Morgans AM: Thursday 26 April 2018

Morgans Financial Limited

A late rally lifted the benchmark US equity indices into positive territory and helping the Dow to snap a five session losing streak, with rising bond yields and corporate earnings still front of mind for investors - Dow up +60-points or +0.25%, with Boeing (up +4.19%) driving much of index gains after the aerospace company's first quarter earnings crushed consensus expectations (with adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.64 versus consensus expectations of US$2.58) and saw their full year guidance upgraded (i.e. adjusted earning per share (EPS) range now US$14.30-to-US$14.50, from US$13.80-to-US$14.00). Boeing also announced plans to purchase an additional US$15B worth of stock over the next two years. The broader S&P500 rose +0.18%. However, the technology-centric NASDAQ slipped -0.05%, its fifth consecutive session decline and longest losing streak since March 2017. Twitter fell -2.4% despite reporting better-than-expected first quarter earnings and revenue and delivered healthy monthly-active-user growth. Indeed, Twitter delivered their strongest revenue growth (up +21% over the past year) in 2-years. President Trump concluded a meeting with Apple's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tim Cook, in the Oval Office earlier this morning AEST. The meeting's primary focus was reportedly trade. US markets closed sharply weaker on Tuesday (24 April) with investors rattled by a fresh rise in US Treasury yields that overshadowed a host of major corporate earnings releases - Dow tumbled -425-points or -1.70% (recovering from a steeper decline that saw the index down as much as -620-points or -2.5%) to book its fifth straight decline - the longest such losing streak since 17 March. The broader S&P500 fell -36-points or -1.30% (with a rally in last hour paring an earlier -2% fall), with eight of the eleven primary sectors closing lower. The NASDAQ slumped -121-points or -1.70% to log its fourth consecutive decline and longest losing streak since February. Alphabet (down -4.5%), Facebook (-3.7%) and Microsoft (-2.30%) were among the heavyweight tech decliners.