Good Evening,

Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Market Recap.

The Australian share market spent most of Monday’s session in the red; however, a late flurry of trades at the close saw the ASX 200 index finish one solitary point higher to 7,750.0.

It was a mixed day on the sector boards, with Discretionary (+0.52%) and Staples (+0.48%) leading the way of the five sectors to close in the green. Energy (-0.73%) and Technology (-0.56%) stocks saw the sharpest falls.

The first key event to watch this week is tomorrow’s Federal Budget, where Treasurer Jim Chalmers has promised cost-of-living relief to households while delivering a second consecutive surplus. The government has forecasted inflation to be within the RBA’s target range of 2 -3% before Christmas.

Quarterly Wage Price data gets released Wednesday, with economists predicting a labour cost rise of 0.9% QoQ. Employment data will be released on Thursday.

In company news:

• Fletcher Building (-10.87%) lowered its FY24 expectations due to a notable slowdown in house sales in New Zealand. The construction company expects FY24 EBIT to be in the range of $500 million—$530 million, down from the previous guidance range of $540 million—$640 million.

• Lendlease Group (-2.87%) shares fell after it was slugged with a $112.1 million tax bill from the Australian Tax Office related to the partial sales of its Retirement Living business in FY18.

• IPH (+3.44%) rose after extending its existing $40 million on-market share buy-back program until 30 May 2025.

• Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (+8.42%) was a big mover after announcing a $10.5 million acquisition of Sydney-based electrical and communications specialise MDE Group.

Wall Street

U.S. stocks recorded modest gains during Friday’s session, closing out a positive week for Wall Street. All three major indices recorded weekly gains ahead of this week’s important inflation data read for April. The Dow Jones (+0.32%) made it nine days in a row of gains, with the S&P 500 (+0.16%) and NASDAQ (-0.03%) trailing.

It was a mixed day on the S&P sector board, with six of the 11 major sectors seeing gains, led by Consumer Staples (+0.64%) and Technology (+0.48%). Consumer Discretionary (-0.61%) stocks were the largest laggards.

In company news, Novavax (+98.66%) shares soared after it announced a deal with French company Sanofi to co-commercialise its COVID-19 vaccine from next year. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (+4.53%) shares rose after it reported a 59.6% increase in April revenues thanks to ongoing demand for AI chips.

S&P500 Sector Performance

Economic Data

• Australia's NAB Business Confidence index stood at 1 in April 2024, holding steady for the second straight month.

• U.S. Consumer Sentiment fell sharply to 67.4 in May, from 77.2 in April, hitting the lowest point in six months, missing expectations of 76.

• Canada’s Employment rose by 90,400 in April, the largest one-month rise in 15 months after a 2,200 fall in March, which also beat expectations of an 18,000 increase. More part-time (50,300) positions were added than full-time (40,100), with the services sector seeing the largest increases.

• Brazil’s Annual Inflation rate fell to 3.69% in April, the lowest mark in 10 months, dropping from a 3.93% rise in March but marginally ahead of expectations of 3.66%.

• China's Annual Inflation rose by 0.3% in April, above market estimates and March’s figure of 0.1%. It was the third consecutive month of positive consumer inflation.

• China’s Annual Producer Prices fell by 2.5% in April, more than market estimates of a 2.3% drop after March’s 2.85 decline.

Sponsor

Tiny Bitcoin Miner Set to Rival Industry Giants

The name of the game in bitcoin mining?

Lowering costs.

This small stock has found a way to produce bitcoin for up up to 28% LESS* than the biggest players in the space!

And get this…

It’s 100% renewable energy…

You’ve gotta see this.

Read Bullseye Trade to learn more.

Quick Singles

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Amazon will invest more than €1.2 billion ($1.96 billion) in its French AWS operations, which will create more than 3,000 permanent jobs in the country.

• Ascension was hit with a cyberattack that disrupted the health care not-for-profit clinical operations.

• Microsoft will launch its own Xbox mobile gaming store in July, with plans to bring games Candy Crush and Minecraft to the store.

• Open AI is exploring the possibility of allowing users to generate AI-generated porn and other explicit content.

• TikTok will start adding “AI-generated” labels on content to notify users when an Al tool is used.

• Shein is reportedly preparing for a London listing, with the online fashion retailer scrapping plans for an initial public offering (IPO) on the NYSE.

• Vice Media will create a joint venture with Savage Ventures, which will invest “tens of millions” to relaunch Vice’s digital properties.

Markets

ASX Company Movers

Commodity Prices

Bonds

Forex

Global Health Check

What The?

ETF Prices

🔍️ ETF Watch

The new and improved ETF Watch section.

Want to see how one of your ETFs compares to the rest? Reply to this email and tell us an ETF or two you would like to see included in the tables below.

Australian Index

Australian Sectors

Global Indices & Sectors

Global Strategy

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 April 30

📂 Broker Reports

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

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

The Last Word

How are we doing?

We always love hearing from our readers and are constantly seeking feedback.

• How are we doing with Equity Espresso?

• Is there anything you’d like to see more of or less of?

• Which aspects of the newsletter do you enjoy the most?

Hit reply and say hello - or leave us feedback in the poll below:

If you enjoyed this newsletter, forward this e-mail to a friend.

If you’re that friend, subscribe here.

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 financial decisions. We strongly recommend conducting your own research before making any investment decisions.