Continued focus was on Disney’s streaming platform Disney+, which narrowed its loss from streaming operations to US$400m, despite losing 4 per cent of total subscribers which now count 157.8 million.
Disney stock fell 4.4 per cent in after hours trading and was trading 9.0 per cent lower at the time of writing.
After the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said it would recall more than 2 million bikes over safety concerns, shares in fitness platform Peloton fell 9 per cent at the time of writing.
Other shares on the move were Google parent Alphabet – which again traded higher (+4.5 per cent) in the wake of its developer conference where new products, including its new AI search engine, were taken well by investors.
Google and Amazon (+2.2 per cent) were large cap contributors, able to hold up the S&P500 index despite close to 400 stocks being down at the time of writing.
Rest of the World
Japanese banking giant Softbank traded weaker (-0.8 per cent) after its Vision Fund investment vehicle posted a US$32b loss for the financial year ended March.
Softbank’s Vision Fund was the idea of the bank’s founder Masayoshi Son and has faced two years of losses as its tech heavy asset allocation battled against the current rising interest rates and slowing consumer environment.
For reference, the Nasdaq 100 declined 11 per cent during the same measured period, with the Vision Fund said to have held over US$150 billion in capital in 2021.
The Bank of England raised its main rate by 25 basis points, following the Fed’s lead as its Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 in favour of the motion.
Developments came in the form of commentary where, in its latest growth forecasts, the committee no longer expects the UK to enter a recession this year.
Commodities
With the ‘China re-opening’ story playing a large role in the demand for rare metals and other commodities, it was no surprise to see both oil and natural gas down slightly following a weaker than expected Chinese consumer price inflation print.
New Zealand
In what was a quiet day on the NZX with limited stock-specific news, the index ground lower to a loss of 0.8 per cent.
Only 8 of the 50 stocks finished in the green during Thursday’s trading, as Stride Property, Pacific Edge and Arvida Group comprised the podium with 1 per cent gains each.
On the flip side, recent inductee into the index (replacing Pushpay Holdings) Hallenstein Glassons lost 5.3 per cent.
NZ50 listed Kathmandu Brands announced its new CEO Megan Welch, a former senior vice president at Crocs in Singapore.
The company said it was “thrilled to welcome Megan into KMD Brands, as CEO of ANZ’s leading outdoor brand Kathmandu. She has a proven track record for growth, and strong international experience”.
KMD stock traded down 2 per cent.
2022 boasted a year of record private equity activity, according to a report put out by the NZ Private Capital Association.
For the year, $4.99b of investment and divestment occurred within private equity or venture capital transactions, more than twice the historical average of $2b.
Australia
The ASX 200 slipped 0.1 per cent by the close, weighed down by performances from Silver Lake Resources, Block Inc and Paladin Energy who fell 5.1, 3.9 and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
In contrast, lithium extractor and processor Allkem jumped 15.7 per cent after it was announced it would merge with New York Stock Exchange listed Livent, which also operates in the lithium space.
The merger was announced late Wednesday evening, with details including a 56/44 split of the merged entity (compared to a pre-merger market cap split of 53/47) and estimated pre-tax synergies of US$125m.
Livent Corp’s shareholders also reacted positively to the news as the stock traded up 5.2 per cent by Thursday morning’s (NZT) close.
Macroeconomic snippets included Seek Job Ads for April, which were down 1.4 per cent month/month and closer to 20 per cent year on year as the gap between job ads and job applications slowly closes (a likely indicator of a cooling labour market).
Further, Westpac card spending data for the fortnight to the 16th of May showed a 5.5 per cent decline on the same period last year.
In energy, work has been halted on the construction of Australia’s largest windfarm, with sources on site saying they were told to put down tools late on Wednesday evening.
It is understood the A$3b project at Clarke Creek in Queensland, which is to feature a 450-megawatt facility and 100 turbines, might see a change in strategic direction with Squadron Energy (run by billionaire Andrew Forrest) taking over control from current project manager Windlab.
Squadron Energy is also said to be a benefactor of the recent federal budget which featured a A$2b hydrogen fund.
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