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Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Market Recap.

The Aussie share market rose on Thursday after falling by over 1% yesterday, despite a negative lead from Wall Street, where the Federal Reserve unsurprisingly kept interest rates on hold. The ASX 200 index rose by 17.1 pts. or 0.23% to 7,587.0 in a news day dominated by trading updates that saw Bapcor and Woolworths shares tumble. More on that later.

It was a mixed session on the sector boards, with Technology (+0.96%) stocks leading the way of the six positive sectors, followed by Financials (+0.72%), which rose after NAB (+1.45%) reported half-year earnings. Commonwealth Bank (+0.95%), Westpac (+1.45%) and ANZ (+0.53%) also finished the day higher.

Consumer Staples (-2.46%) was by far the worst performer on the index, with Woolworths (-4.15%) shares sinking after reporting a Q3 sales lift of 2.8% to $16.8 billion. The company’s food sales rose by 1.5% to $12.6 billion.

In company news:

• Bapcor (-23.8%) shares closed at a 4-year low of $4.40 in a tumultuous last seven days for the vehicle parts supply company after it lowered its FY24 profit outlook. Bapcor expects Pro-Forma NPAT for FY24 to be between $93 million and $97 million after reporting $54.2 million in profits during the first half of FY24. Weaker retail trade and competitive wholesale business pricing were some of the reasons provided for the fall.

• PEXA Group (+10.9%) shares jumped after the company announced it is progressing with a strategic partnership with U.K. lender NatWest. The companies plan to deliver 48-hour remortgage transactions to customers.

• Qube Holdings (+6.7%) lifted its profit outlook as the logistics service provider continues to see strong volumes in its container business. Qube increased its NPATA growth expectations to 10-15%, compared to the range of 5%-10% growth that was previously provided.

Wall Street

There was a mixed session on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at a target rate of 5.25%—5.50%, as expected. Federal Reserve officials expressed their concern that the beginning of 2024 didn't do much to boost their confidence in decreasing inflation, and the board's statement did not clearly indicate when rate cuts would occur.

Whilst the Dow Jones (+0.23%) closed higher, the S&P 500 (+0.34%) and NASDAQ (-0.33%) fell. Five of the major S&P sectors finished higher, led by Utilities (+1.15%) and Communication Services (+0.84%), while Energy (-1.60%) and Technology (-1.26%) saw the sharpest falls.

Amazon (+2.26%) shares rose after reporting a first-quarter earnings and revenue beat, driven by advertising and cloud computing growth. Earnings Per share was 98 cents vs. estimates of 83 estimates. Thanks to its recent cost-cutting measures, operating income soared by over 200% to $15.3 billion. Starbucks (-15.88%) shares sunk after missing earnings and estimates, posting adjusted earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $8.56 billion, missing analysts’ forecasts of 79 cents per share in earnings and $9.13 billion in revenue.

According to data from LSEG, 310 of the S&P 500 companies have reported earnings this quarter, with 77% of those beating consensus estimates.

S&P500 Sector Performance

Economic Data

• Australia's Trade Surplus on Goods declined to $5.02 billion in March 2024 from $6.59 billion in February, below market forecasts of $7.30 billion. This marked the smallest trade surplus since November 2020, as exports grew softer than imports.

• Australian Building Approvals rose by 1.9% month-on-month in March 24, after a 0.9% fall in February but below market estimates of 3.0%.

• U.S. Non-Farm Employment rose by 192,000 in April 24, beating market estimates of 175,000 after a gain of 208,000.

• The U.S. Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.0 in April from 51.9 in March, below market estimates of 52.0.

Outlook

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Quick Singles

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Novo Nordisk has lifted its 2024 outlook after delivering better-than-expected quarterly results, more than quadrupling its U.S. supply of weight-loss drug Wegovy. The Danish pharmaceutical company announced that it is adding at least 20,000 new U.S. patients for weekly injections.

• Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for violating U.S. money laundering laws and federal sanctions at the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.

• Open AI and Microsoft have been sued by eight regional U.S. newspapers for copyright infringement.

• WeWork has reached a $450 million restructuring deal, which will help the co-working space operator exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of May.

• The Biden Administration plans to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, alongside prescription drugs like ketamine and Tylenol with codeine as a Schedule III substance.

• Tesla’s layoffs continue, cutting its supercharging team, including Senior Director of EV charging Rebecca Tinucci.

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 26

📂 Broker Reports

1. Amcor (AMC) - Upgrade to Outperform from Neutral (Macquarie)

2. Coles Group (COL) - Upgrade to Buy from Neutral (UBS)

3. IGO (IGO) - Hold (Bell Potter)

4. IGO (IGO) - Sell (UBS)

5. Mineral Resources (MIN) - Upgrade to Overweight from Equal-weight (Morgan Stanley)

6. Sandfire Resources (SFR) - Neutral (UBS)

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

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

The Last Word

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