Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Amazon is said to have agreed to give rival products more visibility in an important area. Photo / AP, Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden.
International
US
US markets were in the red again at the time of writing. The S&P 500 was down 1.1 per cent – declining for a fourth straight day on recession fears in the US. The Nasdaq Composite was 1.5 per cent lower and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 per cent.
Shares of Paramount were down 7.8 per cent at the time of writing after CEO Robert Bakish warned that fourth-quarter advertising revenue would be lower than the company’s third-quarter figures, noting “a challenging advertising market is cyclical”.
EU antitrust regulators have reportedly reached a final deal with Amazon, three years after officials in Brussels opened a probe into whether the company uses data to engage in anti-competitive practices, according to the Financial Times.
Amazon is said to have agreed to give rival products more visibility in its “buy box,” which spurs the majority of the site’s purchases. Amazon’s share price had fallen 2.5 per cent at the time of writing.
The US Trade Balance was released. The US trade gap edged slightly higher in October from November, to US$78.2 billion deficit.
It was up 5.4 per cent month on month compared to a 12.7 per cent rise in the deficit the period before.
Rest of the World
European stocks closed lower with global economic sentiment remaining mixed. The Stoxx 600 index and FTSE 100 both declined 0.6 per cent.
Asian markets were a mixed bag with the Hang Seng down 0.4 per cent, the Shanghai Composite flat and Nikkei up 0.2 per cent.
Commodities
The US 10-year Treasury bond dipped 1.1 per cent to a yield of 4.0 per cent, giving back some of its gains from Tuesday.
Brent Oil was trading 3.1 per cent lower at the time of writing, at US$80.20 a barrel, on a higher US dollar and concerns that the US Federal Reserve will cause a recession with its rate hikes. Typical inflation hedge - gold - is trading up a slim 0.2 per cent to US$1,771.20 per ounce.
Bitcoin was flat at US$16,962.60.
New Zealand
The NZX 50 Index followed the decline of US markets yesterday, closing down 0.4 per cent.
Synlait Milk, Eroad and Port of Tauranga were top performers, up 3.5, 2.6 and 1.8 per cent respectively. On the flip side, Manawa Energy, Argosy Property and Serko led declines declining 3.8, 3.7 and 2.7 per cent respectively.
Delegat Group held its Annual Shareholders Meeting yesterday. FY23 earnings guidance was kept but forward volume guidance was adjusted downwards (to 3.826 million cases in FY24 and 3.947 million cases in FY25), which was partially offset by more of a focus on value growth. '
Residential and commercial construction activity remains at record levels in New Zealand. Stats NZ estimate building activity rose 3.8 per cent in the September quarter compared to the June quarter, with residential building work up 3.1 per cent and non-residential building activity up 4.9 per cent.
Australia
The ASX 200 traded down 0.5 per cent on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) hiked the Cash Rate Target 25 basis points to 3.1 per cent, as expected. The RBA commented it is committed “to increasing interest rates further over the period ahead” to control inflation. The RBA Governor noted that Australian inflation – currently 7.3 per cent – is expected to peak at around 8 per cent over the year to the December quarter.
Bank of Queensland held its Annual General Meeting yesterday. Its share price rallied over the day to then ease off and close 0.4 per cent lower.
Gold miner St Barbara declined 8.8 per cent with an investor selloff occurring following the decline in the price of precious metals driven by higher interest rate expectations.
The S&P/ASX Ordinaries Gold Index fell 2.2 per cent.
Beach Energy released a statement noting that Clough Ltd had been placed into voluntary administration. Clough is the engineering, procurement and construction partner for the Waitsia Stage 2 Project, which Beach Energy has a 50 per cent interest in. Beach Energy said it will “continue to work to deliver the best outcome for the project”. The 4.0 per cent share price decline also follows oil prices declining on Monday night.
Coming up today
There is nothing major on the agenda today locally. Further afield, third quarter GDP is to be released in Australia and the Eurozone. The Trade Balance is being released in China.
For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
All market pricing and announcements are sourced from Refinitiv, NZX and ASX.
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