Investors traded more open-mindedly on Monday as all major indices in Europe and the US rose. Inflation outlook worries and geopolitical tensions slowed down over the weekend, however, it will still take time to recover last week’s major losses.
US indices higher
The two major factors highlighted last week slowly lost their effect on the US stock market over the weekend as Wall Street moved higher during the course of the session. Last week’s sell-off released billions in profit to short-sellers, the magnificent 7 contributing heavily to those earnings. The US 2-year and 10-year treasury bond yields are sitting at 4.97% and 4.62%, respectively. The Dow advanced +0.9%, the S&P 500 added +1.2%, and the NASDAQ jumped +1.5%. Cardinal Health lost -5.2% after it said its contract with UnitedHealth will not be renewed. NVDA moved up +2.4% after a -10.0% fall last week.
European indices move up
European indices moved upwards after inflation outlook risks and geopolitical tension worries faded with last week’s close. The Stoxx 600 leapt +0.6% while the FTSE 100 soared +1.6%. Tesco’s £1b share buyback advanced its stock +3.0% higher. Standard Chartered added +0.4% despite moving swiftly down in the first half of the session due to an investigation into a break of Iranian sanctions to win clients.
Australasian indices mixed, Asia mostly down
China’s CSI 300 (-0.3%) and Shanghai Composite (-0.7%) both fell, while the rest of the Asian indices moved upwards. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped +1.8%, Korea’s Kospi up +1.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 up +1.0%. The ASX 200 (+1.1%) began slowly recuperating its losses after a substantial fall last week. In specific stocks, Boss Energy surged +3.7% after it produced the first drum of uranium from its Honeymoon project. A rise in Iron Ore and Gold supported the materials sector, BHP (+1.8%), Fortescue (+0.8%), and Rio Tinto (+0.2%) all gained. The NZX 50 added +0.5%.
WTI Crude, Gold, Iron Ore down
WTI Crude fell -0.1% to US$82.85/bbl, Gold slipped -2.6% to US$2,328.99/oz, while Iron Ore dropped -0.3% to US$108.25/MT.
NZ Headlines
Air New Zealand expects underlying profit for this financial year to be significantly down on last year, with a profitability drop of between $40m–$50m due to ‘deteriorating market conditions’.
Blackwell Global Holdings is changing its name to RTO Limited as a consequence of one of its directors, Michael Chai, resigning after being arrested in the Philippines ‘on matters unrelated’ to the company. The NZX-listed former finance company, which wound down operations in recent years and has been seeking a reverse takeover opportunity (RTO) ever since, told the market last Friday of Chai’s arrest, saying it was ‘seeking clarification of the exact details of the charges’ he faced.
Today's Events
No events today.