3 hours ago
Hang Seng is rising more than 2%, led by consumer discretionary and real estate stocks
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led gains in Asia, rising 2.45% as Asian markets largely recovered from losses on Thursday, driven by consumer discretionary and real estate stocks.
Technology company Alibaba Health was the biggest gainer in the index, up 7.94%, while other top gainers included sporting goods retailer Li Ning and real estate services provider China Resources Mixc Lifestyle, a subsidiary of real estate company China Resources Land.
6 hours ago
Inflation in Tokyo is growing at its slowest pace in a year
Inflation in the Japanese capital grew at its slowest pace in a year, reaching 2.8% in September compared to 2.9% in August. The last time the inflation rate was this low was in September 2022.
The core inflation rate, which takes into account fresh food prices, was 2.5%, lower than the 2.6% expected by economists in a Portal poll and also lower than the 2.8% in August.
Tokyo’s inflation rate is considered a leading indicator of nationwide inflation trends.
—Lim Hui Jie
5 hours ago
Japan’s industrial and retail activity better than expected, unemployment unchanged
Japan’s factory output was flat in August compared with July, beating economists polled by Portal with a 0.8% decline.
Year-on-year, industrial production fell for the third month in a row, falling 3.7%.
Separately, retail sales rose 7% year-on-year, higher than expected (6.6%) and at the same pace as the revised July figure of 7%.
The unemployment rate in Japan also remained unchanged at 2.7% in August.
—Lim Hui Jie
7 hours ago
Stocks are poised for a second consecutive negative month – the first time since last year
Stocks are on a losing streak. Each of the three indices is on track to post its second consecutive negative monthly performance for the first time since September 2022.
Here’s how they’re doing this month:
- The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 5.9% so far in September and is on track for its worst monthly performance since December 2022, when it fell 8.73%.
- The S&P 500 is trading 4.6% lower this month and is on track for its worst monthly performance since December 2022, when it fell 5.9%.
- The Dow Jones has fallen about 3% this month and is on pace for its worst monthly performance since May, when it fell about 3.5%.
— Pia Singh, Chris Hayes
8 hours ago
Pay attention to the economic and stock outlook, says Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo
Inflationary pressures are likely to be higher in the future than they have been in the last 20 years, meaning that “in such an environment, higher real interest rates are necessary to keep inflation at target levels,” according to Ben Inker and John Pease from Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo in Boston in a quarterly letter to shareholders.
The problem for stocks is that “higher real interest rates are putting pressure on both expensive and leveraged assets,” the authors say. “Investors should prepare for a recession not by owning less risk, but by owning risk that will reward them well.”
One area of concern highlighted by Inker and Pease is the increased interest burden on corporate borrowers, as shown by public financial data from Business Development Corporations. “Ares Capital Corporation (ARES) – the largest publicly traded BDC – saw its portfolio interest rate increase from under 30% of EBITDA in Q2 2021 to over 60% in Q2 2023. The returns available by lending to this portfolio could be exciting “But that excitement seems a little too much given the concentrated bet that defaults are not imminent.”
– Scott Schnipper
8 hours ago
Stocks make the biggest moves after hours
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading:
- Vail Resorts – Shares of the ski resort chain fell 1.8% after a disappointing quarterly report. Vail Resorts reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $3.35 per share on revenue of $270 million. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a loss of $3.24 per share and revenue of $283 million. The company also said its summer operations in North America performed worse than expected.
- Nike – Shares of the sports retailer rose 1.8% after the company reported a rise in first-quarter profit. Nike reported earnings per share of 94 cents, while analysts polled by LSEG had forecast earnings per share of 75 cents. Meanwhile, revenue fell short of estimates. According to LSEG, first-quarter revenue was $12.94 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of $12.98 billion.
- Blackberry – Shares of the cybersecurity company rose 1.5% in after-hours trading on Thursday after Blackberry posted a loss of 4 cents per share, while analysts polled by FactSet expected a second-quarter loss of 7 cents per share. According to FactSet, the company’s revenue of $132 million fell short of analysts’ expectations of $134.3 million.
— Hakyung Kim, Pia Singh, Alex Harring
8 hours ago