Jarden Brief: More than 1000 job prospects dashed as food delivery company loses a fortune

DoorDash announced layoffs of about 1,250 jobs, or six per cent of global headcount. Photo / Supplied

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

International                                                                                         

US

Movement in US indices showed muted drops, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3 and 0.4 per cent respectively, despite positive data from Europe showing lower inflation in 14 out of 19 Eurozone countries.

Technology company DoorDash announced layoffs of about 1,250 jobs, or 6.0 per cent of global headcount. Chief Executive David Xu relayed said: “While our business continues to grow fast, given how quickly we hired, our operating expenses if left unabated would continue to outgrow our revenue.”

Net losses have doubled when compared to the past year when it had benefited from the Covid boom, having increased every quarter to US$296 million by the end of September 2021, contrasting with a loss of US$101 million over the comparable period to September 2022.

DoorDash shares jumped 4.63 per cent on opening. While it is the latest technology company to announce a job cut in a thematic disciplining of cost management across the sector, order volumes have stayed resilient, having grown 27 per cent in the third quarter.

Various economic data for the United States was released before a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, where he referenced the Fed’s upcoming 13-14 December meeting and interest rate decision.

Powell said: “The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting,” but that there was a long way to go in restoring price stability.

US gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent from July to September, up from an initial estimate of 2.6 per cent thanks to increased consumer spending.

Job openings for October were 10.3 million (seasonally adjusted), far beyond the 6.1m unemployed Americans seeking work that month.

Despite overall strength in the United States economy, savings continue to dwindle with the elevated level of retail spending shown in October.

Rest of World

European stocks were trading higher at the time of writing, with the FTSE up 0.8 per cent as inflation in the region came in at a weaker-than-expected 10.0 per cent over the previous year.

Economists were estimating the headline number to come in at 10.4 per cent according to a Refinitiv Eikon Poll, but with the monthly growth falling 0.1% in November, markets were rallying.

The recent slowdown in energy prices (growth over the previous month dropped to 34.9 per cent from 41.5 per cent) raised a new hope that the European Central Bank could shift to smaller interest rate increases in the coming months.

The next expected meeting comes on December 15 and follows consecutive 75-basis-point hikes over the past two months.

The Hang Seng rose 2.2 per cent, along with the Shanghai Composite getting a bounce of 0.1 per cent as investors seem to have reacted positively to the announcement of easing of Covid restrictions in China’s Guangzhou city.

United States government data showed domestic crude oil inventories fell by 13 million barrels, a third consecutive week of decreases.

Analysts had only forecasted a decline of 4.4 million barrels from S&P’s Global Commodity Insights poll. China’s easing of Covid restrictions seem to have pushed oil up 2.8 per cent per barrel.

Australia

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed the Consumer Price Index rising 6.9 per cent in the year to October 2022, lower than the 7.3 per cent observed in September, yet not a step change of the economy as it remains at elevated levels.

Significant contributors to this were the annual rises in new dwellings (up 20.4 per cent), automotive fuel (up 11.8 per cent) and fruit & vegetables (up 9.4 per cent).

Head of prices Michelle Marquardt said high levels of building construction activity and ongoing shortages of labour and materials contributed to the rise in new dwellings.

Furniture retailer Temple & Webster shares rose a sharp 14.0 per cent following the morning trading update it gave at its AGM on Wednesday morning.

While reiterating an overall decline in revenue of 14 per cent from July 2022 to November 2022, October to November sales were only down 3.0 per cent against the same period in 2021.

Management has called this a “trajectory back to growth” as this captures the busiest sales period, suggesting a return to double-digit growth during the financial year.

Inventory levels remain strong across their drop-ship network and their own private label range with deflationary headwinds provided for factory and container costs.

Management has reiterated its stated 3.0 to 5.0 per cent earnings before interest, tax and depreciation range for the full FY23.

New Zealand

The NZX 50 index rose 1.4 per cent with top sectors of real estate, utilities and health care gaining 2.1, 2.0 and 1.9 per cent respectively.

This can be attributed to trades done as institutions prepare their positions for the quarterly review for MSCI Equity Indices on Friday. Notably, Gentrack rose another 19 per cent as management announced its intentions to expand globally.

Stats New Zealand published national building consents for October, where new home consents were down 12.0 per cent over October 2021.

Townhouses, flats & units were the only property type to show an increase, with stand-alone houses, apartments and retirement village units all down in the similar timeframe.

To the year ended October 2022, new homes consented per 1,000 residents in key regions have shown an increase in Canterbury, Auckland, Tasman and Otago, which can be explained by holiday homes in popular holiday areas where tourists are excluded from the population count.

ANZ Research released its business outlook survey report for November, where business confidence fell 14 points and activity fell 11 points to -14.

This is shy of only 8 points of 2009 lows. Employment intentions showed negative for the first time since October 2020 while activity indicators fell.

The residential construction index score fell 46.2 points to -90, with ANZ Research saying it “literally could hardly be any lower.”

ANZ added: “Cost increases remain relentless and margins are squeezed, firms are chronically understaffed” in their take, and additionally businesses expect inflation to be persistent but pricing intentions to ease from record level highs.

Coming up today

New Zealand has property trust Vital Healthcare has its AGM today.

In Australia, petroleum producer and exploration company Woodside Energy is set to give an investor update.

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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