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Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Market Recap.

The Australian share market finished Tuesday higher, following Wall Street’s footsteps overnight, with significant gains in the lithium sector helping lift markets. The ASX 200 index closed 0.35%, or 26.7 pts., higher to 7,664.10. For the month of April, the leading index finished 3.0% lower.

Eight of the 11 major sectors ended higher, with Discretionary (+0.79%) stocks leading the way despite retail sales in March falling short of expectations. Wesfarmers (+1.78%) led the sector higher, followed by Aristocrat Leisure (+0.43%). The Real Estate (+0.79%) sector was the next best performer, with Goodman Group (+1.60%) one of the biggest movers, while Industrials (-0.53%) was the worst performer.

Lithium miners were back in vogue today after a rise in Chinese future prices yesterday, with IGO (+7.3%), Lake Resources (+6.9%) and Azure Minerals (+8.21%) some of the big movers on the day.

Australian Retail sales fell 0.4% month-on-month in March, missing estimates of a 0.2% rise and below February's figure of 0.2%. It was the first decline in retail trade since December 23, as turnover fell in all industries.

This week, Wednesday’s Federal Reserve meeting in the U.S. is the big economic item to watch. Markets are pricing in just 35 bps. of interest rate cuts this year, down from around 150 bps, at the start of the year.

In company news:

• Worley Ltd (-7.48%) shares were beaten up after its largest shareholder, Sidara, sold a 19% stake in the company.

• Origin Energy's (+0.21%) shares rose despite the company reporting an 8% revenue decline from its stake in Australia Pacific LNG due to lower global oil and gas prices.

• Bapcor CEO to be Paul Drumbrell has resigned just two days before his scheduled start date. Shares were placed in a trading halt today following the announcement.

• Ampol (-1.7%) shares fell after it reported a 21% in Lytton Refiner Margin for the three months ending March.

Wall Street

U.S. stocks started the new week positively, with sharp gains from Tesla (+15.3%) and Apple (+2.48%) leading the market higher ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, where its expected interest rates will remain unchanged. The Dow Jones (+0.38%) was the best performer of the major indices, followed by the NASDAQ (+0.35%) and S&P 500 (+0.32%) 

Nine out of 11 S&P 500 sectors ended higher, led by gains in Consumer Discretionary (+2.03%) and Utilities (+1.39%). Communication Services (-2.06%) and Financials (-0.19%) were the two laggards.

Tesla (+15.31%) shares surged after the E.V. maker made progress in securing regulatory approval to launch its advanced driver-assistance program in China by securing a mapping deal with technology giant Baidu. Tesla said that Chinese authorities removed restrictions on its cars after passing the country’s data security requirements. Apple's (+2.48%) stock rose after reports that it has renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the company's technology to power new features in its iPhone due out this year.

SoFi Technologies (-10.48%) stock plunged after reporting a disappointing second-quarter earnings guidance, lowering its revenue forecast to between $555 million and $565 million, below estimates of $580.8 million. Domino's Pizza (+5.62%) shares rose after reporting better than expected earnings of $3.58 per share vs. $3.39 expected by analysts.

S&P500 Sector Performance

Economic Data

• France’s GDP grew by 0.2% QoQ during Q1 of 2024, above both forecasts and the last quarter of 0.1%.

• German Retail Sales rose by 1.8% month-on-month in March, beating estimates of 1.3% after a fall of 1.5% in February.

• China’s NBS Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.4 in April, from March’s 12-month high of 50.8, but ahead of forecasts of 50.3. This marked the second month of expansion in the factory sector

Outlook

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Quick Singles

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Hong Kong’s six new Bitcoin and Ether Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) recorded a trading volume of around US$6.3 million during the morning session on their first trading day today.

• A former McKinsey & Co. partner has sued the consulting firm, accusing it of defaming him and making him a "scapegoat" to distract attention from its work advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.

• Microsoft says it will invest $1.7 billion over the next four years into expanding cloud services and artificial intelligence in Indonesia.

• OpenAI is facing another E.U. privacy complaint, this time from privacy rights nonprofit NOYB, for failing to fix incorrect information given by ChatGPT and breaching EU GDPR and privacy laws.

• Paramount Global has confirmed that its president and CEO, Bob Bakish, has stepped down from his role as the company works towards a merger with Skydance Media. It’s expected that Skydance CEO David Ellison will lead Paramount.

• Pfizer has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first gene therapy treatment, Beqvez, to treat hemophilia B - a genetic bleeding disorder.

• Shein wants to expand its product offering, with the online fast-fashion retailer courting brands like toothpaste conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive and toymaker Hasbro.

Markets

ASX Company Movers

Commodity Prices

Bonds

Forex

ETF Watch

Global Health Check

Newsletter Recommendation

A Little Extra

📉 Going Down?

Top-10 shorted stocks on the ASX - as of April 23

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

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

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