Major Indices
| Index | Performance |
|---|---|
| S&P 500 | +0.82% |
| DOW Jones | -0.07% |
| NASDAQ | +1.68% |
| FTSE 100 | +1.05% |
| DAX | +0.52% |
| Nikkei 225 | +1.73% |
| Shangai Composite | +1.13% |
Sector Performance
NVIDIA
NVIDIA shares hit an all time high as revenue more than doubled in the latest quarter upon last year. Revenue came in at $13.5bn vs $11.2bn expected. Shares climbed 6% in extended hours. Earnings Per Share are now $2.70 vs $2.09 expected and P/E is nearly 250x!. NVIDIA's general processing units (GPUs) are central in the boom of AI. They have also announced a $25bn share buyback, suggesting they feel that the company is undervalued, despite already tripling in value this year.
US Bond Market Sell Off
Treasury yields hit their highest since 2007 due to fears of combined rate hikes. 10 Year yield hits 4.35%
US10Y yield since the year 2000
US Homes
US existing home sales dropped to a 6 month low in July: homeowners with locked in low mortgage rates do not want to front the cost of a new mortgage. 30 year mortgage rates have now topped at 7%.
Jerome Powell Speech: Annual Summit in Wyoming
Jerome Powell said that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Comittee) will continue to work towards a target 2% inflation rate. Their current focus is the labor market and they will not be afraid to hike interest rates further if deemed necessary. He said that "we will keep at it until the job is done, and "Additional evidence of persistently above-trend growth could put further progress on inflation at risk and could warrant further tightening of monetary policy". The speech didn't have much impact on markets, though the markets sentiment suggested a slightly higher chance of future hikes. The FOMC are content with the low unemployment rates but labor force participation rate is still below pre-pandemic levels.
Russian Plane Crash
On Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin and 9 others are assumed to have died after a plane crashed. He was a key ally of Putin, though Prigozhin had ordered his troops to rebel in Moscow previously, and criticised Russia's leadership and invasion of Ukraine . Russian aviation officials confirmed that the aircraft crashed, but a Wagner related telegram channel claimed that the Russian military had shot the jet down. Nobody knows for certain what has gone on, and it is worth noting that he has been reported dead before in 2019 after a military plane crash in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Other Headlines
- US Jobless Claims drops to 230,000 (the lowest in 3 weeks and 10,000 lower than expected).
- BRICS leaders invite 6 nations including Saudi Arabia to join bloc and provide a counterweight to the US and Western allies.
- Subway is to sell itself for $9.5bn to Private Equity Firm Roark Capital
- India landed the first probe near the lunar south pole