Alphabet stock hits record high with new FTC chair

Dates         | Stock Price (GOOGL)

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Two Years Ago |     $87.91

One Year Ago  |     $131.06

Today               |     $195.08

(Dec. 2024) Alphabet (GOOGL.O),  led a Big Tech rally on Wednesday, with its stock hitting a record high after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump picked Federal Trade Commissioner Andrew Ferguson to lead the consumer protection and antitrust agency.

Andrew Ferguson

Trump tapped Ferguson on Tuesday to replace Lina Khan, whose term as FTC chair has expired.

The agency became a political flashpoint under Khan, who promoted antitrust enforcement as a check on corporate power. Several Big Tech firms such as Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft (MSFT.O), and Apple (AAPL.O), heightened regulatory pressure from the FTC during her tenure.

Ferguson was a "known dissenter" under Khan "and many people feel under his leadership the antitrust case against Alphabet will come to an end", said Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets.

Lina Kahn, former Federal Trade Commission Chair

Trump and his team have been broadly critical of Big Tech companies, although some of his most prominent backers were tech executives, and it is unclear how they will approach regulatory and M&A policy for that sector.

Alphabet's shares rose about 5.5% to hit a record high of $195.45. Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab jumped 4.6%, also to a record high, extending its rally since the Nov. 5 presidential election on bets the EV-maker will benefit from CEO Elon Musk's close relationship with Trump.

Other tech shares also rallied. Microsoft gained 1.2% and Amazon.com (AMZN.O), and Meta Platforms (META.O), added 2% each.

The latest inflation report raised expectations of an interest-rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve later this month, lifting technology stocks.

Shares of Alphabet have gained over 10% in the last two days following announcements from the company about its AI agents and quantum-chip breakthrough.

Google released the second generation of its Gemini artificial intelligence model earlier on Wednesday and teased a lineup of new ways to use AI beyond chatbots, including through a pair of eyeglasses.

It unveiled a new-generation chip on Monday, which it said helped overcome a key challenge in quantum computing.

Chart: United States Annual Inflation Rates (2014 to 2024)

 Chart: United States Annual Inflation Rates (2014 to 2024)

SOURCE: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/

Your Buying Power of $200 from 2010 is only worth $155 in today's dollars

SOURCE:  https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/2010?amount=200

 

* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final.

$200 in 2010 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $254.93 in  today's money, that's an increase of $51.60 over 11 years!

The dollar had an average inflation rate of only 2.23% per year between 2010 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 27.47%. 

This means that today's prices are 1.27 times higher than average prices since 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. 

A dollar today only buys 78.45% of what it could buy back then.

The 2010 inflation rate was 1.64%.

The 2021 inflation rate is 7.39%.

$200 in 2010 is equivalent to $251.60 (after adjusting for inflation)

$200 in 2010 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $251.60 today, an increase of $51.60 over 11 years!

The dollar had an average inflation rate of only 2.11% per year between 2010 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 25.80%. 

The 2010 inflation rate was 1.64%.

The 2021 inflation rate was 5.99%.

Are you mad about how the world exists today? If so, you'll appreciate this video clip. If not, i guess ignorance truly is bliss.

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad."




Are you mad about how the world exists today? If so, you'll appreciate this video clip. If not, i guess ignorance truly is bliss.