Good Evening,

Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Recap. 

The ASX 200 index came crashing back down to earth from its lofty, almost all-time highs, shedding 1.37% or 104.6 pts. closing the day down to 7.523.20. In a reversal from yesterday, all sectors ended the day lower, with Technology (-3.03%) stocks seeing the biggest drop after the NASDAQ’s hefty selloff overnight on Wall Street. Wisetech (-2.8%), Xero (-3.8%), and NextDC (-2.4%) all led the sector lower. Real Estate (-2.4%) and Materials (-1.8%) were the other sectors to see the largest falls.

WTI crude oil futures held below US$71/bbl on Wednesday after falling by almost 2.0% on Tuesday, as a selloff in risk assets overshadowed concerns about heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

In company news, Infratil reported a $133 million improvement in its investment valuation at its CDC Data Centres from October to December. The New Zealand based global infrastructure business provided FY24 earnings guidance of between $260 million to $270 million. Strike Energy said it delivered 33 terajoules of gas from the Walyering gas field in Western Australia, following slower deliveries due to maintenance. Endeavour Group chairman Peter Hearl will resign from his position and will be succeeded by current alcohol executive Ari Mervis.

Suncorp Group said it has received around 19,000 claims related to the ongoing weather events impacting the Australian east coast since the end of November. Queensland was the hardest hit state, with around 12,500 claims, with more expected as the full impact of the current flooding in the southeast becomes known. The insurer says it expects to be within its natural hazard allowance of $680 million for the half-year period ending December 31.

Wall Street

The S&P 500 (-0.57%) and Nasdaq (-1.63%) closed the first trading session of 2024 lower, weighed by a fall in Apple’s stock price (-3.58%) after a broker downgrade from Barclays saw it have its worst one-day drop since September last year. Barclays downgraded Apple to an "underweight" rating, citing weakening iPhone demand. Other mega-cap stocks also declined, including Nvidia (-2.73%), Meta Platforms (-2.17%), and Microsoft (-1.37%).

During Tuesday's session, equities were pressured as U.S. Treasury yields rose. The yield on 10-year notes climbed to a two-week high of above 4.000%.

Economic Data

• Eurozone bank lending rose 0.5% year-on-year to €6.87 trillion, the slowest pace since May 2015.

• The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI fell to 45.4 in December from 47.7 in November - the eighth consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector.

• U.S. Construction spending rose by 0.4% during November from the previous month, down from the 1.2% increase in October and below market expectations of 0.6% growth.

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Quick Singles

🪃 Local News

• Fortescue Group is conducting an internal investigation following a recent derailment that has disrupted the supply of iron ore to its port operations in Western Australia. Although the company has confirmed that multiple wagons were involved in the incident, they have not disclosed any further details regarding the extent of the damage caused.

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Early versions of Mickey Mouse have become part of the public domain after 95 years of copyright protection expired on January 1, 2024. The first two releases by Walt Disney Animation that introduced Mickey and Minnie Mouse were “Steamboat Willie” and “Plane Crazy” in 1928.

• Microsoft's Copilot is now available on iPhones following its earlier release on Android. The generative AI app, powered by the latest GPT-4 and Dall-E3 models, generates text and images.

• Boeing has instructed airlines to inspect their 737 Max planes for potential loose bolts. The Federal Aviation Administration will oversee these inspections after a bolt without a nut was found in the rudder control system by an operator.

• Snoop Dogg has partnered with Hill Beverage Co. to create Do It Fluid - a hemp-infused drink line with CBD and THC blends.

• Chinese automaker BYD Auto sold more than 526,000 fully electric vehicles (E.V.) in the fourth quarter, overtaking Tesla as the world's top EV seller.

• Tesla produced a record number of vehicles of 494,989 during Q4, taking the total number of vehicles during 2023 to 1.81 million - a 38% increase from the prior year.

• Blackrock, Fidelity and Wisdom Tree have named Jane Street Capital as their broker to manage the proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) cashflows.

• Fidelity’s latest valuation of its ownership in social media platform X indicates the platform has lost 71.5% in value since Elon Musk took the company private in October 2022.

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A Little Extra

📉 Going Down?

Top-10 shorted stocks on the ASX - as of December 27

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

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

DISCLAIMER: None of the information provided in this newsletter should be constituted as financial advice. This newsletter is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be taken as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please do your research.