Morgans AM: Tuesday 21 May 2019

Morgans Financial Limited

US markets fell, with technology stocks wearing the brunt of the selling as concerns over the impact on major technology companies from Washington’s crackdown on China’s Huawei Technologies added to concerns over worsening trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies - Dow fell -84-points or -0.33% , paring an earlier -203-point decline. The broader S&P500 -0.67%, with the Information Technology sector (down -1.75%) the key drag on the index. NASDAQ -1.46%. Google parent Alphabet Inc (down -2.02%) has suspended business with Huawei that involves transferring hardware, software and other technical services. Bloomberg News also reported that companies like Intel (down -2.96%), Qualcomm (-5.99%) and Broadcom (-5.97%) will not supply Huawei until further notice. Chipmaker stocks fell broadly, with Nvidia Corp down -3.05% and Advanced Micro Devices -2.98%. Apple Inc fell -3.13% after HSBC warned that higher prices for the company's products following the increases in China tariffs could have “dire consequences” on demand. However, Reuters headlines emerged after the market close suggesting that the US Commerce Department has scaled back restrictions on Huawei and that the US is creating a 90-day temporary general licence for the China telecom operator and 68 entities. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, Sprint Corp. rallied 18.77% after Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai issued a statement endorsing its planned US$26.5B merger with T-Mobile US Inc (+3.87%) after the companies told the commission that they “would take a series of significant steps if the companies’ merger application is approved,” including committing to build out a new 5G system that would cover 90% of rural America within six years.