Note: Figures recorded at 7:40am AEDT. Updated figures and a video recording will be available at 9am AEDT.
US stocks climbed for a second day Thursday, helped by lower Treasury yields, as Wall Street clawed back the steep losses suffered earlier in the week.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury slipped 3 basis points to 4.24%. The 2-year Treasury yield fell 2 basis points to 4.56%.
Investors have spent the week assessing where things stand in the U.S. economy, but a slew of indicators have given mixed signals so far.
Fresh data from Thursday morning revealed that retail sales dropped 0.8% in January. That’s much more than the 0.3% decline expected by economists, according to Dow Jones. This raised some concern about the strength of the U.S. consumer under the weight of sticky inflation and high interest rates, and sent Treasury yields down.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 310 points higher, or 0.8%.
Tesla and Meta Platforms outperformed, rising 5% and 3%, respectively. Shares of Wells Fargo rose 7% after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ended a key penalty for the bank.
Nouveau Monde Graphite's shares soared 25% following key off-take agreements with General Motors Company and Panasonic Energy. The deal with GM entails supplying 18,000 tons of anode material annually, with GM investing US$150 million to support operations. NOVONIX also secured an agreement with Panasonic Energy for 10 tons of synthetic graphite from their Riverside Facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Earnings season continued to paint a muddled picture of corporate America. Tripadvisor jumped 11% after beating estimates on the top and bottom lines.
On the other hand, Cisco shares were down 2% after the tech company announced layoffs and weak forward sales projections. Deere stock dropped 6% after the agricultural machinery manufacturer lowered guidance for its full-year net income.
Equities rallied on Wednesday but did not erase all of the losses from Tuesday’s sell-off, which came on the heels of a hotter-than-expected inflation report. The S&P 500 recaptured the 5,000 level, closing slightly above it.
Turning to commodities, oil surged briefly above $83 per barrel, gold surpassed $2000 per ounce, and iron ore approached $130 per tonne, driven by the weakening US dollar.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 7.40am was buying 65.22 US cents.
Figures around the globe
European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE added 0.38 per cent, Frankfurt gained 0.60 per cent, and Paris closed 0.86 per cent higher.
Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.21 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.41 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was closed.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.77 per cent higher at 7,605.72.
Ex-dividends
Argo Investments (ASX:ARG) is paying 16.5 cents fully franked
Symbio Holdings Ltd (ASX:SYM) is paying 35 cents fully franked
Dividends payable
Euroz Hartleys Group (ASX:EZL)
Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
