All S&P 500 sectors were in the red, with communication services and utilities weighing down the index, 4.1 and 1.9 per cent lower respectively.
Lumen Technologies declined a steep 22.5 per cent as the telecommunications company released results.
While earnings and revenue for the last quarter exceeded the market’s expectations (while still a loss), weight appears to be placed on earnings outlook and guidance. The CEO said “2023 will be a rapid year of change for Lumen”.
Google’s parent Alphabet fell 7.7 per cent amid concerns of rising competition in the artificial intelligence space.
Alphabet held a Google event on Wednesday, geared towards its new artificial intelligence chatbot known as Bard.
The presentation followed an event on Tuesday where Microsoft announced OpenAI’s GPT technology will be integrated into the homepage of search engine Bing.
CVS Health rose 4.6 per cent after surpassing profit and sales expectations in its quarterly result.
CVS Health confirmed yesterday’s speculation that it would acquire Oak Street Health in a transaction valued at US$10.6 billion.
Rest of the World
European stocks closed higher. The FTSE 100 touched a record intraday high, up 0.3 per cent. The European Stoxx 600 Index also rose 0.3 per cent, led upwards by oil and gas stocks.
Asian markets were down with the Hang Seng down 0.5 per cent, the Shanghai Composite falling 0.1 per cent and Nikkei 0.3 per cent lower.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba has joined the AI race, announcing it is working on a ChatGPT rival.
Commodities
Brent Oil is currently trading 0.9 per cent higher at US$84.40 a barrel while gold is trading flat at US$1,874.50 per ounce.
The US 10-year Treasury bond declined one basis point to a yield of 3.66 per cent.
Bitcoin rose again, up 1.1 per cent to US$22,939.00.
New Zealand
The NZX 50 Index rose 0.7 per cent yesterday, recovering ground from Tuesday.
Fonterra rose 0.8 per cent on the back of the prices in the latest Global Dairy Trade auction, rising by 3.2 per cent across the board in the first increase since 6 December 2022.
Air New Zealand announced it is partnering with more firms to accelerate the development of a zero-emissions domestic fleet.
Universal Hydrogen, Embraer and Heart Aerospace will join Airbus and ATR as the long-term partners to develop new aircraft. Air New Zealand aims to have its first zero emissions aircraft flying in New Zealand by 2026.
Freightways Limited announced on the NZX that it would be changing its name to Freightways Group Limited, and change its ticker from FRE to FRW with effect on 1 March.
This is to allow the company to “at an appropriate time in the future” apply to be dual listed on the ASX, as the FRE ticker was not available on that market.
The company said with Australia now representing a more significant share of Freightways’ activities, a dual listing is expected to align with Freightways’ strategy”. Freightways rose 1.8 per cent yesterday.
In macroeconomic news, the minimum wage will rise by 7.1 per cent to $22.70 from April 1.
Australia
The ASX 200 traded 0.4 per cent higher on Wednesday.
The Australian market was dominated by earnings announcements as reporting season continues to kick into gear.
Building and construction materials company Boral leapt 12.8 per cent on the release of its interim financial year 2023 results.
Earnings before interest and tax rose 15 per cent year on year. In an ASX statement the company announced it had achieved “strong underlying revenue, earnings, and profit growth”.
Suncorp also released its interim financial year 2023 results. The insurance company recorded profit growth and the share price increased 4.6 per cent, despite elevated natural hazard activity.
Fortescue Metals rallied 2.0 per cent. It signed a convention for an iron ore project with the government of Gabon yesterday.
Miner BHP closed its Western Australia operations after a fatal injury at Port Hedland rail yard yesterday. BHP ended the day up a slim 0.2 per cent.
Coming up today
In NZ the ANZ Truckometer is being released and Mainfreight has a trading update. In Australia Mirvac, AGL Energy, Arena REIT, Unibail-Rodamco and Charter Hall Long Wale REIT report earnings. Initial Jobless Claims come out in the US.
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