Wall Street Breakfast: Cyber Thursday

"It will be the biggest product launch of anything, by far, on Earth, this year," Elon Musk said ahead of the highly-anticipated Cybertruck launch slated for 3 PM ET. As the curtains get pulled back, investors will be closely watching Tesla's (TSLA) formal entrance into the pickup truck market, with an electric twist, following the introduction of the commercial-oriented Tesla Semi exactly a year ago. Production of the Cybertruck has already been delayed several times since being announced in 2019, and while today's event will generate some big buzz, expect the company to only dole out the first ten or so EV pickups. Biden EV rule will impact qualifications for subsidies Bells and whistles: Given all of the specs and enormous production challenges, it will be hard to reach high volumes initially, but keep an eye on pricing, speed, and the model's variants. Cybertruck is also Tesla's first high-voltage vehicle, giving it the benefit of faster charging, while its angular design has split the industry into lovers and haters. Armor glass and its ultrahard stainless steel exoskeleton, made from similar material used for rockets at SpaceX, should be able to withstand 9mm bullets, though it is costly, as well as complicated, to cast and weld together. The UAW goes electric with unionization efforts aimed at Tesla"I mean, we dug our own grave with Cybertruck," Musk said on Tesla's (TSLA) most recent earnings call. "Cybertruck's one of those special products that come along only once in a long while and special products that come along once in a long while are just incredibly difficult to bring to market, to reach volume, to be prosperous." He went on to predict that Tesla will "end up with roughly a 0.25 million Cybertrucks a year... probably sometime in 2025," though it will take "a year to 18 months before it is a significant positive cash flow contributor." Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives notes that while the vehicle might not be a major sales driver for the company, the model's introduction is significant to the broader growth story and could recharge the broad Tesla halo effect.  Outlook: The market for full-size pickup trucks is large, with Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), and Toyota Motor (TM) all generating huge profits. A well-known Cybertruck reservation tracker even estimates that net reservations currently stand at 2.10M. The Cybertruck will compete against the all-electric models such as the Ford (F) F-150 Lightning, the GMC Hummer EV (GM), the Rivian (RIVN) R1T, the all-electric Chevrolet Silverado (GM), and the upcoming Ram 1500 REV (STLA). Further down the road, the Fisker (FSR) Alaska pickup truck and Canoo (GOEV) pickup trucks are expected to enter the market. (360 comments)

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Top News Cyber Thursday Getty Images "It will be the biggest product launch of anything, by far, on Earth, this year," Elon Musk said ahead of the highly-anticipated Cybertruck launch slated for 3 PM ET. As the curtains get pulled back, investors will be closely watching Tesla's (TSLA) formal entrance into the pickup truck market, with an electric twist, following the introduction of the commercial-oriented Tesla Semi exactly a year ago. Production of the Cybertruck has already been delayed several times since being announced in 2019, and while today's event will generate some big buzz, expect the company to only dole out the first ten or so EV pickups. Biden EV rule will impact qualifications for subsidies Bells and whistles: Given all of the specs and enormous production challenges, it will be hard to reach high volumes initially, but keep an eye on pricing, speed, and the model's variants. Cybertruck is also Tesla's first high-voltage vehicle, giving it the benefit of faster charging, while its angular design has split the industry into lovers and haters. Armor glass and its ultrahard stainless steel exoskeleton, made from similar material used for rockets at SpaceX, should be able to withstand 9mm bullets, though it is costly, as well as complicated, to cast and weld together. The UAW goes electric with unionization efforts aimed at Tesla "I mean, we dug our own grave with Cybertruck," Musk said on Tesla's (TSLA) most recent earnings call. "Cybertruck's one of those special products that come along only once in a long while and special products that come along once in a long while are just incredibly difficult to bring to market, to reach volume, to be prosperous." He went on to predict that Tesla will "end up with roughly a 0.25 million Cybertrucks a year... probably sometime in 2025," though it will take "a year to 18 months before it is a significant positive cash flow contributor." Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives notes that while the vehicle might not be a major sales driver for the company, the model's introduction is significant to the broader growth story and could recharge the broad Tesla halo effect.  Outlook: The market for full-size pickup trucks is large, with Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), and Toyota Motor (TM) all generating huge profits. A well-known Cybertruck reservation tracker even estimates that net reservations currently stand at 2.10M. The Cybertruck will compete against the all-electric models such as the Ford (F) F-150 Lightning, the GMC Hummer EV (GM), the Rivian (RIVN) R1T, the all-electric Chevrolet Silverado (GM), and the upcoming Ram 1500 REV (STLA). Further down the road, the Fisker (FSR) Alaska pickup truck and Canoo (GOEV) pickup trucks are expected to enter the market. (360 comments)       Energy OPEC + COP Crude futures continue to rise as OPEC and its allies are reportedly considering new oil production cuts of as much as 1M bbl/day, which could be announced at the start of the cartel's high-stakes policy meeting. Saudi Arabia, which unilaterally cut production by 1M bbl/day in June, favors further cuts, while top African producers Nigeria and Angola reportedly have been resisting a downgrade of their individual quotas. Delegates said the rollover of most existing output curbs is the most likely scenario, but talks are continuing. COP28 climate talks will also kick off today in the United Arab Emirates, a hydrocarbon heavyweight within OPEC that plans to raise its oil production capacity to 5M barrels per day by 2027. (60 comments)       M&A Health insurance giant Aiming to better compete with larger rivals like UnitedHealth (UNH) and Elevance Health (ELV), Cigna (CI) and Humana (HUM) are reportedly looking to combine in a deal that could be worth about $140B, including debt. "With Cigna's strength being concentrated in its Pharmacy Services Business, and Humana's in its Medicare Advantage healthcare plan administration business, there are some obvious synergies that could be realized through a merger between these two healthcare giants," noted SA Investing Group Leader Edmund Ingham. "The rumor that Cigna is looking to offload its own minor Medicare Advantage business may hint at an attempt to pre-empt and circumnavigate antitrust issues that could prevent a merger taking place." (112 comments)       Financials Foreign foray Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) tried to launch in the United Kingdom in 2016 and 2022, but it's now hoping that the third time's the charm. Early next year, the zero-commissions pioneer will offer the ability to choose from 6,000 U.S. stocks, along with 5% interest on cash they hold with the broker, though its British platform won't initially include options or foreign shares. It's a big deal for Robinhood, which just turned profitable in Q2 and has been looking to finally expand internationally as its next lever of growth. "There's definitely an embrace of technology and innovation that I think will make the U.K. continue to be a great place to do business," declared co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev, adding that the U.K. has a "long history of being a financial hub."       Today's Markets In Asia, Japan +0.4%. Hong Kong +0.2%. China +0.3%. India +0.2%. In Europe, at midday, London +0.5%. Paris +0.2%. Frankfurt +0.2%. Futures at 6:30, Dow +0.4%. S&P +0.2%. Nasdaq +0.2%. Crude +0.9% to $78.57. Gold -0.4% to $2059.70. Bitcoin -1.4% to $37,706. Ten-year Treasury Yield +2 bps to 4.29% Today's Economic Calendar 8:30 Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 Personal Income and Outlays 9:15 Fed's Williams: "Exploring Innovations in Central Banking" 9:45 Chicago PMI 10:00 Pending Home Sales 10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory 3:00 PM Farm Prices 4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet Companies reporting earnings today » What else is happening... Next estimate of U.S. GDP growth comes in sizzling at 5.2%. No news blockade: Google (GOOGL) inks deal with Canada. Salesforce (CRM) rallies on strong earnings and forecasts. Closing arguments set for DOJ trial against Spirit-JetBlue. Occidental (OXY) in talks to acquire Permian's CrownRock. Venezuela to invade Guyana? Hess (HES) is watching. Snowflake (SNOW) results suggest cloud slowdown is over. In a flash: Pure Storage (PSTG) slides on disappointing guidance. Henry Kissinger, who opened U.S. relations with China, dies at 100. Consumer Reports names best and worst auto brands for reliability. 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