Your Weekly Financial Market Recap and Earnings Preview.
Vikki Zhao
PUBLISHED Mon, March 4, 2024, 11:48 AM EST. 6 min read.
Canadian Business News Preview
Focus on Canada
Home sales
Some of Canada’s biggest cities are reporting their February home sales this week. Greater Vancouver Realtors is expected to release sales numbers on Monday, while the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board is expected on Tuesday.
Banking conference
The RBC Global Financial Institutions Conference is on Tuesday and Wednesday. The annual conference is expected to hear from top executives from Canada’s big banks as other financial institutions.
Cenovus investor day (TSX:CVE)
Cenovus Energy Inc. will hold its annual investor day in Toronto on Tuesday. The company’s executives will provide an update on its latest strategy, outlook and operations to institutional investors and analysts.
Rate announcement
The Bank of Canada will make its interest rate announcement on Wednesday morning. The rate decision comes after Statistics Canada reported the annual inflation rate fell to 2.9 per cent in January compared with 3.4 per cent in December.
Job numbers
Statistics Canada will release its labour force survey for February on Friday. The Canadian economy added 37,000 jobs in January as the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage points to 5.7 per cent, the first decline since December 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 03, 2024.
Focus on International
The Anticipation Builds for the U.S. Non-Farm Employment Report
Markets eye the U.S. non-farm employment report on March 8, anticipating 190,000 new jobs in February and a steady 3.7% unemployment rate. A strong job market may influence Fed’s rate decisions amidst inflation concerns.
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell to Address Semi-Annual Monetary Policy
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to deliver his semi-annual monetary policy update on March 6th and 7th, emphasizing a cautious approach to rate cuts amid economic growth and inflation concerns.
U.S. Stock Markets Achieve New Milestones
U.S. stock markets hit new highs in February, with the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq benefiting from optimism in artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors, signaling a robust economy resilient to interest rate hikes.
European Central Bank’s Rate Decision Looms
The European Central Bank (ECB) meets on Thursday to discuss interest rates, expected to maintain current levels. Focus remains on whether ECB will consider rate cuts amid ongoing inflation and wage growth concerns.
China’s Political Sessions Set to Commence
China’s Two Sessions, key political meetings, begin this week, with investors watching for economic targets and policy reforms. Achieving a 5% growth target could be challenging without last year’s low base effect.
OPEC+ Contemplates Extending Production Cuts, Crude Oil Wavers Near $80
OPEC+ may extend oil production cuts for three more months, as U.S. crude briefly surpasses $80 per barrel, signaling strong market optimism and potential sustained higher prices.
This report by Noreen Burke was first published in March. 04, 2024.
Stock Market Update
U.S. Stock Futures Fell
On Monday (4th) before the market opened, U.S. stock index futures fell, following record highs set last Friday. The market is now awaiting Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony later this week, as well as the non-farm payroll report.
Pre-Market Stock Dynamics
Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) surged 15.76% after being added to the S&P 500 index, with the change effective before the market opens on Monday, March 18, 2024. Deckers Outdoor (NYSE:DECK) also rose 4.09% following its inclusion in the S&P 500 index. Conversely, Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) and Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) both were removed from the S&P 500 index, dropping 1.56% and 1.86%, respectively.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell by 0.99% after being fined €1.8 billion by the EU for abusing App Store rules. The EU regulators stated that Apple illegally prevented app developers from informing users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services outside its app store. Apple announced it would appeal against the EU fine.
Macy’s (NYSE:M) jumped 16% following an increased takeover bid from the investment group comprising Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital, raising the offer from $21 per share to $24 per share in cash, a 33% premium over Macy’s closing price on Friday.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dropped 1.25% affected by sluggish sales during the Chinese New Year holiday and an intensifying price war in the electric vehicle market, leading to its lowest wholesale sales in China in over a year. Preliminary data released on Monday by the China Passenger Car Association showed Tesla’s China February wholesale sales at 60,365 units, the lowest since December 2022, with nearly a 16% drop month-over-month and a larger 19% drop year-over-year.
Fisker Inc (NYSE:FSR) surged 16% amid reports that Nissan (TYO:7201) is in advanced talks to invest in the electric vehicle manufacturer, with the deal likely to be concluded this month. Sources indicate discussions include a Nissan investment of over $400 million in Fisker’s truck platform and production of Fisker’s Alaska pickup model at a Nissan assembly plant in the U.S. starting in 2026, with Nissan also planning to produce its electric pickup on the same platform. The investment letter of intent is ready, with the deal in the due diligence phase.
Sea Ltd (NYSE:SE) soared 12%, with earnings decline smaller than expected and anticipated improvements in its e-commerce and gaming business. The company reported a 4.8% increase in quarterly sales to $3.6 billion, exceeding the average expectation of $3.5 billion, with e-commerce revenue growing 23%. The total gross merchandise value of e-commerce sales grew by about 29%, surpassing the analyst expectation of about 23%.
Cryptocurrency stocks rose as Bitcoin’s price broke above $65,000, marking an approximate 186% increase over the past 12 months. Marathon Patent (NASDAQ:MARA), Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT), Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ:BTBT), Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN), and MicroStrategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) saw increases of 6%, 4%, 4%, 6%, and 9.6%, respectively. Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ:CAN) rose 5%, while ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NYSE:BITO) and Global X Blockchain ETF (NASDAQ:BKCH) increased by 3.45% and 5.9%, respectively.
Chip stocks also experienced gains, with Applied Materials (AMAT.US) up over 0.8%, Intel (INTC.US) up 0.83%, Qualcomm (QCOM.US) up over 1.6%, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US) up over 2.6%, and Nvidia (NVDA.US) up over 3%. Nvidia’s market value surpassed Saudi Aramco, becoming the third largest company globally by market value, trailing only Apple (AAPL.US) and Microsoft (MSFT.US), with Saudi Aramco’s current market value at $2.01 trillion.
Additionally, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 0.4%, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 0.13%, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) dropped 0.5%, and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) increased 0.5%.
Chinese Stock Market
The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (NYSE:KWEB) fell by 0.35%.
Sohu (NASDAQ:SOHU) dropped by 2.4%, with its revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023 reported at $141 million. The total amount for its stock repurchase plan has been increased from a maximum of $80 million to $150 million.
NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) (HK:9866) declined by 1.9%, Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI) (HK:2015) fell by 7%, and Xpeng Motors (NYSE:XPEV) (HK:9868) dropped by 4.6%.
Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI) (HK:9626) rose by 1.8%, while iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ) decreased by 0.5%.
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) (HK:9988) fell by 0.99%, JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) (HK:9618) went down by 0.5%, and Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) increased by 0.4%.
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) (HK:9888) decreased by 0.7%. NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) (HK:9999) went up by 1%.
This report by Jason Liu was first published on March 04, 2024.
Weekly Earning Releases
EARNINGS RELEASES FOR THE WEEK
The week of March 4, 2024, is set to feature highly anticipated earnings reports from leading companies, including CrowdStrike (CRWD), Broadcom (AVGO), NIO (NIO), Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Marvell Technology (MRVL), GitLab (GTLB), MongoDB (MDB), DocuSign (DOCU), and JD.com (JD).
HIGHEST EARNINGS VOLATILITY FOR THE WEEK
Earnings Release Scheduled After Market Close on Monday, March 4, 2024: GTLB, PAY, SEMR, AVAV, EOSE, SAIC, SFIX, RBOT, NKTR, EKSO, DSP, AKYA, CARA, TDUP, CRGY, NWPX, CVGI, STXS, SCM.
This report by The EarningsWhisper was first published on March 04, 2024.