Musk picks a fight with Apple: Chinese tech outperforms

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Stocks fell Tuesday as traders struggled to recover from losses suffered in the previous session and looked ahead to more economic data.

Investors are watching for data coming later this week on topics such as gross domestic product and jobs for insight into how the economy is performing. And they are waiting for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech on Wednesday for clues into whether the central bank will slow or stop interest rate hikes. “The market has shifted focus from the conclusion of the third quarter earnings reporting season to now additional factors that are likely to influence the Federal Reserve in their December deliberations.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1 point, or 0.003 per cent, higher. The Nasdaq Composite shed 65 points to end down 0.6 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 6 points, 0.2 per cent.

In crypto news, the fallout from FTX’s collapse is still being felt. Yesterday, BlockFi, a crypto lender that targeted individual investors, offering them loans and high-interest savings accounts backed by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, filed for bankruptcy. In June, FTX extended a $400 million lifeline to BlockFi, which had been struggling for months. All of which highlights the interconnectedness of the crypto ecosystem and how inherently unstable it is for all participants. Unlike the banking system without regulation there is no option for a co-ordinated bailout.

Elon Musk has been active on twitter claiming that Apple is curbing advertising on Twitter and threatening to “withhold” the social media platform from its App Store, as the world’s richest man locks horns with the most valuable tech company. The tirade against Apple comes as a growing number of big brands have quietly pulled spending from the social media platform since Musk closed his deal to buy it for $44bn, amid concerns that his relaxation of Twitter’s content moderation policies will cause toxic content to proliferate.

On the commodity front, persistent shortages of lithium over the next decade will lead to fewer car sales and hit the cheaper end of the market hardest, the head of one of the biggest producers of the vital battery metal has warned. Paul Graves, chief executive of Pennsylvania-based Livent, said the lithium supply crunch as demand roars would lead carmakers to prioritise material for their more profitable & expensive car models.

Lithium prices have jumped 10-fold in just under two years as electric car sales have taken off, while new supply has been muted following a glut in 2019. Underlining the boom, Chile’s SQM this week reported a 10-fold increase in net profit to $2.8bn in the nine months ending September

Across the sectors while tech struggled overnight – once again US listed Chinese tech companies out performed overnight with Alibaba + 5 per cent , Weibo +10 per cent JD.com + 6.6 per cent & Bilibili + 22 per cent on better than expected 3Q earnings.

Energy had a good session alongside oil; with oil-services firms were among the standouts.

Oil prices have gotten crushed in November, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at oil stocks, which have barely budged. west Texas Intermediate crude oil futures have fallen 11 per cent in November : Since peaking in March, oil has dropped 38 per cent  .

Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.01 per cent fall.

Currency

One Australian dollar at 8:10 AM has strengthened compared to the US dollar yesterday buying 66.89 US cents (Tue: 66.54 US cents).

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent fall.
Gold added 0.4 per cent. Silver gained 1.4 per cent. Copper rose 0.8 per cent and oil gained 1.7 per cent.

Figures around the globe

Across the Atlantic, European markets closed mixed. Paris added 0.1 per cent, Frankfurt lost 0.2 per cent and London’s FTSE closed 0.2 per cent higher.

In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 5.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 2.3 per cent higher.

Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket added 0.3 per cent to close at 7253.

Ex-dividends

Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL) is paying 26 cents fully franked
Hancock & Gore (ASX:HNG) is paying 1 cents fully franked
Metrics Income Opportunities Trust (ASX:MOT) is paying 1.32 cents unfranked
Metrics Master Income Trust (ASX:MXT) is paying 1.28 cents unfranked
Partners Group Global Income Fund (ASX:PGG) is paying 1.1389 cents unfranked
Pengana International Equities (ASX:PIA) is paying 1.35 cents fully franked
PTB Group (ASX:PTB) is paying 3 cents fully franked

Dividends payable

Acrow Formwork and Construction Services (ASX:ACF)
Kelly Partners Group Holdings (ASX:KPG)
GenusPlus Group (ASX:GNP)
US Student Housing REIT (ASX:USQ)

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.

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