26/04/2024 09:19

Global Markets

US stocks recovered strongly from their initial aggressive sell-off following the META result and, significantly, average guidance. If we exclude last night's tough tech session, it was a balanced session for US stocks, with 5 of the main 11 sectors closing higher, led by the resources, which should bode well for the likely names ex-BHP. Reporting season is delivering its usual volatility under the hood, but we don’t see any major concerns at the index level.

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24/04/2024 09:27

Global Markets

US indices extended their recovery overnight with all of the influential FANG stocks in the winner's enclosure led by Netflix (NFLX US) +4.2% and Nvidia (NVDA US) +3.7%. Telsa (TSLA US) reported well after-market beating expectations, sending the stock up over 5% in late trading which should add to support for US Futures today. Under the hood, General Motors (GM US) raised its profit outlook after strong first-quarter numbers, the stock closed up 4.3%, while PepsiCo (PEP US) earnings missed analyst expectations, resulting in a  3% dip by the stock.

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23/04/2024 09:00

Global Markets

US stocks rallied 0.9% overnight, although they surrendered 40% of their gains into the close as investors braced for the earnings numbers from the big tech stocks, starting with Tesla (TSLA US). The Dow posted its best day in 2-weeks, making it three up days in a row, as bonds finally stabilised ahead of a barrage of US quarterly earnings data over the coming days. Precious metals fell to 2-week lows as geopolitical tensions eased with weakness likely in the sector this morning.

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22/04/2024 09:08

Equity Indices

The ASX200 started to unwind last week, taking its recent pullback to more than 5%; it felt far worse into Friday lunchtime. Capitulation-like selling washed through the ASX at the end of last week as we heard that Israel had launched attacks on Iran. However, ironically, crude oil finished the week noticeably lower, and gold failed to make new highs, implying plenty of the Middle East news is already built into markets.

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19/04/2024 09:18

Global Markets

US stocks struggled overnight, although the Dow did manage to close +0.1% higher, helped by an almost 3% advance by United Health Group (UNH US). The issue for stocks was again a weakness in the treasury market after more solid economic data overnight, in this case, on the jobs front. Most of the economic reads we’ve seen this week have pointed to an economy firing on all cylinders, which is not ideal for the Fed hoping to start cutting interest rates in 2024. Even Dr Copper is painting the picture of strong global growth after rallying another 2.2% overnight, posting another 14-month high in the process.

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18/04/2024 09:05

Global Markets

US stocks fell overnight, ignoring some solid earnings numbers as macroeconomic and geopolitical fears continue to dominate risk assets. United Airlines (UAL US) was a standout winner, surging more than 17% after beating on revenue, but elsewhere, the market had a cautionary feel about it, with rate-sensitive stocks continuing to underperform. The market corrected around 500-points in mid-2023, so far in 2024, we’ve only experienced about half of this; hence, we must be open-minded to a deeper pullback.

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17/04/2024 09:33

Global Markets

US indices experienced another mixed session overnight, with the S&P500 extending its recent pullback to 4%, a fairly controlled move considering the repricing that’s rolled through credit markets, e.g. the US 10s tested 4.7% last night following Powell's comments after starting the year under 3.8%. The Dow managed to snap a 6-day losing streak overnight, but only just after United Health (UNH US) advanced +5.2% on the back of better-than-expected revenue, which outweighed Johnson & Johnson (JNJ  US), which slipped 2.1%. In the banking sector, earnings reports drove a very mixed performance with Morgan Stanley (MS US) +2.5% while Bank of America (BAC US) slipped -3.5%.

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16/04/2024 09:24

Global Markets

US stocks slipped lower overnight following the hot retail sales print and concerns that the Middle East conflict would escalate further. The macro factors overshadowed a strong earnings report from Goldman Sachs (GS US), which closed up +2.9%. Elsewhere on the stock level, Salesforce (CRM US) dropped 7% on reports that the software company was in talks to acquire data management firm Informatica.

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12/04/2024 09:05

Global Markets

US stocks enjoyed a solid rebound overnight, led by the rate-sensitive tech and consumer discretionary sectors. However, the huge influence of the major tech names on US indices was illustrated again. Six of the eleven major S&P500 sectors closed lower, yet the index rose 0.74%. We believe, 2024/5 is set to continue to reward optimum stock and sector positioning. Slightly lower-than-expected wholesale-price growth offered some relief to markets.

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11/04/2024 09:27

Global Markets

US stocks fell overnight after the strong CPI, which is likely to have sealed the fate of the Fed's June meeting, with a cut now very unlikely. Two more CPI reports and two Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) reports are due out before the Fed’s June policy meeting, but at this stage, it's 1-0 to the Hawks. With the hope of 2-3 rate cuts in 2024 rapidly evaporating, a huge tailwind for the market and specifically rate-sensitive names is being removed. Hence, a pullback feels increasingly likely.

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