Equity futures are being lifted this morning in part by shares of UBS (UBS) and Micron (MU) .
UBS named former CEO Sergio Ermotti as its new Group CEO, following the recent acquisition of Credit Suisse (CS) . Ermotti was behind the successful repositioning of UBS following the 2008 global financial crisis and was attributed with achieving "a profound culture change within the bank."
This is another step in helping reestablish confidence that the worst of the recent bank failures is behind us and supports our decision to add more Bank of America (BAC) shares over the last few days.
Adding to that thought, Federal Reserve's Vice Chair of Supervision Michael Barr makes another appearance in Washington today, this time before the House Financial Services Committee. Following Barr's appearance yesterday, market watchers will be looking for clues on the forward path for monetary policy and if Barr shares any incremental thoughts regarding tightening credit expectations on the economy.
Our thinking is that is a rather low probability and we continue to see upcoming bank earnings helping us and the market wrap our arms around that and what it means for the Fed's inflation fighting efforts.
Micron
While the AAP portfolio doesn't have a position in Micron (MU) shares, as you know we were rather interested in its comments and outlook for its end markets. During its earnings conference call last night, Micron shared it now expects PC unit volume to fall mid-single digits this year, smartphone unit volume to be down slightly in 2023, and that data center demand bottomed during the quarter. Micron also shared the smartphone market is shifting its mix more towards flagship phones.
At the margin, its comments about the PC market are incrementally positive compared to how it saw the 2023 market unfolding back in late December. That's a positive for our shares of Microsoft (MSFT) .
Micron's comment about the market shifting to flagship phones is a positive for Apple (AAPL) , and its update on the data center market supports the AAP decision to enter Marvell (MRVL) shares earlier this month.