Speculation about a new iPad Pro tablet preceded a lift in Apple's fortunes overnight. Photo / Apple
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden
International
US
Investors in the US contemplated a new batch of company earnings and these, coupled with key policy changes in the UK, proved an overall positive for equities at the time of writing.
Currently, the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Index, and Nasdaq all trade 2.9, 2.1 and 3.5 per cent higher.
Earnings from Bank of America helped stir positive market sentiment as the company beat estimates, having leaped 6.3 per cent higher at the time of writing.
Apple Inc. traded higher at 2.9 per cent following news suggesting the company is set to launch a new iPad Pro tablet.
The Nasdaq was also buoyed by gaming company and recent listee Roblox, whose shares soared as much as 20 per cent following strong engagement numbers across its online customers.
Tesla (+7.3 per cent) and Netflix (+7.2 per cent) came in as the third and fourth largest movers within the S&P500 at the time of writing.
Earlier this month, Netflix announced it will be launching a new discounted version of its current streaming product, supported by advertising. [Today it launched a Profile Transfer feature.]
Lastly, Fox Corp (-9 per cent) was one of the few underperformers in an up market after its owner, Rupert Murdoch, is said to be exploring the possibility of rolling the companies and News Corp (+4.5 per cent) back into one entity.
Rest of the World
UK markets reacted to a flurry of political movements over the weekend, namely, the dismissal of newly appointed chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and the likely U-turn on many of the policies first drafted in Prime Minister Liz Truss' first mini-budget.
This includes a reversal of plans to scrap the proposed increase in the corporate tax rate from 19 per cent to 25 per cent, and the reduction of the lowest income tax bracket.
This morning, the FTSE traded higher by 0.9 per cent to 6920.2 points. Yields were sent lower following the tax U-turn, with the UK 10-year 36 basis points lower to 3.957 per cent.
Shares across the rest of Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei slipping 1.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng posted minimal gains of 0.4 and 0.2 per cent, respectively.
Large cap tech stocks slowed the Hang Seng's momentum, with Tencent and Meituan both trading nearly 3 per cent lower overnight.
Commodities
Amongst the commonly tracked commodities, Brent Crude Oil lifted modestly by 0.6 per cent to US$92.0, gold also pushed slightly higher with a 0.9 per cent gain of its own (now trading at US$1,663.2) while bitcoin continues to hover around the US$20,000 mark, sitting at US$19,460 at the time of writing.
New Zealand
New Zealand equities fell sharply to start the week with the NZX 50 finishing down 0.8 per cent.
As has been the case in recent times, Australasian indices mirrored the US after a poor trading session on Saturday (NZT) saw the S&P 500 lose 2.4 per cent, amid a higher-than-anticipated University of Michigan inflation expectations survey.
Most stocks traded lower on the day. However, notable performers against the run of play consisted of Restaurant Brands (+3.6 per cent) and Pacific Edge (+3.3 per cent).
Pacific Edge Technology (PEB) released an update on testing volumes through the first half of their 2023 financial year. US testing volumes through PEB's main product, Cxbladder, totalled just under 13,000, broadly in line with full year guidance of 28,000 assuming the current growth run-rate.
Management also maintained their view that the proposed LCD changes, which would result in a loss of coverage via Novitas (and adversely affect Cxbladder testing revenue), would be an unprecedented event. PEB believes the proposal is unlikely to survive in its current form.
Contact Energy was the third of the New Zealand electricity generators/retailers to provide first quarter operating information, with ebitda for the quarter down about $50 million from a strong 2022 first quarter number to $131 million.
The energy sector was a mixed bag on the day, with Contact and Genesis shares mostly unchanged at NZ$7.14 and NZ$2.68, while Mercury and Meridian lost 3.1 and 1.9 per cent respectively.
Other market-specific news also included Kiwi insurance company Tower upgrading earnings guidance for the year ended September 2022. Management lifted underlying NPAT guidance to around $40 million, from the previous range of $35.4-39.4 million. Tower trades outside of the NZX50 and finished the day up 5.7 per cent at NZ$0.65.
Australia
Moving in tandem with the NZX, the ASX 200 lost 1.4 per cent by the close.
Building products manufacturer Adbri led the decliners (-22.0 per cent) after warning investors that the sale of its products continued to be affected by ongoing extreme weather conditions, while price push-throughs were unable to offset cost headwinds.
Coupled with this, the company also announced the departure of current CEO Nick Miller to round out a tough trading day for the stock.
Further, Costa Group also lost 13.4 per cent, noting earnings from its citrus segment are likely to be "considerably lower" than previously forecast.
Miners linked with the production of lithium outperformed as the price of Chinese battery grade lithium hit a record high of 532,000 yuan per tonne (roughly NZ$130,000 last week).
Liontown Resources, Core Lithium, and Lake Resources all finished within the top 10 stocks on the day.
Positive news flow for Australian insurers included the Australian High Court putting an end to business interruption claims that arose during Covid-19 lockdowns.
Insurers including AIG (+1.7 per cent), Suncorp (-3.2 per cent), and QBE (-4.1 per cent) were said to have provisioned over A$1 billion for claims of this nature, which will no longer be heard, with those insurers now looking to return some of this capital to investors.
Specifically, AIG has announced an A$350m on market share buyback, while other market conditions likely impacted the performance of Suncorp and QBE.
Coming up today
Globally, China is set to release third quarter GDP. Closer to home, NZ third quarter CPI is expected along with AGM's from Meridian Energy and PGG Wrightson.
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All market pricing and announcements are sourced from Refinitiv, NZX and ASX.
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