Dear Readers,

On Wednesday, stocks experienced a consecutive decline as the Nasdaq Composite recorded its sharpest drop in nearly three months. The downward trend seemed linked to investors offloading tech stocks that had surged in the previous year, riding on expectations of relaxed monetary policies in 2024. However, given the lingering instability in the economy and the uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's timing for rate cuts, investors seemed to have tempered their optimism.

Market participants eagerly awaited insights into the economic landscape and potential directions of Federal Reserve policy. The release of minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting scheduled for Wednesday was anticipated to offer valuable clues in this regard.

As of 12:21 PM ET, the Dow was down -259.9883 points, or -0.6893%, at $37455.05. The Nasdaq Composite lost -163.0771 points, or -0.9857%, at $16380.86. The S&P 500 declined -34.8501 points, or -0.7348%, at $4707.98. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 9 showed negative movement, with Real Estate leading the way with a -0.78% decrease.

Top Movers: Under $10

ABVC BioPharma Inc (ABVC) is up 65.00% today to trade at the current level of $1.98. This comes after the company received $460M from AiBtl BioPharma as the first milestone payment of global licensing fees.

Sigma Additive Solutions Inc (SASI) zoomed 55.52% in today’s trade to $4.51 after announcing the completion of its acquisition of NextTrip Holdings, Inc.

In current trading, TDCX Inc ADR (TDCX) stock is at $6.40 following the receipt of a preliminary non-binding proposal to acquire the remaining outstanding Class A Ordinary shares of the company.

Aeva Technologies Inc (AEVA) rose 32.47% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $0.97 after announcing that one of the top global automotive OEMs has selected Aeva as its Tier 1 LiDAR supplier for its series production vehicle program.

In the current trading session, SEALSQ Corp (LAES) jumped 17.52% to $1.38 over a previous close of $1.17 after reporting that in a significant leap forward for the IoT industry, it will unveil its revolutionary cryptocurrency protocol, SEALCOIN, during the prestigious Davos roundtable on Space IoT and Cybersecurity.

Ex-Dividends Stocks

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) is about to trade ex-dividend tomorrow, meaning that investors who buy the stock after tomorrow will not be eligible for the next dividend payment. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.12 per share. The company has fixed January 05 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on January 19. Last year, the company distributed a total of $0.42 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, AEO has a trailing yield of 2.11% on the current stock price of $20.02.

Another stock that is shelling out dividends tomorrow is Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (KDP), having a market capitalization of $45.72B. It will pay a dividend of $0.21 per share, the payment date of which is January 19. Currently, the stock is trading at a trailing dividend yield of 2.52%.

Shares of American Express Co. (AXP) will be the talk of stock market on Thursday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.6 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of $2.41 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that AXP has a trailing yield of 1.29% on the current share price of $186.80.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) is also set to go ex-dividend tomorrow. The next dividend payment from BMY will amount to $0.6 per share. January 05 has been designated as the record date for this dividend, with the actual payout scheduled for February 01. In the previous year, BMY distributed a total of $2.24 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for BMY stands at 4.28% based on the current stock price of $52.38.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) will be paying out a dividend of $1.05 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of January 05. Over the past 12 months, JPM has paid out a total of $4.09 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, JPM boasts an impressive trailing yield of 2.39% on the current share price of $171.36.

Crypto Market Highlights

Most Shorted Stocks

Lemonade Inc (LMND) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 33.68% short interest. The days to cover ratio, a measure of how long it would take for all the short positions to be covered based on average trading volume, is 8.6. This represents a change of -350000 shares, which corresponds to a -2.06% decrease in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $274.39 million. The average daily volume stands at 1.97M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $1.15B.

For the stock Sunpower Corp (SPWR), the current short interest is at 32.98%. This represents a significant short interest change of -140000 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage decrease of -0.49%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 4.1. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $128.16 million.

With the symbol DM, the stock currently has a short interest of 25%. The short interest change is 4,044,276 shares. It would take approximately 12.87 days to cover all the short positions. The company boasts an average daily volume of 3.32M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $224.07M.

The stock ABR has a current short interest of 31.56%. The short interest percentage has experienced decrease of -0.98% while there was a change of -590000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 12.3. Trading activity averages at 5.00M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $2.78B.

AI Stocks to Watch

According to our ST Score evaluation, Arista Networks Inc (ANET) emerges as a high-quality stock in the AI industry, attaining an impressive score of 66.0. The stock's profitability, performance, growth, financial strength, and stock sentiment are strong. However, its value are weak. Additionally, it is neutral in terms of Piotroski Score, and forecast.

Our ST Score also classifies Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR) as a high-quality AI stock today, presenting a Score of 62.0. The stock has strong fundamentals in terms of profitability, growth, financial strength, stock sentiment, and Piotroski Score. However, it has weak value, and performance. The forecast are neutral.

Another stock in the category, EPAM Systems Inc (EPAM) has the ST Score of 60.0, which means that the stock carries the potential for higher returns. The stock is strong in profitability, financial strength, stock sentiment, and Piotroski Score but weak in value. Performance, growth, and forecast suggest a neutral outlook.

Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM) stock has the ST Score of 60.0 which implies that the AI company has a high probability of beating the market. The stock's strengths lie in its profitability, financial strength, stock sentiment, and Piotroski Score, but its weaknesses are in its performance, and growth. However, it shows neutral outlook in value, and forecast.

NVIDIA Corp (NVDA) currently has the ST Score of 59.0, which signifies a huge upward potential. The AI stock's strong points are its profitability, growth, stock sentiment, and Piotroski Score, while its weak points are its value. The stock's performance, financial strength, and forecast indicate a neutral outlook.