Jarden Brief: YouTube boss steps down to focus on her ‘family, health and personal projects’

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, 54, has announced her resignation after nine years in the top job. Photo/Bloomberg

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

International                                                                                         

US 

Stocks were lower this morning amidst some tough Fed rhetoric surrounding the current trajectory of interest rate hikes.

This included the Fed’s Cleveland representative Loretta Mester saying she saw a compelling case for the central bank to roll out another 50 basis point hike earlier in the month.

“At this juncture, the incoming data have not changed my view that we will need to bring the Fed funds rate above 5% and hold it there for some time,” Mester said.

The US Producer Price Index (PPI) also showed signs inflation may not yet be properly slowing down, as a reading of 0.7 in January came in well above the polled 0.4 per cent, and much higher than December’s negative 0.4 per cent reading.

In contrast, both US building permits and housing starts came in below anticipated levels for the same month.

News from tech stock YouTube came in the form of CEO Susan Wojcicki announcing she will step down, with chief product officer Neal Mohan set to take the lead as new head of the company.

Wojcicki stated she would use the opportunity to focus on “family, health and personal projects I’m passionate about”.

Among the market leaders, tech company Roku and West Pharmaceutical Services shares have popped close to 17 and 13 per cent each at the time of writing after strong operating results bolstered investor sentiment.

Conversely, Boston Beer Company published a surprise fourth quarter loss, blaming continued supply chain disruptions as its stock fell 13.5 per cent to $338.5.

Commodities  

Crpto markets surged higher over the last 24 hour period with Bitcoin and Ethereum posting 3.5 and 3.3 per cent gains respectively.

At one point this morning Bitcoin sat at its highest level since August 2022.

New Zealand 

New Zealand equities unwound Wednesday’s losses to post a 0.6 per cent gain and land at 12,157.8 points.

Skellerup, a manufacturer of rubber products mostly used in the industrial and agricultural sectors, posted its first half 2023 result to which the market reacted poorly as the stock lost 4.4 per cent by the close.

The share price reaction could be attributed to a miss at the net profit after tax (NPAT) level, where NPAT of $23m for the period undershot analyst expectations for closer to $25m.

Management attributed the result to underperformance in its agricultural sector with cost pressures more than offsetting a 5 per cent increase in revenue.

Despite that, Skellerup maintained guidance for full year NPAT of $48-52m, mathematically leaving the company with more to do in the second half of their financial year.

Other news locally included Prime Minister Chris Hipkins mentioning the potential for a Cyclone Gabrielle relief package in the Government’s upcoming budget in May, with significant infrastructure investment required to ready the country for the impact of similar storms in the future.

Fletcher Building said it anticipated no further extraordinary cost issues related to the delayed Puhoi to Warkworth motorway project.

Asked in a post result conference call, Fletcher CEO Ross Taylor said the company would be able to recover increased costs from Covid delays having made a claim with transport agency Waka Kotahi NZTA.

On this news, Fletchers traded mildly lower by 1.2 per cent.

Australia 

The ASX followed its trans-Tasman counterpart in making a 0.8 per cent gain by the close of Thursday’s trading.

Investors digested macroeconomic data in the form of unemployment statistics for the month of January.

Unexpectedly, a 3.7 per cent reading surprised the market on the upside after close to 12,000 Australians lost work from December.

This print, above expectations for 3.5 per cent, buoyed markets as higher unemployment indicates a potentially cooling labour market and hence lower wage inflation, so potentially fewer interest rate hikes from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Large cap telecommunications company Telstra made 1.9 per cent by the close after it reported a 26 per cent increase in earnings for the half year to A$934m, giving confidence to lift the current dividend to A 8cps.

Other top performers during the day were Orora Limited (+14.9 per cent) Sonic Healthcare (+14.2 per cent) and Corporate Travel Management (+10.0 per cent).

Both Orora and Sonic Healthacare were benefactors of strong earnings reports. Specifically, can and bottle maker Orora posted a 7.8 per cent rise in NPAT with CEO Brian Lowe speaking to a 10 per cent increase in volumes throughout the period.

In the aftermath of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) half year result which caused a shockwave of selling pressure through its banking peers on the ASX, National Australia Bank nudged forward 0.7 per cent in light of its own first quarter report.

Cash profit of A$2.2bn came in above analyst expectations for the period, while net interest margins (in contrast to CBA) rose 12 basis points from the previous reported period.

Coming up today 

In Australia, earnings from Ingham’s and Westpac Bank are expected while just Seeka will report earnings on the NZX.

For more information on the latest market moves, get in touch with Jarden.

The Jarden Brief is provided for general information purposes only. It reflects views and research available at the time of publication, using external sources, systems and other data and information we believe to be accurate, complete and reliable at the time of preparation.  We make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, correctness and completeness of that information, and will not be liable or responsible for any error or omission.  The Jarden Brief is not to be relied upon as a basis for making any investment decision. Please seek specific investment advice before making any investment decision. Jarden Securities Limited is an NZX Firm.  A financial advice disclosure statement is available free of charge at https://www.jarden.co.nz/our-services/wealth-management/financial-advice-provider-disclosure-statement/.

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