Jarden Brief: Moderna surges after melanoma vaccine study shows promise

Moderna published promising results from a study revealing its melanoma cancer vaccine, in combination with Merck & Co's immunotherapy Keytruda, reduced risks for patients by up to 44 per cent. Photo / Kale Wilk, The Times via AP

Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden.

International                                                                                         

US

Markets reacted favourably to a lighter than expected US consumer price inflation (CPI) data released this morning (NZ time).

A 0.1 per cent monthly increase (not the 0.3 expected) decelerated the overall yearly rate to 7.1 per cent from 7.8 per cent.

These figures will certainly have a part to play in tomorrow’s Federal Reserve rate decision, as equities fluctuated while digesting the news.

At one point, the S&P 500 traded as high at +2.4 per cent but had moved back at the time of writing, to trade +0.1 per cent at the time of writing while the Nadsaq moved in the same direction, rising 0.2 per cent.

Single stock winners at the time of writing were led by healthcare company Moderna (known for being a Covid-19 vaccine producer) which jumped 22.4 per cent.

Moderna published promising results from a 150-week study, revealing that Moderna’s melanoma cancer vaccine, in combination with Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) immunotherapy Keytruda, reduced risks for patients by up to 44 per cent.

More developments at Twitter included the launch of its Blue subscription service late on Tuesday (NZ time), with users now having to pay $11USD for the previously free iOS version of the app.

Other features include gold checkmarks for business and grey checkmarks for governments, supposedly to avoid impersonation.

This comes after Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, had initially delayed the rollout of the Blue service – an initiative he has driven since taking over the company.

Elsewhere in markets, Elon Musk’s Tesla currently trades 6.1 per cent lower.

Airlines were also amongst the underperformers of Wednesday morning. American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines all lost 6.5, 5.6 and 5.2 per cent, respectively.

News from aircraft manufacturer Boeing included its monthly deliveries number of 48 planes in November up from 35 in October but excluding United’s large 100+ Dreamliner order announced on Tuesday.

Rest of the world

Asian stocks were mixed overnight as the Shanghai Composite fell a mild 0.1 per cent while both the of Nikkei and Hang Seng landed in the green.

The Hang Seng’s move could be widely attributed to newly appointed chief executive John Lee announcing further easing of Covid-19 restrictions, doing away with its Covid-19 tracing app while also allowing international travellers back into bars and restaurants without constraints.

Commodities

Commodities moved higher as gold and silver had both risen 1.5 per cent at the time of writing. Oil also surged another 3.9 per cent, trading with news of the continued closure of the US keystone pipeline, a vital link transporting energy from oil-rich Canada to the US.

In the wake of the well-publicised collapse of crypto exchange FTX, founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas.

This is the first move by regulators to hold certain individuals accountable for the multi-billion dollar fall of FTX in November, which could further damage confidence amongst the wider suite of crypto currencies.

Despite this, crypto traded higher with the lighter US inflation reading with increases in both Bitcoin (+3.4 per cent) and Ethereum (+4.2 per cent).

New Zealand

The NZX 50 moved 0.8 per cent higher to 11,601 points during Tuesday’s trading.

Pacific Edge posted a positive update to the market regarding the results of a clinical trial, which showed significant improvements in the performance of its genomic diagnostic Cxbladder test.

The company’s products include non-invasive alternative tests for bladder cancer, with the company regularly trading on the back of similar results from other clinical studies in the past. Pacific Edge closed up 7.6 per cent to $0.50, as Tuesday’s top performer.

The New Zealand housing market continued to show signs of weakness following Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) house price data for the month of November.

The national REINZ house price index fell 1.9 per cent in November, with the corresponding yearly movement now a sharp 14 per cent decline.

Across the regions, only property on the West Coast (up 0.1 per cent) made gains for the month while Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay were the key laggards, both down 4.1 per cent.

Other indicators including average days to sell (46 days) and the number of properties up for sale (increasing) suggest further softness in the national housing market.

Australia

The ASX 50 finished yesterday making a modest 0.3 per cent gain to 7,203 points.

Investors reacted to a raft of macroeconomic data. WMI Consumer Confidence rose 3 per cent month-on-month supported by strong improvements in house price expectations.

In contrast, NAB’s Business Confidence index fell to -4.4 points (from -0.2 in October), its lowest reading since December 2021.

The equity market leader was Bendigo and Adelaide Bank after the company beat investor expectations with its year-to-date five-month update.

Despite contracting residential and business lending volumes, net interest margins expanded 2 per cent as the stock jumped to $9.70 (6.9 per cent) at market close. Bendigo did not provide guidance for the rest of its fiscal year.

Other top performers were tech company Megaport and healthcare company Imugene with 6.0 and 5.4 per cent gains, respectively.

Tuesday’s largest underperformer was gold miner Chalice Mining, which lost 8.1 per cent on the back of the delay of a key feasibility study for its Julimar mine (near Perth), now expected in the new year.

Other resource related stocks followed suit as Champion Iron (-4.6 per cent) and Fortescue Metals (-4.2 per cent) made up the remainder of the loser’s podium.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are suing 11 of Star Entertainment Group’s current and previous directors as part of the ongoing investigation into potential money laundering activities across some of Australia’s largest listed Casino companies.

ASIC alleged that Star’s board and executives “failed to give sufficient focus to the risk of money laundering and criminal associations, which are inherent in the operation of a large casino with an international customer base”. Despite this, Star Entertainment Group closed up 0.4 per cent at AU$2.60.

Coming up this week

Abroad, all eyes will be on the Federal Open Market Commitee’s rate decision tomorrow morning, along with the Bank of England’s equivalent policy rate decision.

Data points include US Retail sales and Initial Jobless Claims, Australian Unemployment and New Zealand Manufacturing PMI.

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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