Markets appear to be on course to return to pre–trade war levels, as most major equity benchmarks continue their recent winning streaks. US markets, in particular, were buoyed by strong results from two of the Magnificent Seven—Microsoft and Meta—with investors closely watching the next two, Amazon and Apple, which are set to report after market close.
Wall Street extends winning streak to eight sessions
Wall Street was propelled higher as megacaps Microsoft and Meta released strong results, easing concerns around AI spending. Microsoft jumped +8.9% after issuing an upbeat quarterly growth forecast for Azure, its cloud-computing business. Meta rose +4.0% to a five-week high after posting better-than-expected revenue. Apple and Amazon are due to report after market close today. The DOW added +0.6%, the S&P 500 gained +1.1%, and the NASDAQ leapt +2.2%. Eli Lilly fell -9.8% after CVS announced it would drop the pharma firm’s obesity drug Zepbound from its reimbursement list. McDonald’s lost -1.5% after reporting a decline in 1Q global sales. Qualcomm dropped -8.0% after forecasting lower revenue due to the trade war. In rates markets, the US two-year Treasury yield added +8 bps to 3.70%, while the 10-year gained +5 bps to 4.23%.
European markets closed while UK in the green for thirteen-straight sessions
London’s FTSE 100 edged +0.0% higher to close its thirteenth-straight session in positive territory. European markets were closed for Labour Day. Rolls-Royce added +1.8% after reaffirming its 2025 profit and cash-flow guidance. Lloyds Banking fell -2.7% after reporting 1Q profit before tax of UK£1.5b, down -UK£0.1b from the prior year.
Mixed Asian benchmarks while Australia notches sixth-straight wins
The ASX 200 gained +0.2% in its sixth-straight session in positive territory. In corporate news, Woolworths added +1.2% after the country’s largest retailer delivered better-than-expected sales growth, posting +3.0% growth in same-store food sales for the March quarter. It also guided to a loss of -A$70m for its Big W department store division. Rival supermarket Coles rose +1.3% after reporting +3.2% sales growth, with at least five investment banks raising their target prices on the stock. Amcor lost -3.8% after the packaging group reported March-quarter operating earnings short of expectations. Xero rose +3.2% after announcing a +7% to +13% price increase across a range of its more expensive products. The NZX 50 added +2.1%, led by gains in REITs. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 led regional markets, climbing +1.1%, followed by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which rose +0.5%. China’s Shanghai Composite and CSI 300 slipped -0.2% and -0.1% respectively, while Korea’s Kospi fell -0.3%.
WTI Crude up, Gold and Iron Ore down
WTI Crude added +1.7% to US$59.18/bbl, Gold fell -1.9% to US$3,224.65/oz, Iron Ore lost -2.4% to US$97.48/MT.
NZ Headlines
Air New Zealand has replaced its abandoned science-based carbon emissions target with a new goal to reduce net ‘well-to-wake’ greenhouse gas emissions from jet fuel by -20% to -25% by 2030, from a 2019 baseline.
Spark has reportedly launched an auction to find a co-investor for its data centre portfolio, said to be worth up to NZ$1.2b. According to the Australian Financial Review, Jarden has been mandated by the NZX- and ASX-listed telco to seek buyers for a stake in the platform, following Spark’s October announcement that it was seeking capital partners for the business.
Today's Events
- StatsNZ: Building consents issued (Mar 25)
- EU Unemployment Rate
- Japan Jobless Rate