Jarden Brief: Twitter disaster as ex-security chief slams 'extreme deficiencies' in privacy, security

The latest stock setback and whistleblower issue for Twitter comes amid a drawn-out legal and PR battle with Elon Musk.

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

International

US

The major US indices were mixed at the time of writing. The S&P 500 fell 0.1 per cent, Nasdaq inclined 0.3 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4 per cent.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to continue its tightening of monetary policy, with Chairman Jerome Powell planned to deliver a speech on the central bank's approach to inflation on Friday.

Sectors were mixed. The gainers were energy (+3.3 per cent), materials (+0.8 per cent) and consumer discretionary (+0.7 per cent). Underperformers were real estate (-1.6 per cent), health (-1.3 per cent) and utilities (-0.7 per cent).

Outperformers in single stocks were led by energy stocks Occidental Petroleum Corp and Halliburton Co, improving 6.8 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively. Occidental Petroleum hit a new 52 week high on Tuesday of US$74.84. These performances were likely driven by the rise in oil prices.

Freeport-McMoRan gained 6.4 per cent. At the last earnings report in July, the company missed earnings expectations, reporting earnings per share of US$0.58 for the second quarter of 2022.

On the flip side, Twitter diminished 5.7 per cent. This follows former head of security Peiter Zatko filing complaints of extreme deficiencies by Twitter relating to privacy, security, and content moderations. The complaints mention deceitful communications that allegedly affected the board and shareholders of the company.

Pool Corp fell 3.6 per cent. The company reported second quarter earnings per share of US$7.63 in July. Healthpeak Properties lessened 3.5 per cent at the time of writing. The real estate investment trust reported in early August earnings of US$0.13 per share for the second quarter.

S&P Global's flash composite purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to 45.0 in August, from 47.7 in July, showing a second monthly decrease in total business activity.

This drop was the fastest in business activity seen since May 2020 with service sector businesses carrying the brunt of the fall, while goods producers experienced a modest dropped in output.

Rest of the World

Asian markets results were down overnight. The Shanghai Composite fell a slim 0.1 per cent, the Nikkei slipped 1.2 per cent and the Hang Seng declined 0.4 per cent.
European markets continued their descent. The FTSE lowered 0.6 per cent, the DAX decreased 0.3 per cent and the CAC fell 0.3 per cent.

The euro hit a two-decade low of 0.9901 against the US dollar on Tuesday morning and some expect it could fall further.

S&P Global's flash Eurozone composite PMI fell from 49.9 in July to 49.2 in August, suggesting a possible contraction in the economy in the third quarter of the year.

Commodities

Gold and silver traded 0.7 per cent higher at US$1,761 per ounce and US$19.01 per ounce respectively.

WTI Crude Oil lifted 3.8 per cent to US$93.81 per barrel. Bitcoin rose 2.6 per cent and Ethereum inclined 6.4 per cent.

The US 10-Year Treasury rate lifted two basis points to 3.052 per cent alongside a one-point incline in the 30-Year rate, to 3.254 per cent.

New Zealand

The NZX 50 yesterday reversed on Monday's gains, falling 1.0 per cent. Only seven of the 50 companies that make up the index closed in the green.

Freightways was the strongest performer with a 3.1 per cent jump in its share price. The company released its full year results on Monday, which reported a 9.1 per cent increase in revenue that corresponded with a 10.4 per cent boost to its dividend.

Mainfreight also closed in the green, up 1.2 per cent. Vital Healthcare Property followed closely with a 1.1 per cent increase.

For the second consecutive day, Restaurant Brands had the worst performance of the day. The company fell a further 4.0 per cent to $8.26 a share.

Scales Corporation's share price declined 3.1 per cent, and Auckland International Airport also closed in the red, down 2.7 per cent.

Summerset released its full year results, which showed a 20.3 per cent jump in revenue but a 49.0 per cent decline in net profit. The share price closed 0.2 per cent higher at $11.57.

Australia

The ASX 200 closed 1.2 per cent lower to 6,961.80 points yesterday.

Two of the 11 sectors closed positive. Energy gained 1.3 per cent and utilities rose 0.2 per cent. By contrast, consumer staples finished 3.8 per cent lower, followed by financial (-2.1 per cent) and healthcare (-1.7 per cent).

Altium led single stock gains with a 19.8 per cent lift. The software company's 2022 full year results revealed a profit after tax increase of 57 per cent to US$55.5 million, and a 23 per cent revenue boost to US$220.8 million. Altium expects 2023 total revenue to fall between US$255 million and US$265 million, with an 'aspirational' 2026 revenue target of US$500 million.

Ansell improved 8.6 per cent. The personal protection product business announced their 2022 full year results, headlined by sales of US$1,952.1 million, a 3.7 per cent year-on-year reduction. Ansell attributed this fall to diminishing demand for Covid-19 related personal protective equipment (PPE).

Lithium miner Allkem rose 5.3 per cent to round out yesterday's podium of outperformers.

Endeavour Group dropped 12.3 per cent. As part of its 2022 results, the retail drinks and hospitality business reported after tax profit of A$495 million, up 11.2 per cent on the previous year, while sales remained unchanged from 2021 (A$11.6 billion).

Payment solutions company EML Payments slid 11.6 per cent, eroding gains from a strong day of trading on Monday.

Financial technology company Zip Co, a major player in the buy now pay later industry, sunk 6.1 per cent.

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All market pricing and announcements are sourced from Refinitiv, NZX and ASX.

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