Between the Bells

The ASX started the week on a positive note closing yesterday’s session in the green. Utilities led the market yesterday, while tech stocks came under pressure. Gold stocks were also sold off with the price of the commodity down almost half a per cent. Energy stocks advanced on the price of oil rallying more than 2% on Friday following strong earnings results out of the U.S. Yesterday however, oil...

The Australian market is set to start the week higher, after Wall Street ended last week with all three major benchmarks rallying. The Dow Jones had its best month since January, gaining 250 points, while the S&P500 closed 0.8% higher and the Nasdaq up 0.7%.  What to watch today: This morning, the SPI futures are suggesting that our local market will rise 0.74% at the open.  In commodities,  O...

The Aussie share market declined this week, falling 0.5% (Mon-Thu), as the materials sector weighed down on the market the most, dropping 2.2%. Financials, consumer discretionary and utilities are also lower, while communication services and industrials advanced.     In this week's wrap, Sophia covers: (0:16) The demand outlook from the leading iron ore importing country (1:08) China's c...

In New York overnight, markets had a strong run with all three major benchmarks closing with strong gains. The Dow Jones and the S&P500 both had their best session since January, closing 1.6% and 1.96% higher respectively. Meanwhile the Nasdaq rallied 2.43% higher, as strong results from Meta Platforms boosted tech-related companies. Meta shares leapt 14%, after the company reported quarterly...

Wall Street wavered during the midweek session before closing mixed as investors fears of a banking crisis rise on the back of First Republic Bank’s first quarter results and subsequent 49% decline on Tuesday. Upbeat earnings out of Alphabet, Microsoft and Boeing softened the sharp losses but weren’t enough to turn Wall Street positive at the closing bell on Wednesday. At the closing bell, the Dow...

Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday as investor fears of a banking crisis reignited. Shares in First Republic Bank tanked more than 49% on the release of the regional bank’s latest quarterly results including deposits dropping 40% to US$104.5bn in Q1 but have since stabilised and the bank is instilling cost cutting measures including cutting head count by 20% to bolster its balance sheet. The resu...

Wall Street ended little unchanged across the key indices on Friday, but down for the week as investors assessed mixed corporate earnings results against the increasing chance of a recession in the U.S. later this year. Shares in Proctor & Gamble (ASX:PG1) rose 3.5% on Friday after it reported a sales boost from higher prices introduced across the portfolio of consumer products. Albermarle (AS...

The Aussie share market traded flat this week, rising just 0.01% (Mon-Thu), as a rally in Financial, REIT and consumer discretionary stocks was offset by the energy sector plunging over 2.8%. Energy stocks were rocked by falling commodity prices, especially gas dropping on news of a global oversupply, while oil prices dropped over 2% later in the week. In this week's wrap, Grady covers:  •   ...

US equities closed lower overnight, with all three major benchmarks in the red. The decline followed a mixed bag of corporate earnings, including disappointing results from Tesla, which showed a fall in net income, and the company’s announcement of further price cuts. CEO Elon Musk stated that he was willing to sacrifice margins in a push for market share. All three major averages are on track for...

Wall Street had another lacklustre session overnight as investors continue to assess first quarter results as earnings season ramps up into full swing. The Dow Jones industrials index lost 0.23%, the S&P500 fell 0.01% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.03%. Netflix and Morgan Stanley headlined the results released on Wednesday. Netflix shares fell 3.2% after the streaming giant pushed back pla...

The RBA meeting minutes for April were released yesterday which spooked the market into sell-off mode with hints that the RBA is eyeing off further rate hikes after pausing in April to assess economic conditions. The RBA’s board believe there is a strong case for further rate hikes to come amid concerns that the growing population and ongoing wages growth in the public sector are still not under c...

US equities kicked off earnings week on a positive note, with all three major benchmarks making gains overnight, in fact, all three benchmarks closed 0.3% higher. US financials will be in focus this week with the Bank of America reporting tonight and Morgan Stanley reporting on Wednesday. Investors have been keeping a close eye on the banking sector after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last m...

