Mese: Agosto 2023

(C) Reuters

Investing.com– Most Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, buoyed by strength in technology stocks as markets awaited major U.S. earnings this week, although Chinese markets lagged on more weak economic signals.

Regional markets took positive cues from a strong overnight finish on Wall Street, although focus remained chiefly on upcoming earnings reports from Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). But strong results from tech heavyweights Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last week set a positive tone for the upcoming earnings.

Optimism over improving global economic prospects- amid easing inflation and resilient growth in major economies- also spurred flows into risk-heavy stocks.

Tech-heavy indexes lead gains

South Korea’s KOSPI was the best performer for the day, up over 1% on strength in heavyweight chipmaking stocks. Samsung Electronics) Co Ltd (KS:005930) rose 1.2% after U.S. memory chip making peer Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) said that the worst for the industry was over, even as the firm forecast a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss and revenue drop.

Strength in internet giants AAlibaba Group Holding Ltd (HK:9988) (NYSE:BABA), Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) and Baidu Inc (HK:9888) (NASDAQ:BIDU) kept the Hang Seng index in positive territory, even as other sectors on the index logged steep losses. Property developer Country Garden (HK:2007) slid over 5% after it scrapped a $300 million capital raise.

The Taiwan Weighted index logged small gains, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% on strong automobile and tech stocks.

Sentiment towards Japanese stocks was also aided by emergency bond buying by the Bank of Japan, which pushed up bets that the bank was in no hurry to tighten policy immediately.

Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index pointed to a flat open, although both indexes were close to hitting record highs on strength in heavyweight tech stocks.

Still, gains in most markets were limited as investors remained wary of key U.S. nonfarm payrolls data this week. Mixed economic cues from China also dented sentiment.

Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.3% ahead of a closely-watched Reserve Bank decision later in the day. Markets are split over whether the bank will hike rates further.

Chinese stocks lag on weak PMIs, stimulus in focus

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index rose just 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite fell slightly as a private survey showed on Tuesday that the country’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly shrank in July.

The reading follows a dismal official survey for July, and shows that China’s biggest economic engines are seeing little signs of recovery this year.

The reading spurred more expectations of stimulus measures from the country, with officials promising more policies to boost domestic consumption and activity. But they have so far offered no clear specifics on the policies, which has left investors somewhat wary of local stocks.

While the prospect of more Chinese stimulus had spurred strong gains in local stocks over the past week, the momentum now appears to be slowing.

(C) Reuters.

Investing.com — Stocks were muted on Monday as a deluge of megacap earnings started to hit this week, and as investors await this week’s jobs report for July.

This week’s reports include earnings from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), which follow positive earnings reports from Meta Platforms and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last week. Strong earnings have helped boost stocks, which have already been rising this year on the prospect of the Federal Reserve nearing the end of its interest rate increases.

The Nasdaq is up nearly 37% this year so far, also fueled by hopes for the growth of artificial intelligence.

Friday’s jobs report for last month is expected to show the economy added jobs, though at a slower pace than in June, but still record-low unemployment. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said over the weekend that the U.S. economy has been surprisingly resilient, and that even if unemployment rose to 4% it could still achieve a soft landing, which means no recession, as the Fed pushes inflation back to its 2% target.

The Fed won’t meet to decide on rates again until September, but it has its annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., later this month, where policy makers could speak about the outlook for rates and the economy.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. AMD earnings

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) is expected to report earnings per share of 57 cents on revenue of $5.3 billion.

2. Uber reports

The ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc (NYSE:UBER) is expected to report a 1 cent a share loss on revenue of $9.3B.

3. Pfizer earnings

Drug maker Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) is expected to report earnings per share of 57 cents on revenue of $13.4B.

(C) Reuters

Investing.com — The Dow closed higher Monday to wrap up a second-straight positive month for July after shrugging off a dip in health care as energy stocks racked up gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%, or 100 points, closing out the month with a 3.2% gain. The Nasdaq was up 0.2%, and the S&P 500 was up 0.2%.

Energy stocks rally as Chevron receives upgrade

Energy stocks were led higher by a more than 3% surge in Chevron (NYSE:CVX) after the oil major was upgraded by Goldman Sachs, citing potential for strong growth.

Energy stocks were also led higher by climbing oil prices to multi-month highs on bets of tightening global supply and rising demand.

Johnson and Johnson leads health care lower as bankruptcy plan rejected

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 4% after the judge on Friday rejected the company’s plan to place its subsidiary LTL Management into bankruptcy, known as a Texas two-step strategy, to deal with tens of thousands of legal claims alleging its talc caused cancer.

DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) was also a drag on health care, falling 6% giving up its recent gains despite raising its annual revenue forecast last week.

CSX, Salesforce stumble on analyst downgrades

CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) fell more than 1% after RBC downgraded its rating on the railroad company to Sector Perform from Underperform, citing coal volume headwinds.

Coal, which makes up nearly a fifth of revenues at CSX, is expected to fall by 20% in 2024, according to a recent forecast from the Energy Information Administration. That is likely to lead to downward earnings revisions, RBC said.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley to Equal-Weight from Overweigh but losses were kept in check as the latter also lifted its price target on the stock to $278 from $251.

Hasbro takes Wall St. plaudits ahead of earnings

Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) was up more than 4% after Bank of America upgraded the shares to Buy from Neutral on optimism that the toymaker is likely to deliver better-than-expected earnings on Thursday.

Big tech remains in focus ahead of Apple, Amazon

Big tech is set to remain in the headlines this week as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) are to deliver reports later this week following better-than-expected quarterly results from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL).

Tupperware continues to bask in meme stock fever

Tupperware Brands (NYSE:TUP) rose 40%, taking its gains in July to over 450%, a move that many believe is driven by the meme stock craze that took hold with OG-meme stocks like GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME).

About 27.00% of Tupperware Brands’ shares are currently sold short.