Dick’s Sporting Goods rose dramatically overnight. Photo / 123RF
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden.
International
US
Markets rallied despite the potential impact of more Covid-19 lockdowns implemented in China, instead focusing on the Federal Reserve’s plan for interest rate changes.
The S&P 500 was up 0.7 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.8 per cent and the Nasdaq gaining 0.5 per cent.
Best Buy shares surged up as much as 12.0 per cent, which made it the best performer of the S&P 500 and the highest increase the stock has seen in more than two years after revising previous profit guidance and affirming sales to recover for the third quarter ending January 2023.
Comparable sales were said to decline 10.0 per cent as opposed to 11.0 per cent, with fourth quarter sales to fall 2.0 per cent as opposed to 4.0 per cent.
Adjusted earnings for the financial year was stated to be US$1.38 per share in the third quarter, beating the US$1.05 average of analyst estimates on Bloomberg, giving confidence in their ability to control costs.
Retailers Dick’s Sporting Goods and Dollar Tree also posted earnings for their respective quarters with mixed share price reactions.
Dick’s Sporting Goods rose 8.5 per cent, stating comparable store sales were up 6.5 per cent in their third quarter and now expects this figure for the fiscal year to fall between 3.0 to 1.5 per cent as opposed to the previous range of falling 6.0 to 2.0 per cent.
Dollar Tree fell 8.6 per cent, while seeing the same store sales also rising 6.5 per cent. However, it cut profit outlook for the year as they deal with elevated spend on store associates and freight costs.
Rest of World
European stocks are at a three-month high after Europe’s Stoxx 600 rising 0.8 per cent, where the mining sector gained 2.7 per cent and oil and gas stocks rose 4.7 per cent as Saudi Arabia denied the recent report that OPEC+ may boost oil output.
China recorded 28,000 new Covid cases on Tuesday, with notable outbreaks in southern manufacturing hub Guangzhou, southwestern metropolis Chongqing and the capital Beijing.
Officials in Beijing announced they have continued to shut down non-essential businesses in Beijing’s largest district, Chaoyang, with a population of three to four million.
The Hang Seng index had increased 25.0 per cent in the first half of November, entering a bull market at the time as signs of China to move away from its zero-covid policy.
This increase has since diminished to 18.6 per cent amid the volatility and increasing case numbers.
Commodities
Speculation on the future of cryptocurrency continues as Bitcoin reversed to a higher position of US$16,091, a rise of 3.0 per cent. This brief respite comes after crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun commented that he is not off the table when considering the purchase of assets from FTX.
Oil has had its fair share of movement, bouncing to US$89.2 per barrel after Saudi Arabia was keeping with output cuts until the end of 2023.
This comes after the market reacted to news from Monday that OPEC planned to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day, which plunged barrel prices down more than 5.0 per cent.
Australia
The ASX rallied up 0.6 per cent on the back of investors preferring commodity equities to combat the effects of global inflation.
BlueScope Steel hosted its AGM and gave a trading update reaffirming underlying ebit of A$800 million to A$900 million in the wake of steel rebar futures being down 33.7 per cent from their peak in May 2022.
Mixed commentary among its business segments were given with North Star, its facility in North America, seeing a better performance due to the currency translation.
The facility continued to operate at full capacity to deliver a third of 2H of the 2022 financial year, as opposed to the previous comment of a quarter.
Conversely, BlueScope’s Australian steel product has shown weakness and is expected to deliver lower dispatch volumes than what was expected to be similar volumes rolling over the previous half, due to weather events and labour constraints putting pressure on the building and construction supply chain.
Star Entertainment Group was also another party to give a trading update with its AGM. Domestic revenue for the Gold Coast was up 32.0 per cent against pre-Covid levels in 2019, and Brisbane was also up 9.0 per cent.
However, its Sydney revenue was down 9.0 per cent due to compliance changes post the Bell report in September 2022, where they recommended Star Entertainment Group be unsuitable to hold its Casino license in Sydney, following its review of an extensive compliance breakdown.
Overall group domestic revenue compared to the same period in 2019 was up 1.0 per cent.
New Zealand
The NZX closed down 0.2 per cent yesterday, with few announcements from specific companies and ahead of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand publishing its last Monetary Policy Statement for the year.
Argosy Property Limited finished the day up 3.7 per cent, the highest gainer of the NZX 50 index after posting their half year results for the financial year.
With respect to a revaluation loss for the half of NZ$23.5 million (reducing book value by 1.0 percent), growth over the half at the top line was seen in a net property income of NZ$55.0 million.
Portfolio metrics for the half were similar to levels seen in prior years, with occupancy at 98.9 per cent and a weighted average lease term of 5.5 years.
Gearing ended at 32.5 per cent, at the bottom of the target range of 30.0 to 40.0 per cent.
Turners Automotive Group Limited also showed an increase of 1.1 per cent at close following their half year result announcement.
It reported net profit before tax for the half at NZ$23.4 million, an increase of NZ$0.2 million over the prior half.
Despite the broader car market being down 7.5 per cent, automotive retail revenue increased by 13.0 per cent showing market share gains that offset the detracting NZ$1.6 million net profit before tax impact from the Finance and Credit segments.
Coming up today
Retirement village operator Oceania Healthcare and computer software company Serko will release their half-year earnings for 2023 this morning.
Additionally, insurance provider Tower is set to release their full-year earnings for 2022.
The afternoon is set to be dominated by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand publishing its final monetary policy statement for the year, where the market median for the expected Official Cash Rate increase is 75 basis points.
In the Australian market, companies across a variety of industries will host AGMs, including software company Wisetech, real estate investment trust SCA Property Group and Abacus Property Group.
• For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
All market pricing and announcements are sourced from Refinitiv, NZX and ASX.
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