Wall Street closed lower on Friday as investors assessed a mixed bag of economic data against big bank first quarter earnings results. Retail sales data for March was released in the US late last week showing a 1.2% decline for the month compared to expectations of a 0.4% drop. Despite this reading, unfavourable results from consumer sentiment and industrial production data add further support for...

The Aussie share market advanced 1.46% (Mon-Thu), as investors shook off fears of a global banking crisis and digested key inflation data out of the US. Materials stocks led the charge this week with the sector rising 3.16%, buoyed by iron ore prices rising on the back of a cyclone forming off WA's Kimberley coast, a key region of iron ore export for Australia.    In this week's wrap, Gr...

US equities had a strong run overnight, after the US producer price index for March was released, which was another economic report to point to the fact that US inflation may be cooling down. PPI dropped 0.5% month over month, compared to market expectations for prices to be flat. Excluding food and energy, the core wholesale prices reading declined, when the market was expecting an increase.  All...

Annual US inflation fell for a ninth consecutive month in March to 5% or the lowest level since May 2021. Economists were expecting annual inflation to fall to 5.2% so the larger drop to 5% beat expectations. Core inflation, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation as it removes the volatile food and energy prices, on the other hand inched up for the first time in 6-months to 5.6% for March from 5...

Wall Street ended mixed again on Tuesday as investors try to shrug off recession concerns ahead of the release of key inflation data out later this week. The Dow Jones rose 0.3%, the S&P500 finished muted and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.4% on Tuesday. Investors are anticipating the release of the March readings for consumer price index out Wednesday and producer price index out Thursday to ga...

It was a mixed session on in New York ahead of key inflation data and quarterly bank reports out this week. Tech stocks struggled to make gains, with shares of Apple falling 1.6% and Alphabet falling 1.8%. The Nasdaq closed in the red, while the Dow and the S&P500 advanced.  What to watch today: To start the trading week after we return from the Easter long weekend, the Australian market is se...

Wall Street closed mixed overnight with the Dow closing 0.2% higher, while the S&P500 closed 0.3% lower and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 1%. The Nasdaq dropped for the third straight session as investors shifted away from growth stocks amid signs that the US economy is weakening. The losses also followed weak eco data, where the latest ADP private payrolls report showed slowing job gro...

US equities closed lower overnight. The Dow Jones fell nearly 200 points as investors assessed what the spike in oil prices could mean for the global economy. The S&P500 closed 0.6% lower; both the Dow and S&P500 snapped a four-day win streak. The Nasdaq closed 0.5% in the red. Also prompting the market losses was the latest job openings report out in the US, which saw that the number of a...

In New York overnight, the Dow Jones closed 300 points higher or 0.98%, to begin April’s trading. The S&P500 saw its fourth straight day of gains, closing 0.37% in the green, while the Nasdaq closed 0.3% lower. US investors showed resilience despite an oil output cut from OPEC. Oil prices notched their biggest gain in nearly a year after OPEC announced it was cutting output by more than 1 mill...

Wall Street extended gains into a third straight session on Friday and the US market posted a second straight quarter of gains despite turbulence during the three-month period around the unfolding of a potential global banking crisis. On Friday the Nasdaq rose 1.7%, the Dow Jones added over 400 points and the S&P500 rose 1.4%. Sentiment in the US was boosted last week by US core personal consu...

The Aussie share market advanced 2.4% (Mon-Thu), driven by the materials sector jumping 5.04%, amid increasing commodity prices. Utilities and energy stocks also jumped over 3% each. The ASX200 felt some relief this week, after a few weeks of turbulence, as investor fears of a global banking crisis eased when regulators and industry bodies stepped in to support crumbling banks.     In this week&ap...

The rally on Wall Street continued overnight as investor fears of a regional and global banking crisis continued to ease as President Biden urged federal regulators to take up a set of reforms to safeguard the banking system. Weekly jobless claims in the US increased by 7000 to 19,800, in yet another sign the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate action to tackle inflation in the US is starti...

Wall Street rebounded to rally on Wednesday as investor fears of a global banking crisis continue easing, boosting high growth stocks in the technology sector. Micron led the charge on the Nasdaq after the memory chip company forecast a drop in third quarter revenue in line with Wall Street expectations but gave a positive outlook for 2025 with artificial intelligence predicted to boost sales. The...