Stocks rose Monday as traders tried to recover some ground following the worst week of the year on Wall Street. Investors also looked ahead to another big week in retail earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent. The S&P 500 was up 0.3 per cent at 3,982.24, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6 per cent to 11,466.98.
The moves came as Treasury yields eased, after the the 2-year rate on Monday hit 4.883 per cent, its highest level since July 2007.
In earnings, just 6 per cent of the S&P 500 will report but investors are looking for insight into the consumer with several major retailers, some travel and entertainment names as well as food companies set to report. Target, Costco, Lowe’s and Macy’s are some of the big names set to report earnings this week.
Corporate profits are on track to fall in the fourth quarter for the first time since 2020, according to FactSet. Analysts expect earnings to get worse before they get better – tech stocks have been the biggest drag on S&P500 profits . Many S&P 500 companies are still bringing up inflation on earnings calls
In company news, Pfizer is reportedly in talks to acquire biotech company Seagen in a deal that could be worth over $30 billion. Seagen specialises in targeted cancer therapies, which could be a valuable addition to Pfizer’s lineup of cancer treatments. This acquisition is part of Pfizer’s strategy to expand its presence in the promising field of immunotherapies for cancer treatment.
Elon Musk continues to take a sword to Twitter, in an increasingly severe campaign to slash costs.Twitter laid off around 10 per cent of its workforce over the weekend, hitting product managers, data scientists and engineers who worked on machine learning and site reliability. All of which raises further questions about how much is left to cut from the increasingly skinny company – and what the ongoing bloodletting suggests about its financial health.
Retail remains the highlight on the earnings calendar. Busy week of retail earnings ahead with Costco, Target, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Dollar Tree, Ross Stores, Burlington and Macy’s among the highlights.
In EV news, China’s lithium industry, responsible for approximately 10 per cent of the world’s supply, is facing significant closures in its top production hub due to a government investigation into environmental infringements. The crackdown follows a surge in demand for the battery material, which led to a local lithium frenzy and record global prices. Ore-processing operations have been ordered to stop as investigators probe alleged violations at lithium mines. This closure could potentially affect 8 per cent to 13 per cent of global supply, although the duration of the shutdowns is uncertain.
Lithium producers in North America gained Monday morning, with Albemarle Corp. rising as much as 2.9 per cent and Livent Corp. advancing 2.6 per cent.
Overnight, S&P 500 sectors were mixed. Consumer Discretionary was the best performer, by far, whilst Utilities was the biggest laggard.
Futures
The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.5 per cent gain.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 8:10am is at 67.38 US cents.
Commodities
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.9 per cent fall. Iron ore is 3.3 per cent lower at US$122.50 tonne.
Gold added 0.4 per cent. Silver fell 1.1 per cent. Copper gained 1.5 per cent and oil lost 0.8 per cent.
Figures around the globe
Across the Atlantic, European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE added 0.7 per cent, Frankfurt gained 1.1 per cent while Paris closed 1.5 per cent higher.
In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.3 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.3 per cent lower.
Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket closed 1.1 per cent lower at 7224.81.
Ex-dividends
Amcor PLC (ASX:AMC) is paying 17.3 cents unfranked
Accent Group (ASX:AX1) is paying 12 cents fully franked
Bega Cheese (ASX:BGA) is paying 4.5 cents fully franked
Blackwall (ASX:BWF) is paying 2.5 cents fully franked
Carlton Investments (ASX:CIN) is paying 49 cents fully franked
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP) is paying 67.4 60
Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Ht&E (ASX:HT1) is paying 5.2 cents fully franked
MA Financial Group (ASX:MAF) is paying 14 cents fully franked
Metrics Income (ASX:MOT) is paying 1.39 cents unfranked
Metrics Master (ASX:MXT) is paying 1.29 cents unfranked
MyState (ASX:MYS) is paying 11.5 cents fully franked
Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) is paying 16.5 cents fully franked
Pengana International Equities (ASX:PIA) is paying 1.35 cents fully franked
Qantm Intellectual (ASX:QIP) is paying 2.8 cents fully franked
Worley (ASX:WOR) is paying 25 cents unfranked
Winton Land (ASX:WTN) is paying 1.8653 cents unfranked
Dividends payable
Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP)
Carindale Property Trust (ASX:CDP)
Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC)
Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX:CQR)
Dexus (ASX:DXS)
Elanor Commercial Property Fund (ASX:ECF)
Elanor Investors Group (ASX:ENN)
GDI Property Group (ASX:GDI)
GPT Group (ASX:GPT)
Growthpoint Properties Australia (ASX:GOZ)
Janus Henderson Group PLC (ASX:JHG)
Kelly Partners Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:KPG)
Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR)
Scentre Group (ASX:SCG)
Stockland Corp Ltd (ASX:SGP)
US Student Housing REIT (ASX:USQ)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.