Buffett’s Berkshire buys $4.2bn stake in HP shares

Berkshire Hathaway’s $4.2bn stake in HP sparked a recovery rally in the tech hardware stock, making it a top mover in today’s news. For big tech stocks Meta Platforms and Alphabet, Facebook is looking to launch a virtual currency, while Wing launched its first commercial delivery drone service. Outside of the US, Indonesia’s GoTo ride-hailing service is set to be one of the biggest IPOs in 2022 so far and Chinese quant funds have been buying the dip. 

Berkshire backs HP

While HP stocks have fallen almost 10% in the past three months, Berkshire Hathaway clearly sees value in the Silicon Valley tech firm. Shares in HP [HPQ] climbed almost 15% in premarket trading on Thursday after a securities filing revealed that Berkshire had recently bought 120.95 million shares in the company, worth approximately $4.2bn and representing an 11% stake.

Undervalued UK stocks

With stock markets in flux amid heightened economic and political crises, many investors are looking to companies with long-term growth potential and a low price relative to their earnings. Imperial Brands [IMB], Centrica [CNA] and Asos [ASOS] shares have all been trending downwards since the start of the year, but strong performance and analyst sentiment suggests these stocks are undervalued.

Quant funds bought the dip

One of China’s largest algorithm-driven hedge funds, Shanghai Minghong Investment Management, told Bloomberg that it added $63m worth of stocks to its portfolio during the country’s recent market slump. Other quant funds followed in a similar direction, with Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management buying more shares than it sold in the week ending 18 March and Lingjun Investment also buying during this period of decline.

OPTO SESSIONS: NOAH HAMMAN

With more than 15 years of experience in the fund management business, the founder and CEO of AdvisorShares Noah Hamman has weathered the ups and downs of market volatility. As global equity markets whipsaw amid heightened macro-economic tensions, including geopolitical conflict stemming from the Russia-Ukraine crisis and recession fears, he sees all eyes on what the Federal Reserve will do next to temper a bear market. However, while the Fed has signalled a more aggressive hawkish stance, Hamman isn’t sure whether this will have a completely negative impact on markets. 

GoTo IPO

Indonesian ride-hailing and ecommerce startup GoTo says it will raise $1.1bn in its IPO next week, making it one of the biggest listings this year. The company, which is backed by big names such as Alibaba and SoftBank, will debut its shares on 11 April. GoTo will be Indonesia’s fourth largest publicly listed company. It has a shared fleet that can carry food, passengers and goods all in one vehicle and also offers a digital wallet.

‘Zuck Bucks’ in the metaverse

Facebook parent Meta [FB] is reportedly looking to create in-app tokens to be used in the metaverse, according to the Financial Times. The virtual currency, which employees are reportedly nicknaming ‘Zuck Bucks’, would be centrally controlled by Meta, similar to Roblox’s robux. The company is also reportedly looking at ways to reward content creators through ‘social tokens’ or ‘reputation tokens’ and ‘creator coins’.

Alphabet’s Wing takes to the skies

Google owner Alphabet [GOOGL] successfully launched the first commercial deliveries using its Wing drone service. The initial rollout is taking place in suburbs of Dallas, Texas, delivering goods from partners such as Walgreens [WBA] and Texas Health, with plans to expand further in the Dallas-Fort Worth area if the trial is successful. Wing is also testing its services in other parts of the world, including Finland and Australia.