Following September’s 0.5% reduction, the Fed lowered its overnight borrowing rate to a target range of 4.5% to 4.75%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite raced to new highs after rising 0.74% to 5973.1 points and 1.51% to 19,269.46 respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 43,729.34 points.
The leading high-growth tech stocks were again supercharged, with Meta (Facebook) up 3.42% to US$591.61; Nvidia increasing 2.24% to US$148.88; and Apple gaining 2.14% to US$227.49.
At home, blue chip stocks Fisher and Paykel Healthcare increased $1.23 or 3.38% to $37.63; Ebos Group was up $1.25 or 3.47% to $37.30; Chorus rose 25.5c or 2.95% to $8.885; Spark rebounded 8.5c or 2.88% to $3.04; a2 Milk added 12c or 2.1% to $5.83; and Mainfreight collected $1.80 to $72.80.
Summerset increased 29c or 2.37% to $12.55; Freightways was up 18c to $10.46; Skellerup added 10c or 2.11% to $4.85; SkyCity collected 3c or 2.21% to $1.39; Property for Industry gained 4.5c or 2.09% to $2.20; and 2 Cheap Cars was up 3c or 3.66% to 85c.
Colonial Motor, unchanged at $7.04, told shareholders at the annual meeting that the “six months we are currently in remains tough … this is an over-supplied, over-competitive market where some of our competition is moving the metal just to keep cash flowing”.
Colonial said there are green shoots, the worst is over and lower interest rates will solve all challenges as it works its way through cost reductions.
Briscoe Group gained 8c to $5.08 after reporting group sales of $546.1m for the 39 weeks ending October 27, just 0.51% less than the same period last year.
Including Labour Day, which fell outside the accounting period, the nine-month sales increased 0.53%, with homeware and sporting goods up 0.36% and 0.8%, respectively. Briscoe is expecting a full-year net profit of $70m-$77m compared with $88m in the previous year.
The Warehouse, unchanged at $1.02, reported a 2.5% drop in group sales to $668m for the 13 weeks ending October 27 compared with the same period last year. Revenue, however, was up 5.9% from the previous quarter.
The Warehouse stores’ sales were $386.3m, down 2%, and Noel Leeming $229.1m, down 2.1%. “Our transition is under way, with our focus firmly on trading each of our core brands and refreshing key product ranges at better value,” the retailer said.
ANZ Group, unchanged at $35.20, reported full-year revenue of A$20.81 billion, down 2% and net profit of $6.53b. The level of bad debts was lower than provisioned for. Westpac was up 94c or 2.71% to $35.64.
Manawa Energy, down 10c or 1.85% to $5.30, recorded a half-year $3.3m net loss and a decline in operating earnings (ebitdaf) from $43.6m to $34.2m because of the challenging market conditions including record wholesale prices and provision of bad debt.
Revenue was up 40% to $305.64m, while production volumes were 188 GWh, or 17%, lower than the previous corresponding period. Manawa is paying an interim dividend of 4c a share on December 6 and full-year ebitdaf is expected to be $95m-$115m.
Other gainers were Bremworth rising 9.76c to 45c; Santana Minerals up 5c or 7.3% to 73.5c; Solution Dynamics improving 3c or 2.61% to $1.18; Pacific Edge adding 0.009c or 6.16% to 15.5c; and Green Cross Health increasing 4c or 5.13% to 82c.
