant in Normal, Illinois, for "a couple of weeks in the second quarter to make production changes.

Rivian R2 will be unveiled March 17, 2024, but the R2 won't go into mass production until the Rivian plant in Georgia is completed in 2026. They will burn through a lot of cash with that new Georgia facility. Market cap a few years ago,$160 billion; now about $10 billion. I think at some point questions will be raised whether Rivian will remain a going concern. Certainly, another cash infusion will be needed. Stock dilution?