Daily Digest: Wednesday 13th March
USA
It was a slower day in the US, with the Nasdaq 100 ($NDX) falling 0.83% to 18,068.47, and the S&P 500 ($SPX) closing down 0.19% at 5,165.31. However, the Dow ($INDU) managed to close up 0.1% at 39,043.32, marking a third consecutive session of gains, as the index sits marginally off its February highs. Movement in the tech sector was the likely cause of Nasdaq and S&P declines, as Intel ($INTL) made headlines early in the session, losing a multi-billion dollar Pentagon contract, causing shares in the chipmaker to fall 4.44% through the session. This change in sentiment seemed to spread across other US domiciled chipmakers, with Nvidia ($NVDA) shares falling 1.2%, AMD ($AMD) falling 3.93%, and Broadcom ($AVGO) falling 2.63%.
Shares in the discount retailer, Dollar General ($DG) had a weak session, with prices falling 1.89%, as traders await tomorrow’s earning call. Momentum was in no way supported by the competing low-cost retailer Dollar Tree ($DLTR), whose shares fell 14.21% following an earnings miss and a change of business strategy that will see countrywide store closures.
Europe
The FTSE 100 (FTSE) continued to rise, driven by a positive UK M/M GDP print for January. Figures showed that economic activity rose 0.2%, in line with analyst expectations, some 0.3 percentage points ahead of Decembers release. The FTSE rose 0.31% to 7,772.17 as traders eye the indexes 52-week highs. A positive GDP print has alleviated concerns amongst investors regarding the continuation of a technical recession, as the FY24 UK GDP outlook appears stronger.
The STOXX 600 (€SXXP) and CAC (€FCHI) continued a strong run of trading, both breaking new all-time highs during the session. The STOXX reached 508.34, before falling back to 507.33 at the close, and the CAC rose to 8,156.64 before falling back to 8,137.58. Meanwhile, in Germany the DAX (€GDAXI) recorded a slight decline, falling 0.021% to 17,961.38.
Rest of the World
Downward momentum continued to push the Nikkei 225 (¥N225) lower through the session, with prices falling 0.26% as the index remains below the 40,000 level, closing at 38,695.97. Adding to the Nikkei’s struggles, the Yen has remained strong against the dollar at around ¥147.68, increasing the relative price of Japanese equities for foreign investors.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (¥SSE) also experienced declines on Wednesday, reaching 3,043.8, marking a 0.4% session price decline. This ultimately signals a period of consolidation for the index, following strong gains in Chinese equities through the end of February, as the index traded back to its November levels.
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin continued its price discovery journey, rising to new all-time highs of $73,650 as the halving looms ever closer. It is likely that some of this momentum is due to FOMO, as new investors fear that the halving will further increase pricing, lifting the barrier to market entry. As of 9pm GMT prices were $73,088, having risen 2.89% in the last 24hrs. New all-time highs suggest that investor confidence in Bitcoin remains high, while the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation sits at $2.76 trillion, less than $200bn off its 2021 highs.
Wednesday trading saw significant activity across the altcoin space as investors continued to diversify their cryptocurrency portfolios to magnify returns and spread risk across assets. Matic (Polygon) rose by 8.75% to $1.2655, while Solana rode the wave of inflows to $160.13 a 7.9% 24hr increase.
Commodities
Crude Oil prices rose 2.64% through Wednesday as traders edge closer to $80 per barrel. A sudden surge in upward momentum was driven by both supply and demand side shocks. US Crude inventories dropped some 1.5 million barrels this week. On the supply side, Ukrainian forces have extended military attacks into Russia striking energy infrastructure, which included multiple refineries, introducing some uncertainty over output capabilities.
Gold prices also rallied on Wednesday following yesterday’s sell-off, rising 0.63% to $2,179.7. This comes as traders price in a hotter than expected US CPI print, now accounting for a potential pushback of the rate-cutting cycle. The general consensus among analysts is that Fed cuts may occur in June.
Sources:
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/world-indices/
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/commodities
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/indices/ftse-100
https://www.binance.com/en-GB/price/bitcoin
https://qontigo.com/index/sxxp/
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