Dan Schulman, president and chief executive of PayPal Holdings Inc, which has just announced layoffs. Photo / Peter Foley, Bloomberg via Getty Images
Keeping you up to date with the latest market moves, in association with Investment firm Jarden.
New Zealand
The NZX 50 gained 1.0 per cent yesterday following a strong US session the night prior.
The latest unemployment numbers have resulted in some economists now dialling back their expectations of a 75 basis point hike to a smaller 50 basis points increase.
Unemployment increased slightly to 3.4 per cent in the December quarter, higher than the RBNZ’s forecast but lower than other developed countries.
Optimism was driven by the market seeing the weaker labour market print as supportive of central bank efforts to combat inflation.
Air New Zealand has limited airfares in and out of Auckland to avoid high pricing from their algorithm during the recent flooding-related travel disruptions.
The airline confirmed the cap is to help travellers affected by the weather, but has not confirmed how long the policy will continue now that the backlog has been cleared.
International
US
The S&P 500 broke its winning momentum overnight, with mixed performances from individual stocks amidst the current earnings season.
Video game company Electronic Arts sank by more than 12 per cent after disappointing on earnings, while also projecting a more pessimistic outlook. Social media company Snap also disappointed on revenue, with the stock price falling by 14 per cent.
Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations in its third quarter earnings, PayPal announced that it is laying off 7 per cent of its workforce, or 2000 employees, due to a challenging macroeconomic environment.
The layoffs follow similar moves by tech companies such as Workday, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce.
Computer chip maker AMD continued to rally overnight, up another 8.5 per cent.
The company reported 4th quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations for both sales and profit, with revenue at US$5.6 billion and earnings at US$0.69 per share.
AMD attributed the beat to strong growth in data centre businesses, as well as capturing market share from its main competitor Intel. Despite the beat, the company guided for a 10 per cent decline in year-on-year sales in the current quarter.
Rest of the World
The UK has seen its largest strike in over a decade, as over half a million workers including teachers, civil servants and train drivers went on strike on Wednesday due to disputes over pay and working conditions.
The strikes will result in tens of thousands of schools being closed or partially closed, on top of numerous other disruptions, with likely flow on effects.
Inflation in the Eurozone came in at 8.5 per cent in January 2023, down from 9.2% the month before.
The region has experienced substantial price increases due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with energy costs increasing by up 17.2 per cent year-on-year, while food costs are up by 14.2 per cent.
Australia
The ASX 200 rose by 0.3 per cent yesterday, driven by Flight Centre which gained 8.1 per cent following its successful completion of its A$180 million institutional investor capital raise.
Qantas and Virgin Australia are in a heated competition in the international travel space, with both companies launching airfare sales.
Qantas is offering 170,000 seats at discounted prices for international routes including flights to Singapore, London, Los Angeles and Seoul.
Virgin Australia has also launched a major airfare sale on both domestic and international routes this week.
Credit Corp, a debt collector company, noted its loan book had grown from A$200 million to A$331 million in the last 12 months.
The company’s CEO believes this growth could have been a result of the end of Covid-related stimulus, leading to those with weaker credit records seeking out lenders.
For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.
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