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Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Market Recap.

The Australian stock market rose on Monday, edging closer to its all-time high. The ASX 200 index gained 49.3 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 7,863.70, 33 points shy of its all-time high set in March this year.

Energy (+2.23%) and Materials (+1.93%) were the stand-out sectors during the session. Brent Crude futures rose on Monday to above US$84.00/bbl, lifting the Energy sector. Woodside Energy (+2.07%), Santos (+2.12%) and Yancoal Australia (+2.35%) all saw big moves. Uranium stocks were another big mover, despite the commodity remaining steady at US$91/lbs. The United States ban on Russian nuclear fuel has helped lift the sector, with Paladin Energy (+7.57%), Boss Energy (+2.81%) and Deep Yellow (+3.63%) the biggest benefactors.

The usual names helped lift the Materials sector, with Rio Tinto (+2.82%) one of the big movers, while BHP Group (+1.85%) and Fortescue (+1.11%) trailed not far behind. Gold miners were big winners in the sector, as the precious metal rose by over 1% on Monday to trade around US$2,430/oz, reaching a new record. Evolution Mining (+5.18%), Gold Road Resources (+6.1%) and Regis Resources (+5.9%) were some of the big movers. Copper prices also hit record levels on Monday, passing the $5/Lbs mark, reaching as high as $5.13/Lbs during Monday’s session.

In company news:

• Star Entertainment (+20.00%) shares popped after confirming reports that Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos was considering taking control of the company.

• Michael Hill International (-22.58%) shares fell after the company reported that its Michael Hill brand store sales were below last year, while total sales were up 4% in the half thanks to the inclusion of the Beville brand.

• PointsBet (+9.89%) rose 9.9% after upgrading its FY24 earnings guidance to a loss of between $4 million to $6 million from a previous guidance for a loss in the $9 million to $14 million range.

Wall Street

A mixed session on Wall Street Friday, which saw the Dow Jones (+0.34%) close above the 40,000 mark for the first time, with the other major indices also registering weekly gains. The S&P 500 (+0.12%) finished higher on Friday, while the NASDAQ (-0.07%) fell. For the week, the Dow Jones gained 1.24%, S&P 500 rose 1.54%, and Nasdaq climbed 2.11%.

Eight out of the 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, with Energy (+1.37%) leading the gainers, while Technology (-0.48%) was the biggest loser.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, investors see a 68% chance of the first rate cut being in September.

Reddit (+10.04%) shares popped after it announced a partnership with Open AI. In the agreement, Reddit will gain certain artificial intelligence features while OpenAI will have access to Reddit’s Data application programming interface for use in training AI models. Advanced Micro Devices (+1.13%) stock rose on reports that Microsoft is planning to offer AMD’s AI chips to cloud customers as an alternative to Nvidia.

S&P500 Sector Performance

Economic Data

• China's Industrial Production expanded by 6.7% year-on-year in April 2024, above market forecasts of 5.5%, faster than a 4.5% gain in the prior month.

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🌎️ Around The Globe

• Silver prices climbed past $30/oz, their highest level since January 2013 and up more than 25% year-to-date. Physical sales of the commodity have increased on trading speculation that the metal appeared undervalued.

• Online home goods retailer Wayfair is opening its first namesake store near Chicago. The company says the physical experience can be better for customers than shopping online.

• China is reportedly considering a plan for local governments across the country to buy millions of unsold homes from distressed companies to ease a protracted property crisis.

• TikTok is testing 60-minute videos. Some users in select markets can now upload 60-minute TikToks, a big shift from the original setup of 15-second videos.

• Samsung released a 43-second advertisement mocking Apple’s iPad commercial.

• Sony Music is sending warning letters to over 700 AI developers, restricting unauthorised use of its artists' content for training, developing, or commercialising AI systems.

• Red Lobster has filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. The seafood fast-food chain said it plans to use the protection to “drive operational improvements, simplify the business through a reduction in locations, and pursue a sale of substantially all of its assets as a going concern.”

• AstraZeneca is planning to build a $1.5 billion manufacturing facility in Singapore to boost its global supply of cancer-killing treatments.

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