Technology

Cord cutting is a topic which we discuss on a fairly regular basis, particularly over the last several quarters as the subscriber losses for cable companies have seemingly accelerated (see: Cord-Cutting Accelerates, Sends Shock Wave Across Traditional TV).  Not surprisingly, one of the biggest losers of the cord cutting phenomenon has been ESPN, a media giant that ironically was one of the largest, if not the largest, beneficiaries of the cable TV bundle since it made its debut in 1979 (see: ESPN Lost 15,000 Subscribers A Day In October).

Submitted by Nicholas Colas of DataTrek Research

Today we want to expand on our recent thoughts on “What are retail investors buying right now?” We showed last week, courtesy of Fidelity Investments data, that mom-and-pops are still adding to positions even on breakouts in US equities. Further, the names at the top of the retail investor league table tend to be single stock Tech names rather than ETFs. Yesterday, for example, Fido’s retail customers were net buyers of NVDA, AMZN, and BABA and those names were the most heavily traded.

Google has announced the latest escalation in its battle to censor “extremist” content on its platforms, a covert campaign to censor conservative voices.

The company plans to hire 10,000 staffers whose sole jobs will be tracking down extremist content that might violate Youtube’s terms of service, according to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.

Wojcicki said that "bad actors" had used the video-sharing site to "mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm" others.

A seven-year-old Israeli firm founded by three veterans of Israel's military intelligence unit is raking in millions selling CIA-tier hacking software to governments around the world. With over 200 employees, a sales arm in Bethesda, Maryland, and a long list of clients identified by watchdogs which have dubious civil rights records, the NSO Group - owned by U.S.-based Francisco Partners, charges $500,000 plus $65K per phone to completely hack and infiltrate a device with their flagship "Pegasus" software suite. 

Omar Lavie, co-founder of NSO group

Microsoft is down almost 4% - the biggest drop since June 2016 - filling the gap from earnigs as the entire tech space is coming under serious pressure in this low-high tax rotation.

No, there is no MSFT-specific news or catalyst...

FANGs, Semis, and the broad tech sector are in trouble...

As the low-to-high tax company rotation continues...