Market Movements: From Tesla’s Surge to Shell’s Trading Triumphs

Tesla Soars on Tentative China Approval for Driving System

• Elon Musk’s quick visit to China paid immediate dividends, with Tesla Inc. receiving in-principle approval from government officials to deploy its driver-assistance system in the world’s biggest auto market.

• The US carmaker was granted the approval under certain conditions, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because details of all the criteria aren’t clear. Tesla did manage to clear two of the most important hurdles: reaching a mapping and navigation deal with Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc., and meeting requirements for how it handles data-security and privacy issues.

• Tesla shares soared 15% Monday, its best day in more than three years, while Baidu’s American depositary receipts closed 5.6% higher. Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment on the status of its attempt to secure regulatory approval.

AMD to report Q1 earnings Tuesday as Wall Street looks for jump in AI and PC sales

• Chip giant AMD (AMD) will report its first quarter earnings after the bell on Tuesday. The announcement follows rival Intel’s disappointing report last week. While Intel (INTC) beat on the top and bottom lines, the company provided lower-than-anticipated revenue guidance for the current quarter, sending shares sliding.

• Investors and analysts will be looking at two key metrics during AMD’s report: AI chip sales and PC market performance. The company released its MI300 line of AI accelerators in December 2023 and began shipping units shortly thereafter. How well those chips are selling could have a large impact on AMD’s shares following the earnings announcement.

• Wall Street expects earnings per share (EPS) of $0.61 on revenue of $5.45 billion. That would mark a slight increase from the same quarter last year when AMD reported EPS of $0.60 on revenue of $5.35 billion.

Global upstream sector set for deals worth $150 billion over rest of 2024, report says

• The global upstream industry could see dealmaking worth another $150 billion throughout the remainder of the year, with focus shifting to shale plays in U.S. other than the Permian Basin, analysts at Rystad Energy said in a report.

• M&A activity in the global upstream industry has already crossed the $64 billion mark this year, most of it focused around the U.S. shale patch.

• M&A activity in the first-quarter in North America was nearly $54 billion, or 83%, of the worldwide total and the region is expected to be the driving force for consolidation for the rest of the year, the report said.

Shell earns $1 billion a year from US crude trading, court filing shows

• Financial details of Shell's vast oil and gas trading business are some of the company's closest-held secrets. Documents in a lawsuit filed by a former employee, however, revealed its U.S. crude trading regularly earns around $1 billion every year.

• Testimony by a former head of Shell's U.S. crude trading division filed in a Texas state court has offered a rare look at the huge profits of its trading operations and the multi-million dollar bonuses bestowed on traders.

• That is between 13% and 15% of Shell's overall U.S. pre-tax profits in recent years, according to calculations based on company filings.

Nigeria secures $600 million Maersk investment in seaport infrastructure

• Nigeria secured a $600 million investment in seaport infrastructure from Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk, the presidency said in a statement on Sunday.

• The investment was secured during a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Moller-Maersk Chairman Robert Maersk Uggla on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia.

• "We believe in Nigeria, and we will invest $600 million in existing facilities and make the ports accommodating for bigger ships," the Nigerian presidency quoted Uggla as saying during the meeting.