US markets rise as EV battery integration grows rapidly under the Biden Administration
US equities were mostly higher in fairly choppy Wednesday trading.
The Nasdaq Composite ground higher in choppy trading on Wednesday as investors tried to find their footing after the biggest one-day drop in more than two years.
The Nasdaq rose 0.74 per cent . The S&P 500 added 0.34 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.10 per cent, after being down more than 200 points at session lows.
Moderna was one of the top performers in the Nasdaq, jumping more than 6 per cent. Tesla rose 3.6 per cent, and Apple tacked on 1 per cent.
The hot inflation report left questions over whether stocks could go back to their June lows or fall even further. As UBS said in a note to clients: “Tuesday’s selloff is a reminder that a sustained rally is likely to require clear evidence that inflation is on a downward trend. With macroeconomic and policy uncertainty elevated, we expect markets to remain volatile in the months ahead.”
Market breadth was mixed on Wednesday, with declining stocks slightly outnumbering gainers in the S&P 500.
Energy the big outperformer sector wise as oil rose about 1.3 per cent overnight, rebounding from the previous day’s lows, as an international energy watchdog expects an increase in gas-to-oil switching due to high prices this winter,
Best performing industries included coal, automotors & agriculture while underperforming industries included copper, steel, iron & aluminium.
Shares in aluminium producer Alcoa were down 10 per cent after its steel manufacturing peer Nucor fell 9.5 per cent after disappointing guidance for its 3rd quarter. Steel & aluminium are replaceable with each other and operate in very similar end markets.
In the US the pace of EV battery integration is growing rapidly. Since President Biden took office, companies have invested nearly $85 billion in manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries, and EV chargers in the United States. The pace of this investment is accelerating – just in 2022, companies have announced $13 billion in domestic EV manufacturing – more than triple the investment in 2020. Companies have also announced $24 billion in batteries – more than 28 times the investment in 2020 – and over $700 million to support EV charging. The number of electric vehicles sold in the U.S. has tripled since the President took office.
Interestingly Tesla announced overnight that it has paused battery production in Germany as it considers making batteries in the U.S. The move is in response to the recently signed Inflation Reduction Act and the potential for qualifying for U.S. tax credit.
Currencies
One Australian dollar has strengthened slightly compared to the US dollar yesterday, buying 67.49 US cents (Wed: 67.31 US cents), 58.49 Pence Sterling, 96.61 Yen and 67.62 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 2 per cent gain.
Gold lost 0.5 per cent to US$1709 an ounce.
Silver was up 0.4 per cent to US$19.57 an ounce.
Copper dropped $3.60 or over 1 per cent
Oil added $1.17 or 1.3 per cent to US$88.48 a barrel.
Futures
The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.1 per cent gain.
Figures around the globe
Across the Atlantic, European markets closed lower. Paris fell 0.4 per cent, Frankfurt lost 1.2 per cent and London’s FTSE closed 1.5 per cent lower.
Asian markets closed mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 2.8 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.8 per cent lower.
Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket dropped 2.6 per cent to close at 6829.
Ex-dividends
29Metals (ASX:29M) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Auswide Bank (ASX:ABA) is paying 21 cents fully franked
Best & Less (ASX:BST) is paying 12 cents fully franked
Cryosite (ASX:CTE) is paying 1 cent unfranked
DDH Drill (ASX:DDH) is paying 2.65 cents fully franked
Data#3 (ASX:DTL) is paying 10.65 cents fully franked
Eureka Group (ASX:EGH) is paying 0.63 cents unfranked
Earlypay (ASX:EPY) is paying 1.8 cents fully franked
Equity Hl (ASX:EQT) is paying 49 cents fully franked
Fletcher Building (ASX:FBU) is paying 19.8897 cents unfranked
IGO (ASX:IGO) is paying 5 cents fully franked
PM Capital Global Opportunities Fund (ASX:PGF) is paying 5 cents fully franked
Plato Income Maximiser (ASX:PL8) is paying 0.55 cents fully franked
PWR Holdings (ASX:PWH) is paying 8.5 cents fully franked
Regis Healthcare (ASX:REG) is paying 2.32 cents 50 per cent franked
Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) is paying 1 cents fully franked
South32 (ASX:S32) is paying 24.6 cents fully franked
Spark New Zealand (ASX:SPK) is paying 11.2259 cents unfranked
Seven Group Holdings (ASX:SVW) is paying 23 cents fully franked
WCM Global Growth (ASX:WQG) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Dividends payable
Australian Clinical Labs (ASX:ACL)
Australian Ethical Investment (ASX:AEF)
Ansell (ASX:ANN)
Alumina (ASX:AWC)
Accent Group (ASX:AX1)
Capral (ASX:CAA)
Domino's Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP)
HT&E (ASX:HT1)
Platinum Asia Investments (ASX:PAI)
Probiotec (ASX:PBP)
Pengana International Equities (ASX:PIA)
Platinum Capital (ASX:PMC)
Platinum Asset Management (ASX:PTM)
Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (ASX:QRI)
REA Group (ASX:REA)
Sunland Group (ASX:SDG)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
Copyright 2022 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
