Brought to you by:
Hey, welcome to today's Bay Area Times daily newsletter. If you haven't yet already, follow us on Twitter.
Click here if youāre interested in advertising to our audience of 125K+ subscribers. Weāre sold out weeks in advance, so please get in touch as soon as possible.
Top stories today:
1. Biden order bans U.S. semiconductors, quantum, AI investments in China
2. Novo Nordisk's profit margins expand to 36% as Ozempic sales grow 58%
3. Disney continues to lose money with DTC streaming
4. SEC appeals Ripple case on the matter of whether XRP sales were securities
5. Apple can keep its App Store practices for now
6. Claude Instant 1.2 launches, promising to be better at coding
7. CPI in July expected at 0.2% MoM / 3.3% YoY at 8:30 AM ET
0. Data and calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
All times are ET.
1. Biden executive order bans U.S. semiconductors, quantum, AI investments in China
Semiconductors, quantum, and AI: āthe term ācovered national security technologies and productsā means sensitive technologies and products in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors that are critical for the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities of a country of concern.ā - Reuters, executive order
2024+ implementation: The exact rules of this order are unclear, which should only contribute to the downfall of U.S. VC activity in China.
China called it āblatant economic coercion.ā - CNBC
China has a plan to counteract the U.S.'s aggressive industrial policy. - Bloomberg
U.S. VC investment in China has already dropped significantly, even before this order
AI investments in the U.S. also outpace those in China, and this order should only favor this advantage
2. Novo Nordisk's profit margins expand to 36% as Ozempic sales grow 58%
Their numbers are in DKK, so divide by 7 to get to USD:
Patients love these new weight loss drugs:
$15.9B net sales in H1 2023, +29% YoY.
$5.8B net profit, +43%.
