Good Evening,

Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Market Recap.

Green everywhere on the markets, both locally and overseas, as the ASX 200 index had its best day of 2024, gaining 127.6 pts. or 1.65% to 7,881.30, edging closer to a record high of 7,896.40 set in late-March. A cooling inflation read in the U.S. helped global markets rise, while a higher unemployment rate than expected in Australia help lift expectations of an interest rate cut.

It was hard not to find a winner today, Real Estate (+3.41%) stocks surged, a benefactor of falling interest rates. Goodman Group (+4.08%) closed at prices not seen since 2007. Scentre Group (+2.84%), Vicinity Centres (+2.60%) and GPT Group (+4.46%) were some of the other companies to record large gains.

Technology (+3.32%) stocks continued their steller run, with the sector now up 26% in 2024 alone. WiseTech (+4.39%) cracked the ton, setting a new share price record of $101.75. Xero (+4.79%) was another big mover as were Next DC (+3.70%) and Life 360 (+4.10%).

In company news:

• Aristocrat Leisure (+12.30%) was the best performer on the All Ordinaries, after it reported a 16.8% rise in half-year profit to $723.3 million. Revenue grew by 6% thanks to a strong performance from its North America gaming operations.

• Patriot Battery Metals (+9.38%) shares rebounded after it reported more wide, high-grade lithium intersections from infill drilling at its CV5 pegmatite deposit in Quebec, Canada.

• Incitec Pivot (+5.32%) has plans to sell its fertiliser business to an Indonesian fertiliser producer Pupuk Kalimantan Timur. Incitec also reported a net loss after tax of $148million.

Wall Street

Records were everywhere as Wall Street's three major indices closed at record highs on Wednesday. The NASDAQ (+1.40%) and S&P 500 (+1.17%) had big gains after a falling inflation read boosted the case for interest rate cuts. The Dow Jones (+0.88%) also rose as it edged closer to the 40,000 mark.

U.S. annual inflation for April eased to 3.4% from 3.5% in March, which was in line with expectations. Prices steadied for food (+2.2%) but slowed for shelter (5.5%). Prices declined for new vehicles (-0.4%) and used cars (-6.9%). Energy costs increased compared to March (2.6% vs. 2.1%).

All sectors closed the day higher, with large gains in the Technology (+2.29%) sector followed by Real Estate (+1.69%) and Health Care (+1.44%).

Memestock mania is over already? GameStop (-18.87%) shares fell, as did AMC (-20.0%) after both stocks ran up triple-digit returns this prior. Boeings' (-2.1%) share price continues to deteriorate like their dodgy planes, losing ground after the Justice Department said the aeroplane manufacturer broke a 2021 settlement that protected it from criminal charges related to two fatal 737 Max crashes.

S&P500 Sector Performance

Economic Data

• Australia’s Unemployment rate rose to 4.1% in April, above estimates and March’s reading of 3.9%. The number of unemployed individuals rose by 30,300 to 604,200.

• Japan’s GDP fell by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2024, slightly more than market estimates of a 0.4% drop.

• U.S. Retail sales were unchanged month-on-month in April, which fell well short of expectations of a 0.4% rise, following a 0.6% increase in March

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Quick Singles

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Walmart plans to cut hundreds of jobs at its corporate headquarters and relocate a majority of its U.S. and Canada-based remote workforce to three offices.

• President Biden announced plans to quadruple taxes on Chinese E.V. imports from 25% to 100% as part of a sweeping series of tariffs aimed at protecting American manufacturers from low-cost Chinese products flooding the market.

• Google has showcased its new AI agent project, ‘Project Astra,’ alongside a slew of updates to infuse AI across search and enable Gemini to reason and take more advanced actions for users.

• Comcast will offer a streaming bundle of Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+ for one price to anyone who’s signed up for the company’s mobile, TV, or broadband services.

• OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving the company. Sutskever helped lead the coup against Sam Altman and then later changed his mind.

• Cruise’s autonomous vehicles will begin supervised autonomous driving again in Phoenix, Arizona. Cruise said it will gradually expand this effort into the other cities in which it operates.

Markets

ASX Company Movers

Commodity Prices

Bonds

Forex

Global Health Check

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🔍️ ETF Watch

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Australian Index

Australian Sectors

Global Indices & Sectors

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Property & Infrastructure

Fixed Income

Mixed Assets

*1-year, 3-year and 5-year returns are calculated as of the end of April 2024.

Newsletter Recommendation

A Little Extra

📉 Going Down?

Top-10 shorted stocks on the ASX - as of May 9

📂 Broker Reports

1. Spark New Zeland (SPK) - Upgraded to Outperform from Neutral (Macquarie)

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

What are the insiders doing? (On-market trade only)

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DISCLAIMER: Please note that the information provided in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. It is not intended to encourage you to buy/sell assets or make economic decisions. We strongly recommend conducting your research before making any investment decisions.