Between the Bells

The local market started the week in negative territory, closing the day down 0.25%, ahead of the RBA’s rate hike decision for February out tomorrow, which is the first interest rate decision for 2023. Real estate stocks were the hardest hit today as investors anticipate the impact another rate hike will have on RIET stock balance sheets, with the sector closing Monday’s session down more than 1.6...

The local market ended the week 0.86% higher following a 0.62% rally on Friday led by a surge in healthcare and real estate stocks, while investors sold out of utilities and materials stocks on Friday. The winning stocks from Friday’s session were Pinnacle Investment Management (ASX:PNI) adding 9.58%, BrainChip Holdings (ASX:BRN) rallying 5.56%, and HMC Capital (ASX:HMC) adding almost 5%. On the l...

The Aussie share market added 0.24% this week (Mon-Thu), as investors awaited the highly anticipated rate decision out of the Federal Reserve in the US. Information technology stocks had the biggest boost this week, coat tailing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq as investors regain appetite for growth stocks.    In this week's wrap, Grady covers: (0:28) Where inflation is hitting hardest in the curren...

US stocks eased in afternoon trade, with earnings pending after the closing bell from Apple, Alphabet and Amazon. The Nasdaq was up more than 2% when the final hour of the session began, after rising 3.5% earlier in the day. The Nasdaq’s rally was boosted by Meta Platforms, which was 22% higher by 3pm after the company announced its plans to buy US$40 billion worth of its own shares. The Nasdaq th...

The ASX followed in Wall Street’s footsteps on Thursday after the Fed eased its rate hike pace for February. The local market rallied 0.13% on Thursday driven by a surge in technology stocks after the Nasdaq rose more than 2% in the US overnight. CBA economist Gareth Aird today said there’s a risk the Reserve Bank raises interest rates by 40-basis points next Tuesday coupled with a statement of an...

The Federal Reserve has raised the US cash rate by 25-basis points as the market expected at the conclusion of the FOMC meeting overnight. The Fed has now eased rate hikes for a second straight month for the cash rate to sit between 4.5%-4.75% but said it will need to continue raising rates in order to reach a stance of monetary policy that is sufficient to return inflation to the target 2%. Recen...

The ASX closed the midweek session at a nine-month high, ending the day up 0.33% as investors piled into real estate and materials stocks, while selling out of energy and technology stocks. Head of economic analysis at the RBA Marion Kohler said inflation has peaked and will begin to ease over the course of this year. She said the RBA remains focused on returning inflation to the target range and...

The US market closed higher on Tuesday following the release of upbeat earnings results and encouraging economic data. General Motors shares rose over 8% on Tuesday after reporting quarterly results that surprised markets including earnings per share of $2.12 and revenue of $43.11bn which both well exceeded analysts’ expectations. The Dow Jones rose 1.1%, the S&P500 gained 1.47% to record its...

The local market recovered from the red start to the week in the early hours of trade on Tuesday before falling in afternoon trade to close 0.07% lower as investor optimism was initially boosted by weaker-than-expected retail sales before confidence was dampened by the fact that the lower retail sales will likely have low impact on the upcoming RBA interest rate decision next week. Consumer staple...

Ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate decision, US equities closed in the red overnight, pausing the rally we’ve seen in Wall St. Investors are always preparing for the busiest week of the US earnings season.  The Dow Jones dropped 0.77%, the Nasdaq down 1.96% and the S&P500 down 1.3%. Communications services and information technology were among the biggest laggards in the S&P500, while meg...

The ASX started the week in negative territory, closing the day down 0.16% as insurance companies weighed on the key index today. Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG) and Suncorp (ASX:SUN) each fell over 3% due to catastrophic flooding in New Zealand increasing investor fears of high insurance claim numbers to come for providers. Technology stocks surged ahead more than 2% today amid the ongoing ra...

The local market ended the week 0.8% higher after gaining 0.34% on Friday, buoyed by a rally for consumer staples and information technology stocks. Energy stocks were sharply sold off on Friday, with the sector closing down 1.84% at the end of the session amid growing uncertainty from global recession fears and geopolitical tensions. The winning stocks from Friday’s session were led by Megaport (...

