What matters in U.S. and global markets today
By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets
Another day, another test for chip stocks. While Taiwan’s TSMC delivered a blockbuster earnings beat, Asian equities still slid. Meanwhile, the U.S. inflation picture remains highly uncertain, as investors weigh softer data with the escalating violence in the Middle East.
I’ll get into all that and more below.
But first, check out my latest column on Federal Reserve officials’ flip-flops and why Chair Kevin Warsh may be right to call for less chatter.
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DAMP SQUIB
While the sharp shakeout in semiconductor stocks continues, Taiwan’s TSMC may just steady the chips as the world’s largest contract chipmaker reported another blowout quarter with a forecast-beating 77% surge in profits.
The bar is high, however, as Europe’s ASML found out on Wednesday when it posted a similar beat and still saw its stock end the day in the red. South Korea’s high-flyers also tumbled again, as the central bank there lifted interest rates to steady the won and as regulators cracked down on new listings of leveraged funds on single stocks that have helped to fuel volatile trading.
IPO fever cooled too as SpaceX’s stock retreated back below its offer price for the first time since the blockbuster listing last month.
Stock sector rotation, however, saw the S&P 500 eke out another small gain on Wednesday, and the mood was better in bond markets as another June inflation readout – this time the U.S. Producer Prices Index – came in much softer than expected, helping to remove speculation of a Fed rate hike this month from futures pricing.
Still, the reheated Iran war in July may mean that inflation relief is fleeting as world oil prices are back well above $80 per barrel. What’s more, the Fed’s favored core PCE inflation gauge is still tracking annual rates of over 3% for June and July.
Elsewhere, sterling was buoyant, hitting its highest in over a year against the euro on Wednesday amid reports that the relatively conservative Labour Party Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was the favourite to be the new UK finance minister.
Chart of the day
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has seen its shares fall back below its blockbuster IPO price of $135 a share in a little over a month. It faces more potential volatility in early August, when the number of shares available for trading on the Nasdaq stands to increase significantly as insider lockup periods expire and as the company releases its first earnings report.
The stock dipped as low as $132 on Wednesday before closing at $135, but it’s tumbled 33% from its record close in the days immediately after the public sale raised a record $75 billion on June 11. Even after that steep decline, SpaceX remains one of Wall Street’s most valuable companies with a market capitalization of roughly $1.8 trillion, but the loss-making firm is still super expensive at almost 50 times forward earnings.
Today’s events to watch
• U.S. June retail sales, weekly jobless claims, July business survey from Philadelphia Fed, July housing market index from NAHB and June pending home sales
• U.S. corporate earnings from Netflix, State Street, GE and regional banks
• Speakers include Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron meet in Germany
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
(Writing by Mike Dolan)
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