Market reviews

Nvidia enjoyed a huge surge in its share price after its results were released after the US stock market closed.

US tech stocks have been on a seemingly unrelenting uptrend for much of this year. The NQ100_m, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, is edging higher even after the Nasdaq 100’s gain of 1.2% yesterday (Wednesday, May 17^th) fuelled by optimism that the US can avert a first-ever default.

Disney’s shares fell by 4.9% in Wednesday’s post-market session as the company released its latest quarterly earnings after US markets closed yesterday.

The iPhone maker is set to release its latest quarterly earnings after US markets close on Thursday, May 4^th.

After tracking sideways for the whole of this month, we could say the tech-heavy index was always going to see some volatility around earnings season when the big hitters started announcing their results. But as an entrée, the small matter of the March banking crisis reared its head again in the shape of First Republic bank who revealed that depositors fled in huge numbers ($100 billion to be more precise) during the banking stress.

Bank stresses have calmed and the combination of solid activity data along with persistently high core inflation has seen markets nail on a 25bp rate hike at the Fed’s May meeting.

The main takeaway from Tesla’s announcement: the EV maker appears willing to let profit margins slide in order to expand volume and market share.

First quarter earnings season continue this week, along with these other major events that could influence major asset classes:

The latest readings on the US consumer price index (CPI) offered up mixed messages surrounding the Fed’s next moves on US interest rates. But another major catalyst looms for the WSt30_m on Friday, as JPMorgan releases its latest quarterly earnings as the unofficial curtain raiser to the US earnings season.

With US stock markets closed tomorrow (Friday, April 7^th), traders and investors have to wait until next week before offering their full reaction to the US March nonfarm payrolls report due on Good Friday.

It seems markets have moved on from two huge bank collapses on either side of the Atlantic, and are turning their attentions back to the usual programming of macroeconomic data and the next policy moves by major central banks.

The tech-heavy index has indeed climbed 20.3% since the closing price on 28^th December 2022, which was then a two-year low, meeting the criteria of a 20% climb from a recent low to mark a “bull market”.

Should markets increasingly expect an actual Fed rate cut in Q3 2023, or even an official pause on the Fed rate-hiking cycle at its next policy meeting in May (52% chance of such an occurrence), that should help the Nasdaq 100 officially lay claim to a bull market.

Governments and central banks across major economies are scrambling to limit the knock-on effects from the rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a key financier of the tech and startup ecosystem around the world.