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Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Recap.

The Aussie market started the very early parts of the session in the red on Wednesday before ending the day higher, boosted by February's CPI read, which showed annual inflation remained steady for the third straight month at 3.5%

The ASX 200 index ended the day 0.6% or 39.4 pts higher to 7,819.6, with nine of the 11 major sectors finishing higher. Defensive sectors Consumer Staples (+1.35%) and Industrials (+1.22%) were two of the larger movers, thanks to rises in Coles (+1.56%), Woolworths (+1.56%) and Brambles (+3.41%). Whilst Health Care (+1.28%) continued its recent positive run, CSL (+1.37%) and Resmed (+1.98%) finished the day in the green.

The Technology (-0.53%) sector was the worst performer on the day due to Wisetech Global (-1.07%) and NextDC (-1.29%) losing ground, followed by the Utilities (-0.17%) sector.

Australia’s Consumer Price Indicator (CPI) stayed at a 2-year low of 3.4% during February 24 from a year earlier, slightly less than economists’ estimates of 3.5% and unchanged from January and December’s readings.

Categories that saw prices fall or remain the same compared to January were:

• Food prices (3.6% vs 4.4% in Jan.)

• Alcohol and Tobacco (6.1% vs 6.7%)

• Communications (1.7% vs 2.0%)

• Furnishings, Household Equipment & Services (-0.3% vs 0.3%)

• Housing (4.6% vs. 4.6%)

• Health (3.9% vs. 3.9%)

Prices accelerated from January in:

• Transport (3.4% vs 3.0% in Jan.)

• Education (5.1% vs 4.7%)

• Clothing and Footwear (0.8% vs 0.4%)

In company news, Platinum Asset Management (-21.1%) shares plunged after an after-hours announcement on Tuesday revealed it had lost $1.4 billion in mandated funds from an undisclosed client. The drop in funds will result in around $18 million in lost fees each year, with the share price now down by over 40% in the last 12 months. APM Human Services went into a trading halt today, with a proposed buyer, CVC Asia Pacific, set to walk away from the company's $1.83 billion buyout. CVC said that they could not proceed to finalise a transaction on terms consistent with their non-binding offer.” Westpac (-0.92%) revealed plans to simplify its technology structure under ‘Project Unite’, a four-year project to bring Westpac brands onto a single platform. The announcement fell flat with the market as it failed to outline the project's cost.

Wall Street

U.S. markets fell again on Tuesday in an afternoon slump as the Dow Jones (-0.08%) and S&P 500 (-0.23%) recorded their third consecutive day of declines. Investors’ eyes remain on the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) data, which will drop on Good Friday, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.

Markets have slowly increased expectations that the central bank will cut rates by at least 25 basis points in June, currently pricing at a 70.4% chance, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool.

In company news, Trump Media & Technology Group (+16.1%) shares closed at $57.99 after surging as high as $79.38 as it kicked off its first day of trading after completing a reverse merger with Digital World Acquisition Group. Spice maker McCormick (+10.5%) was the best performer on the S&P500 after reporting first-quarter sales and profit, which beat market expectations:

• Adj. EPS: 63 cents per share vs. 58 cents per share est.

• Revenue: $1.6 million vs. $1.55 billion est.

UPS (-8.16%) shares fell after providing a 2026 revenue forecast of US$114 billion, but Wall Street analysts raised questions about the pricing used in the forecast.

S&P500 Sector Performance

Economic Data

• Australia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 3.4% during February 2024, the same increase as January and December but below market forecasts of 3.5%.

• Chinese industrial company profits rose by 10.2% YoY to CNY914.06 billion in the first two months of the new year, indicating an economic turnaround in 2024.

• South Korea’s Business Survey Index in the manufacturing sector rose to 71 in March 2024, up from 70 in February.

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Quick Singles

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Tesla has announced that every one of its cars in the U.S. will get a free trial of Full Self Driving (FSD) for one month starting later this week.

• Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon was released from a Montenegro prison on bail over the weekend, pending extradition to the U.S. or South Korea. Both countries want to try Kwon on criminal charges, including fraud, tied to the $40 billion collapse of the Terra ecosystem in May 2022.

• Adam Neumann, co-founder and former CEO of WeWork, has submitted a bid to buy the bankrupt company from which he was ousted for over $500 million.

• E.V. carmaker Lucid Motors is raising another $1 billion from its biggest financial backer - Ayar Third Investment, an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. The investment will add to its current stake of around 60% ownership.

• Spotify is launching e-learning content on its platform, starting with online education courses in the U.K. under four categories: “make music, get creative, learn business, and healthy living.” The courses will be available under a freemium model, offering free initial lessons.

• Nissan announced plans to cut production costs and expand its product range, including lifting its Electric Vehicle models. Over the next three years, Nissan plans to release 30 new models, 16 of which will be EVs.

Markets

ASX Company Movers

Commodity Prices

Bonds

Forex

Global Health Check

A Little Extra

📉 Going Down?

Top-10 shorted stocks on the ASX - as of March 21

📂 Broker Ratings

1. 29Metals (29M) - Downgrade to Underperform from Neutral (Macquarie)

2. Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) - Downgrade to Hold from Accumulate (Ord Minnett)

3. Premier Investments (PMV) - Upgrade to Neutral from Sell (UBS)

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

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

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