Seagate is a leading supplier of hard disk drives for data storage to the enterprise and consumer markets. It forms a practical duopoly in the market with its chief rival, Western Digital; they are both vertically integrated.

Seagate Technology Holdings provides hard disk drives (HDDs) for the personal computer, enterprise server, storage, retail, and consumer device markets. In December 2011, Seagate completed the acquisition of Samsung's HDD business for $1.4 billion in cash and stock. In calendar 2014, Seagate acquired Xyratex and LSI's SSD assets. In 2018, Seagate invested $1 billion in the Bain consortium to assure adequate NVM supply. Kioxia, the successor company to Toshiba Memory, has since bought out that investment, while retaining NVM supply agreements with Seagate.

Stocks rose on Thursday, as a very encouraging advance estimate of fourth quarter U.S. GDP was more than enough to offset initial gloom brought on when Tesla disappointed investors with earnings news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%, the S&P 500 was higher by 0.5%, and the Nasdaq inched up by 0.2%. So far this week, the S&P 500 is up 1.1%, the Dow is up 0.5%, and the Nasdaq is higher by 1.3%. Personal Consumption Expenditures for December will be reported this morning, offering new clues as to likely action (or non-action) from the Fed at the next policy meeting. In the most-recent report, through November, PCE inflation was reported at 2.6% (the latest CPI report, through December, had inflation at 3.4%). Core PCE, which removes volatile food and energy prices, was 3.2% in the latest month, down from 3.4% in the prior month. Our forecasts call for 2.7% for the headline number and 3.0% for the core.

Seagate is a leading supplier of hard disk drives for data storage to the enterprise and consumer markets. It forms a practical duopoly in the market with its chief rival, Western Digital; they are both vertically integrated.