Apple launched its Apple Card savings account with a 4.15 per cent annual percentage yield. It requires no minimum deposit or balance, Apple said, and users can set up an account from the Wallet app on their iPhones. Apple was down 0.4 per cent at the time of writing.
Solar energy stocks climbed, with Enphase leading the charge with a 7.2 per cent gain, while First Solar and SolarEdge added 5.4 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively. These companies are likely being propped up by the world continuing to decarbonise with renewable energy.
Shares of the Google parent slid 3 per cent after The New York Times reported that Samsung is considering dropping Google as the default search engine on its smartphones, in favour of Microsoft’s Bing.
The report said about $3 billion in annual revenue is at stake.
Commodities
Brent Oil is currently trading down 1.6 per cent at US$84.90 a barrel, dropping on a higher USD and interest rate concerns, while gold is trading down 0.3 per cent to US$1,996.40 per ounce.
The US 10-year Treasury bond gained 8 basis points to a yield of 3.6 per cent.
New Zealand
The NZX 50 rose 0.5 per cent yesterday, with performance concentrated in the large caps with the NZX 10 rising 0.8 per cent.
Fletcher Building provided an NZX update on the Iplex Australia Pro-fit pipe product issue.
In Fletcher Building’s 2023 Interim Financial Results issued in February, it noted that Iplex plastic pipes have leaked in homes, primarily built by group home builders in Western Australia, which have required repair or replacement of the pipes and, in some cases, damage to the affected homes.
Reports to Iplex Australia are that, to date, about 1,200 of the 15,000 houses constructed in Western Australia using Pro-fit in the period mid-2017 to mid-2022 have experienced leaks.
Fletcher Building has not found a manufacturing fault in what it has tested so far but will pay two main builders to replace ceiling product in homes that have leaked. Fletcher Building declined 1.5 per cent yesterday.
Manawa Energy released its fourth quarter Operating Report. It said spot pricing over the first quarter was strong, and significantly elevated compared to the preceding two quarters.
Manawa Energy storage declined across the period but was sitting at 124 per cent of the 10-year average. This was primarily due to strong pricing (stored water was used more) and subdued South Island inflows (all main Manawa Energy storage is located in the South Island).
Manawa also noted strong inflows into their schemes. Manawa Energy fell 0.2 per cent.
Food prices rose 12.1 per cent in the year to March 2023 - which is the highest annual rate of increase seen since 1989. This inflationary indicator comes ahead of the NZ March quarter Consumer Price Index being released on Thursday.
Australia
The ASX 200 traded up 0.3 per cent on Monday.
Automotive care and servicing company AMA Group downgraded 2023 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation guidance from $70-90m to $60-68m.
The downgrade was attributed to a combination of labour constraints putting pressure on labour costs and hiring activity driving operational disruption, as well as many contracts not containing the ability to inflation-adjust dynamically. AMA Group slumped 34.7 per cent yesterday.
The Regis Resources share price is down 11.2 per cent after the release of its quarterly update. Regis delivered gold production of 103,728 ounces during the quarter, short of expectations. The company downgraded its full year production forecast while lifting its cost outlook.
Toll roads operator Transurban shares increased 0.3 per cent to after the company said that average daily traffic increased by 12.9 per cent in the March quarter compared to the prior comparable period, a record third quarter result for the business.
Coming up today
US: Housing Starts, Building Permits; Eurozone: ZEW Economic Sentiment; UK: Unemployment Rate; Australia: CBA Household Spending, RBA Minutes, Earnings: Cooper Energy, Freelancer, HUB24; New Zealand: REINZ House Sales
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