Australia’s inflation rate data for the December quarter released today showed the country’s inflation rose to 7.8% for the twelve months to December 2022, or 1.9% for the quarter, which exceeded economists’ expectations, and adding to investor fears of further interest rate hikes to tackle the stubbornly high inflation. Travel and electricity contributed the largest price rises over the December...

The US markets turned from negative to positive in afternoon trade before closing mixed as investors digested an array of economic data released. US flash PMI data from US business activity across manufacturing and services remained below par, indicating the impact of tightening financial conditions on growth and adding to hopes that the Fed is on track to ease its aggressive rate hike stance soon...

The ASX extended its green run into Tuesday, adding 0.44% at the closing bell driven by a surge in real estate and technology stocks. Lithium stocks took flight today after UBS raised its rating on a number of key players including upgrading Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) to Neutral, upgrading Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) to Buy and upgrading lithium price outlook amid China’s reopening. Cooper Energy...

The US Market rallied to start the week, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumping more than 2% as investors weigh the Fed’s rate path moving forward in favour of a slowdown in rate hikes to come. Favourable economic data released last week showed a decline in wholesale and retail sales in a sign consumer spending is also starting to cool. The Dow Jones added 0.76% to start the week and the S&P500...

The ASX seesawed throughout the first trading session of the week before closing just 0.07% higher as strong gains in the tech and energy sectors offset losses in the utilities sector. Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) dominated the market gains again after releasing a production update last week including production and revenue coming in ahead of analysts’ expectations, which also prompted Morgans to re...

The local market ended last week on a 0.23% gain at the closing bell of Friday’s session, driven by a surge in energy and materials stocks on the back of rising commodity prices. Communication services and consumer discretionary stocks came under pressure to close in the red on the last trading session of the week. Quarterly reports and company trading updates continued dominating market movements...

US markets fell again on Thursday for a third straight session as investors are increasingly concerned that the Fed will continue raising interest rates despite signs the economy is beginning to cool. The increasing concerns follow new jobless claims in the US hitting the lowest level since June last week in a sign the labour market remains resilient despite the slowing economy. The Dow Jones and...

The local market took no lead from Wall St overnight, closing Thursday’s session 0.57% higher on the release of softer than expected jobs data out for December. Materials stocks led the gains today, as investors piled back into the sector following a few sessions of selling out earlier in the week, while tech stocks were sold off today. In economic data out today, Australia’s jobs data for Decembe...

Disappointing retail sales data released in the US overnight saw Wall Street close in the red. The Dow Jones tumbled 1.8%, as investors took their profits from the strong start to the year. The S&P500 lost 1.6% and the Nasdaq down 1.2%  European markets were mixed as uncertainty persisted on the economic outlook, which is a key topic of debate on the agenda at the World Economic Forum in Davos...

The ASX had another lacklustre session today closing the day up just 0.1% as investors continued to sell off materials and utilities stocks, while piling into technology and healthcare stocks. Allkem (ASX:AKE) shares dipped today after the lithium producer released a December quarter trading updating including record sales revenue of US$151m from the company’s flagship Olaroz operation despite sof...

Wall Street closed mixed on Tuesday which was the first trading session of the week in the US as investors digested contrasting earnings results out of investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as well as GDP data out of China indicating a rise of just 3% in 2022, which fell short of Beijing’s target of 5.5%. The Dow Jones closed 1.14% lower, the S&P500 fell 0.2% but the tech-heavy Na...

The local market’s green run came to an end today in a muted session as the key index closed just 0.03% lower. A sharp sell-off in materials and utilities stocks offset strong gains among consumer staples and healthcare stocks today. As recession fears increasingly dominate market sentiment, sectors like consumer staples and health care are remaining resilient as these companies traditionally rema...

US markets were closed for the Martin Luther King holiday, but coming up this week in the US are Q4 earnings results, with Netflix and State Street announcing results Thursday and Friday.   European equities mostly ended their start to the week with modest gains. A key focus for European markets this week is the World Economic Focus in Switzerland, where the heads of state, business leaders and ac...