Material stocks lead market higher on renewed M&A activity
Investors are bracing for a one-two punch on inflation in the coming days, starting with tomorrow’s Consumer Price Index data and Thursday’s Producer’s Price Index. The two reports will be the biggest readings on inflation ahead of the Fed’s next interest rates decision on May 3.
Overnight S&P 500 ended Tuesday’s session flat as investors prepared for the release of key inflation data later this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.27 points, or 0.29% to 33,684.79. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.43% to 12,031.88.
Material stocks were higher with the US listed shares of both BHP and Rio rallied at one point more than 4 per cent, despite recent signs of weakness from the Chinese and US economies.
Glencore also gained as its CEO met with shareholders in Teck Resources in Toronto to garner support for a proposed takeover and a Newmont’s revised, higher, bid for Newcrest Mining signalled renewed merger and acquisition activity for the sector.
Wall Street is heading toward another season of earnings announcements, with several major US banks scheduled to release their earnings reports for the first time since the series of bank crises in March. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are set to report Friday. BlackRock and UnitedHealth Group are also scheduled to report.
Blackstone has raised $30.4 billion for its latest real estate fund called Blackstone Real Estate Partners X, which is 48% bigger than the asset management giant's previous real estate fund which closed in 2019. Blackstone has been focusing its portfolio on logistics, rental housing, hospitality, lab office and data centres, shifting away from assets like traditional office and malls that are facing headwinds from a post-pandemic adoption of flexible work and surge in e-commerce.
Overall, almost all S&P500 sectors closed higher. Energy was the standout, whilst Technology and Communication Services were the only two lagging.
Futures
The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.4 per cent gain.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 7:10 AM is buying 66.54 US cents..
Commodities
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.76 per cent gain.
Gold gained 0.74 per cent. Silver added 1.12 per cent. Copper rose 1.37 per cent and oil gained 2.12 per cent.
Figures around the globe
Across the Atlantic, European markets closed higher. London’s FTSE gained 0.6 per cent, Frankfurt added 0.4 per cent while Paris closed 0.9 per cent higher.
In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 1.1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.1 per cent lower.
Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket closed 1.3 per cent higher at 7310.
Ex-dividends
Future Generation Investment Company (ASX:FGX) is paying 3.25 cents fully franked
WAM Global (ASX:WGB) is paying 5.75 cents fully franked
WAM Microcap (ASX:WMI) is paying 5.25 cents fully franked
Dividends payable
News Corp (ASX:NWS)
Orora (ASX:ORA)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
Disclaimer
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Source: Finance News Network
