A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike

Dolan

Has the "Magnificent Seven" become the "Famous Five" or even

"Fab Four"?

With one eye on the major macro events of the week, Apple ( AAPL )

and Tesla's separation from this year's

tech-infused stock market buoyancy and their underperformance

against the other "Magnificent Seven" megacaps has become more

pointed.

Apple's ( AAPL ) stock was down almost 2% again ahead of Tuesday's

bell after news that iPhone sales in China fell 24% year-on-year

in the first six weeks of 2024 - as the U.S. giant faces

increased competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei

.

And it has been a bad week already for Apple ( AAPL ), which dropped

3% on Monday after the European Union fined it 1.84 billion

euros ($2 billion) for thwarting competition from music

streaming rivals via curbs on its App Store. It was the iPhone

maker's first ever penalty for breaching EU rules.

Apple ( AAPL ) is now down almost 10% for the year to date -

underperforming the Nasdaq 100 and S&P500 by about

16%. And even though it is still up 15% over the past 12 months,

that's less than a third the gain of the Nasdaq 100.

Tesla's stock woes are even deeper as it faces waning demand

for electric vehicles and a price war, with its stock now down

almost 25% for 2024. It dropped more than 7% on Monday alone

after its sales declined in February in China, where it likely

faced a slowdown during the Lunar New Year holidays.

With artificial intelligence and related chipmaking the buzz

of the year, Google-parent Alphabet has not fared much

better - and is down almost 5% for the year.

With even the equal-weighted S&P500 up 4% this

year, the underperformance is notable.

Exposure to China's stumbling economy, the geopolitical

standoff between Washington and Beijing and this year U.S.

elections may be common factors.

China's mainland stocks edged higher on Tuesday

after Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced an ambitious 2024

economic growth target of around 5% on Tuesday, promising steps

to transform the country's development model and defuse risks

fuelled by bankrupt property developers and indebted cities.

But with property and tech sector worries smouldering in the

background, Hong Kong's Hang Seng were less impressed -

sliding 2.6% and with its tech giants tumbling 4.3%.

Details of Tuesday's National People's Congress plan showed

China will boost defence spending by 7.2% this year, fuelling a

military budget that has more than doubled under President Xi

Jinping's 11 years in office as Beijing hardens its stance on

Taiwan.

Back on Wall St, politics was also top of mind on "Super

Tuesday". Donald Trump won the North Dakota Republican

presidential caucuses on Monday, according to projections, ahead

of a slew of contests where he is expected to strengthen his

grip on the party's presidential nomination.

Trump, who has promised universal 10% import tariffs and

bilateral trade tariffs of 60% on China's goods if elected, was

handed a major victory on Monday as the U.S. Supreme Court

barred states from disqualifying candidates under a

constitutional provision involving insurrection. That reversed

Colorado's exclusion of him from its ballot.

Elsewhere, bitcoin's almost 60% charge higher this

year seemed to stumble at the final hurdle on Tuesday as it

balked at 2021's record high near $69,000 and turned tail.

Microstrategy ( MSTR ) fell almost 9% after the bitcoin

development company announced a private offering for $600

million in convertible senior notes, with proceeds to be used to

buy bitcoin.

More broadly, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were in the red

again after a dour start to the week.

Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) was off about 3% after a

report that the chipmaker hit a U.S. government roadblock in its

efforts to sell an AI chip tailored for the Chinese market.

With Wednesday's congressional testimony from Federal

Reserve chair Jerome Powell now firmly in view, U.S. Treasury

yields were calm and the dollar index was

steady.

Key diary items that may provide direction to U.S. markets later

on Tuesday:

* U.S. Feb service sector surveys from ISM and S&P Global, Jan

factory goods orders

* Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr speaks

* U.S. Treasury auctions 3-, 6-month bills

* U.S. corp earnings: Target, Crowdstrike ( CRWD ), Greenlight Capital,

Ross Stores ( ROST )

(By Mike Dolan, editing by Ed Osmond,

[email protected])