Technology stocks were in the green, lifting the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 1.2 per cent at the time of writing.
Tesla shares rallied 4.5 per cent during Wednesday’s trading session following the company’s annual shareholder meeting a day prior.
CEO Elon Musk promised the company would deliver its first Cybertrucks this year. Musk also said although he expects an economic downturn in the coming year, he plans to spend more time on Tesla in future whilst exploring AI developments.
Retailer Target reported revenue of US$25.3 billion for the three-month period that ended April 29, barely growing year-over-year, up nearly 1.0 per cent from a year ago.
Shoppers spent less as the quarter went on, buying more necessities, with food and beverages and household essentials being the strongest categories.
Despite Target’s net income for the fiscal quarter dropping to US$950 million, the company maintained its full-year outlook on Wednesday.
Japan
Japan’s real Gross Domestic Product for the fiscal year that ended in March expanded 1.2 per cent year-on-year, the second year running of positive growth.
New Zealand
On another light trading day, the NZX 50 closed flat on Wednesday.
Travel booking software provider Serko jumped 29.1 per cent after reporting a 154.0 per cent year-on-year rise in annual income.
Driving the gain was Serko’s Booking.com business segment which saw online bookings increase 93.0 per cent to 4.1 million.
Management anticipates financial year 2024 total income to be between $63 million and $70 million based on continued business travel recovery.
Despite the retirement village operators continuing to navigate a challenging economic environment, and the Commerce Commission’s recent investigation into the sector for potential issues under the Fair Trading Act, the sector finished strongly for the second day running.
Ryman Healthcare rose 4.4 per cent and is expected to report tomorrow.
Summerset Group (+1.7 per cent), Oceania Healthcare (+5.6 per cent) and Arvida Group (+3.7 per cent) all experienced gains on the back of increasing migration, and optimism of house prices stabilising.
On the flip side, property development company Argosy posted a full year net loss of $80.8 million which was largely attributed to a total of $146.6 million unrealised revaluation loss for the year to 31 March.
Despite falling property values impacting the market, Argosy delivered net property income of $112.8 million for the period. The company continues to shift its focus to industrial property, whilst tilting away from office space.
The local share market awaits Budget 2023 today, with a focus on cost of living and cyclone recovery.
Australia
Across the ditch, the ASX 200 finished Wednesday’s trading session down 0.5 per cent.
Australian workers saw their wages rise at the fastest pace since 2012 in the March quarter, but falling short of cost of living increases.
The March quarter price index rose to an annual (seasonally adjusted) rate of 3.7 per cent in the first three months of 2023, a result that may impact the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision next month.
Australia’s tight labour market also pushed private sector wage growth to 3.8 per cent, reaching a 10-year high. Employment data is released today.
Fertiliser and explosives manufacturer Incitec Pivot was the markets biggest laggard, down 7.8 per cent after announcing its interim results for the first half of FY23.
External factors such as floods, snowfall, commodity and gas prices all restricted Incitec Pivot’s ability to produce and consequently impacted the company’s first-half underlying earnings to A$361.9 million, a 6.0 per cent decline from the previous period.
Management shed light by declaring a 10 cent interim dividend, which will be paid to shareholders on 4 July.
Coming up today
US: Existing Home Sales, Initial Jobless Claims.
Australia: Employment, Xero FY Earnings, Aristocrat 1H Earnings.
NZ: PPI, Trade Balance, Goodman Property Trust FY Earnings, Kathmandu Investor Day. AGM’s: Restaurant Brands, Briscoe Group.
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