3 hours ago
Australian retail sales rose less than expected in August
Australia’s seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 0.2% in August compared to the previous month. It was slower than economists polled by Portal expected 0.3%.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed retail sales were A$35.4 billion ($22.56 billion), up 1.5% from the same period last year.
This showed that “consumers continued to restrain their retail spending,” said Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics. “Historically low trend growth shows how much consumers have pulled back in response to cost of living pressures.”
—Lim Hui Jie
2 hours ago
Sea shares rose 4.86% after Indonesia banned purchases on social media like TikTok
Shares of Sea Limited, the parent company of e-commerce marketplace Shopee, closed 4.86% higher on Wednesday after Indonesia’s Ministry of Commerce said it had banned e-commerce transactions on social media platforms , marking a setback for the popular short-video app TikTok.
TikTok Shop, TikTok’s shopping feature, competes with Shopee in Indonesia.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said TikTok has a week to become a standalone app or face closure in Indonesia, according to Portal.
The minister also said the regulation should ensure “fair and equitable” competition between companies and protect users’ data.
–Sheila Chiang
5 hours ago
Toyota shares fall despite reports it is planning a third car plant in India: Portal
Shares of Japanese automaker Toyota fell 0.27%, even as Portal reported that the company plans to build a third car plant in India, the first expansion of production capacity in the country in over a decade.
Sources told Portal exclusively that Toyota wants to start with a capacity of 80,000 to 120,000 vehicles per year for the plant, increasing to around 200,000 vehicles over time. This would increase the company’s existing manufacturing capacity in India by up to 30%.
Portal also reported that Toyota has begun development of a new sport utility vehicle (SUV) for the Indian market, which will be launched in early 2026 and will be an anchor product for the new plant.
—Lim Hui Jie
8 hours ago
High yield bonds look attractive. Proceed with caution, warns Wells Fargo strategist
Investors active in high-yield bonds should be selective about expanding their portfolios, says Wells Fargo’s Scott Wren.
“At this point in the cycle, we do not want to overweight or even evenly weight high-yield bonds in our portfolios,” the firm’s chief global market strategist wrote in a note Wednesday. The sector is generally not the best place for overexposure, particularly when the Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates high and the risk of recession rises, he said.
However, numerous opportunities await sophisticated investors at the top level of the high-yield sector.
“The [high yield] The sector is seeing a growing concentration of double-B rated companies,” Wren wrote, noting that investors should be selective and stick with issuers with the highest quality or BB rating. “This segment has historically had lower default rates than the rest of its high-yield brothers.”
-Darla Mercado
8 hours ago
Stocks are facing losing weeks, months and quarters
Friday marks the end of the trading week, trading month and trading quarter. To put it simply, things are not looking good for the three major indices.
Here’s the status of the three, with only two trading days left:
The Dow:
- Week so far: Minus 1.2%
- Month to date: Down 3.4%
- Quarter to date: down 2.5%
The S&P 500:
- Week so far: Minus 1.1%
- Month to date: Down 5.2%
- Quarter to date: 4% decline
The Nasdaq Composite:
- Week so far: Minus 0.9%
- Month to date: Down 6.7%
- Quarter to date: 5% decline
Despite the broad losses, all three indices are still up year-on-year, underscoring the strength of the rally in the first half of the year.
—Alex Harring
8 hours ago
Energy is the top sector in the third quarter
There are two trading sessions left in the third quarter and the energy sector is the big winner so far.
The energy sector rose 13.5% in the quarter, driven by a sharp rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures are up 32% this quarter, their best performance since the first quarter of 2022. U.S. oil is also up 12% in September, on track for its fourth straight monthly gain – a novelty since May 2022.
Top performers in the S&P 500’s energy sector include Marathon Petroleum, which gained 30.7% in the quarter. Halliburton and Phillips 66 follow closely behind, both rising by around 27% in the reporting period.
Not all energy companies are joining the party. Natural gas companies Kinder Morgan and EQT each posted losses of more than 3% in the quarter. These declines coincide with a 1.2% decline in natural gas over this period.
—Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes
9 hours ago
Stocks make the biggest moves after hours
These are some of the stocks seeing the biggest moves in extended trading:
- Micron Technology – Chip shares fell 4% in extended trading after Micron gave weaker-than-expected profit guidance for the current quarter.
- Peloton Interactive – The stationary bike maker rose 16% after announcing a five-year content development partnership for Lululemon.
- Duckhorn Portfolio – The luxury wine producer fell 2.8% after giving full-year guidance that was worse than analysts expected.
The full list can be found here.
—Alex Harring
9 hours ago
Stock futures are trading higher
Stock futures were trading slightly higher shortly after 6 p.m. ET. Futures tied to the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 all rose about 0.2%.
—Alex Harring