| Supply-and-demand dynamics push oil lower, even as Mideast tension mounts. Magnificent Seven stocks slide. Here's what people are talking about.
Tell us what you want to see in the Five Things newsletter! Please take our quick survey here. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude declined as broad risk-off sentiment undercut concerns about escalating Middle East conflict. Crude had rallied after Iran deployed a warship to the Red Sea, but fell into negative territory with a miss for December's S&P Global US manufacturing PMI. The gauge's output reading fell to the lowest since June, reversing an expansion trend. That signal of potentially waning demand added to the case for soft oil prices, reinforcing a bearish outlook. Traders have been focused on soaring US oil production, along with the signs of a slower economy and warm weather that indicate suppressed demand for fuel. The killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut, announced around midday New York time, failed to lift oil prices, even though Hamas and Lebanon blamed Israel, with the Lebanese caretaker premier saying the attack was meant to "drag Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation." Claudine Gay is stepping down as president of Harvard University, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure marred by allegations of plagiarism and a campus controversy over antisemitism. "It has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual," Gay wrote in a statement. Harvard Corp. said in its own statement that provost Alan Garber will become interim president and that it will undertake a search for a new leader. The S&P 500 and Treasuries kicked off 2024 on a sour note as a slide in the Magnificent Seven tech megacaps pressured stocks, raising concern they'll lose 2023's shine. Worries over demand for Apple iPhones and tighter government restrictions on chipmakers outweighed positive signs from Tesla. Broader data indicated a manufacturing retreat as well. Together, those signals fed a slowdown narrative, underscoring dour market sentiment. The Nasdaq 100 index slid 1.7%, the tech-heavy benchmark's biggest drop in two months. The moves were also in line with some strategists' expectations that the rally in equities is due for a breather. Betting on growth and momentum was the winning attitude in 2023. The so-called Magnificent Seven surged 107%. Nvidia's share price more than tripled. Do you think it's better this year to bet on growth stocks, such as technology, or on value? Share your views in Bloomberg's latest MLIV Pulse survey. The US dollar posted its strongest advance since mid-October as investors showed doubts about the scale of Fed monetary easing. Watch for India and Singapore PMI data. Here's what caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - Apple slid the most since September as Barclays cut the stock to underweight on demand worry.
- Tesla falls behind BYD in quarterly EV Sales as growth slows.
- JPMorgan hits a fresh record for the first time in more than two years.
- Analyst Mike Mayo doubles down on his bullish call for Citigroup.
- X is now worth less than one-third of what Elon Musk paid for the company formerly known as Twitter, according to investor Fidelity.
- Rob Citrone's Discovery macro hedge fund soared 48% last year.
- Here's (almost) everything Wall Street expects in 2024.
And finally, here's what Garfield is interested in today: It turns out that those who forecast 2023 would be the year of the bond were just one word off — it was in fact a year of bond volatility. The question is whether that is going to change at all in 2024. Bonds continue to be the pivotal arena for markets as central banks ponder how to end the most severe global tightening cycle for a generation. Also on the agenda is when to start reversing at least some of those interest-rate hikes, and how rapidly to do so. ICE's MOVE Index of expected Treasuries volatility has been stuck above its long-term average for two years now. The contrast with currencies underscores how wild the times in bond land have been, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s gauge of implied currency volatility sank below its long-run mean in the middle of last year, as the slowdown in central bank hikes spread some level of calm across foreign-exchange markets. With traders pricing for about twice as many rate cuts as the Federal Reserve is forecasting, the chances would seem to be strong that expectations for yield swings will remain elevated. Garfield Reynolds is Chief Rates Correspondent for Bloomberg News in Asia, based in Sydney. | 
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