Jarden Brief: How many vaccinations are needed for herd immunity?

The Delta variant of Covid-19 has upped the ante. Photo / File

Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden

New Zealand:

Due to technical difficulties of the NZX yesterday, trading on the NZX Main Board, NZX Debt Market, and Fonterra Shareholders Market halted earlier than usual. The NZX Derivatives Market was also affected for some time, but trading resumed in the early evening. The NZX confirms that all markets will resume trading as usual today and said this was a connectivity issue and not a cyber-attack, like the platform experienced last year.

The NZX 50 closed 0.3 per cent lower at 12,753.76 points.

Technology and energy stocks were the main laggards, both decreasing by around 1.4 per cent. Only industrials and financials were in the green, each up 0.2 per cent.

Logistics company Mainfreight was the winner of the session, gaining 1.6 per cent. Next in line was glass processor and glazier, Metro Performance Glass, increasing 1.1 per cent. Lastly, SkyCity Entertainment Group made it onto the leader board yesterday, trading 1.0 per cent higher, recovering some of the losses made in the previous session.

Telecommunications giant, Spark New Zealand, booked the biggest losses of the day, decreasing 1.7 per cent. Energy retailers Mercury NZ and Contact Energy were also underperforming, declining by 1.6 per cent. Mercury had officially taken over Tilt Renewables' New Zealand operations on Tuesday, to which the market reacted positively, the drop today was correcting some of those gains made.

In news that highlights the ongoing danger of Covid-19 variants, the contagiousness of the Delta variant has pushed the level of vaccinations required to achieve herd immunity as high as 90 per cent, up from the previously estimated 60 per cent. This is according to Dr Ricardo Franco, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Fifteen per cent of adult New Zealanders have received 2 jabs.

International Markets:
US:

The major US indices were a recovery story this morning. The S&P 500 was trading up 0.4 per cent, the DJIA up 0.5 per cent, and the NASDAQ was up 0.7 per cent.

Ten of 11 sectors were making gains. Energy and consumer discretionary were outperformers, rising 1.4 and 0.8 per cent, respectively. Health was the only S&P500 sector in the red at the time of writing, down 0.8 per cent.

Penn National Gaming rose 9.3 per cent. The owner and manager of gaming and racing facilities announced the plan to purchase Toronto-based media company theScore. This move is said to enable Penn National to increase its presence in North America and obtain in-house theScore technology.

Wynn Resorts was another top performer, up 8.1 per cent. The casino resort company reported second quarter 2021 results which exceeded expectations, despite making a loss. Wynn reported an adjusted loss of US$1.12 per share compared to the higher expected loss of US$1.52 per share. Investors responded favourably to this better-than-expected results release.

Cardinal Health fell 14.0 per cent. The healthcare services and products company reported its fourth quarter 2021 results with operating earnings decreasing 40 per cent citing a Covid-19 inventory reserve issue related to PPE.

Another underperformer was insurance company Cigna which declined by 11.2 per cent following a fourth quarter 2021 earnings announcement. While the company exceeded second quarter earnings estimates, with earnings per share up 5.3 per cent to US$5.24, the company also outlined the impact of higher medical costs. This saw investors sell-down the stock.

Rest of the World Markets:

The Nikkei (Japan) traded up 0.5 per cent, the Hang Seng (Hong Kong) lost yesterday's gains, down 0.8 per cent and the Shanghai Composite (China) fell by 0.3 per cent.

Commodities:

Gold was trading down 0.5 per cent at US$1,806.20 per ounce.
Oil was trading higher, up 1.0 per cent to US$68.81 per barrel, fuelled by tensions in the Middle East.

Cryptocurrencies flushed green again this morning. Bitcoin had increased 1.9 per cent and Ethereum had risen 3.8 per cent at the time of writing.

Finally, the US 10-year treasury bond rate was yielding 1.217 per cent.

Australian Markets:

The S&P/ASX 200 hit record highs during yesterday's trading, finishing with the index up 0.1 per cent to 7511.1 points.

Investment flows were positive, despite Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews considering another lockdown for the wider Melbourne area after the state recorded 8 local cases on Thursday.

Leading sectors comprised of both real estate and consumer cyclicals, making gains of 0.7 and 1.2 per cent respectively. The Indices slight nudge forward can be attributed to the large cap banks, with all the 'big four' Australian banks edging forward ahead of next week's earnings announcements.

Insurance company NIB Holdings led the way with a strong performance, up 3.1 per cent at yesterdays close. Joining was NIB was software company Nuix, and construction materials company James Hardie Industries which saw upward movements of 2.8 and 2.5 per cent.

On the flip side, Materials (down 1.5 per cent) and Energy (down 1.2 per cent) were the laggard sectors at yesterday's close.

To no surprise, the 1.5 per cent fall in the materials sector coincided with three metals related stocks topping Thursday's underperformers. Both Nickel Mines and Champion Iron fell 3.5 and 3.3 per cent ahead of their respective quarterly production and half year earnings releases later this month, with various brokers tinkering with expectations throughout the week.

Lastly, Fortescue Metals (a lead iron ore exploration company) lost 3.4 per cent throughout the day after one of their workers received a 'weak positive' covid-19 test, threatening to suspend operations at its Cloudbreak site. Luckily, the worker later returned a negative result, after the market close.

• For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.

Disclaimer: This Morning Brief has been prepared in good faith and reflects opinions and views at the time of publication, using external sources, systems and other data and information we believe to be accurate, complete and reliable at the time of preparation. We make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, correctness and completeness of that information, and will not be liable or responsible for any error or omission. This Morning Brief is not to be relied upon as a basis for making any investment decision. Please seek specific investment advice before making any investment decision. Jarden Securities Limited is an NZX Firm, a broker disclosure statement is available free of charge at www.jarden.co.nz. Jarden is not a registered bank in New Zealand. Full disclaimer available at: https://www.jarden.co.nz/limitations-and-disclaimera>