BTIG analyst Marvin Fong downgraded TrueCar (TRUE) to Neutral saying factors outside of the company's control have "increased the degree of difficulty" for 2019. Google's (GOOGL, GOOG) recent algorithm change continues to weigh on TrueCar's traffic, Fong tells investors in a research note. His tracking indicates the company's organic search traffic was down month-over-month in November with some recovery in December but still down significantly year-over-year. Another external factor is the deteriorating new car environment, says the analyst.

The promise of AI has already driven a massive market rally. The irony is that Apple (AAPL), the company with more context about our lives than any other, has been left behind, Alex Eule writes in this week's edition of Barron's. Unlike Big Tech rivals Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOGL), or the start-up OpenAI, it has yet to create its own large-language model. The switch to AI, to be sure, is more complex than making a larger-screen phone. But Apple's dominance hasn't changed. And that puts it at the center of any shift - real or artificial, the author says. Reference Link