Source: global Market News
In the early morning of the 27th Beijing time, US stocks closed higher on Thursday. The Dow rose more than 200 points, its fifth straight day of gains. Tesla, Inc. rose 11%, leading technology stocks higher. Investors are evaluating corporate earnings and the latest economic data. Us GDP grew by a better-than-expected 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, and initial jobless claims fell to 186000 last week.
The Dow rose 205.57 points, or 0.61%, to 33949.41; the Nasdaq rose 199.06, or 1.76%, to 11512.41; and the S & P 500 rose 44.21, or 1.10%, to 4060.43.
The earnings performance of US stocks remains the focus of the market. Traditional tech giant IBM closed down about 4.5% after the company announced that its results exceeded analysts' expectations, expected free cash flow to be lower than expected in 2023, and said it would cut 3900 jobs.
Tesla, Inc. closed up about 11%. The company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and record revenue.
Investors are also watching Thursday's economic data.
The Commerce Department reported that US gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an annualised 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2021 and slightly higher than the 2.8 per cent average expected by analysts surveyed by the Dow Jones. The Commerce Department's GDP report comes as inflation persists and the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates.
Consumer spending grew 2.1% in the fourth quarter, down slightly from 2.3% in the previous cycle, but remained in a positive region, according to the report.
Other data released at the same time also showed that the initial annualized quarterly rate of the US core PCE price index in the fourth quarter recorded 3.9%, the lowest since the first quarter of 2021, with expected values of 4% and previous values of 4.70%, respectively.
Us durable goods orders recorded a monthly rate of 5.6 per cent in December, the biggest increase since July 2020 and much better than expected of 2.50 per cent, reversing the previous contraction.
The number of initial jobless claims in the United States recorded 186000 in the week ended January 21, the lowest since April 23, 2022, with expected and previous values of 205000 and 190000, respectively.
On Thursday, Tesla, Inc., the champion of US stock turnover, closed 10.97% higher, with a turnover of US $36.75 billion, and the market capitalization rebounded to more than US $500 billion. Tesla, Inc. 's revenue and net profit reached an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2022. The company's total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2022 was $24.318 billion, up 37 per cent from $17.719 billion a year earlier, while net profit attributable to common shareholders was $3.687 billion, up 59 per cent from a year earlier. Both performance figures hit record highs again.
But Tesla, Inc. 's operating cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2022 was $3.278 billion, down 29 per cent from a year earlier and 36 per cent from a month earlier. Gross profit margin for cars was 25.9%, the lowest level in the past five quarters. Tesla, Inc. also said he no longer plans to expand the capacity of his Shanghai super factory.
After Tesla, Inc. announced the results, several big banks raised their target prices. Wells Fargo & Co raised his target price from $130,150; Bank of America Corporation raised his target price from $130,155.
In second place, NVIDIA Corp Company closed 2.48% higher, with a transaction of US $9.52 billion. NVIDIA Corp CEO Huang Renxun said on Wednesday that the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology will create some powerful tools that require proper legal regulation and the formulation of some new social standards.
In third place, Microsoft Corp earned 3.07% higher, with a transaction of US $8.13 billion. According to media reports, citing sources, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disagreed with EU regulators over Microsoft Corp's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and FTC filed a lawsuit in December in part to prevent its European counterparts from reaching a settlement with Microsoft Corp.
In January last year, Microsoft Corp announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard for $95 a share, with a total value of $68.7 billion. If the acquisition is successful, Microsoft Corp will become the third largest game company in the world and will have more chips against competitors in the mainframe war. However, the deal has also been reviewed by regulators in the US, EU and UK, who fear that Microsoft Corp's acquisition will curb competition in the console gaming industry.
Jeffery lowered its target price for Microsoft Corp to $275 from $280, giving it a "buy" rating.
Bernstein lowered Microsoft Corp's target price to $280 from $302.
In fourth place, Apple Inc Company closed 1.48% higher, with a transaction of US $7.68 billion. Deutsche Bank expects Apple Inc's first-quarter results to meet or slightly exceed expectations. Looking ahead to this year, the bank is more cautious about consumer spending and is lowering its demand assumptions to $6.30 a share from $6.50 a share, especially for the second quarter, by lowering its earnings and earnings forecasts to $90 billion and $1.42 per share, and the target price to $160.
As the current price of the stock is equivalent to about 20 times earnings per share in fiscal 2024, it is believed that it has roughly reflected the downward adjustment in market expectations, and the current level of risk and return is positive, maintaining the buy rating.
Apple Inc is not expected to provide income guidance for the second quarter due to continuing macro uncertainty, but it is believed that he will be cautious and expect income growth to slow further. The bank notes that continued cautious consumer spending has led to a 15 per cent year-on-year decline in iPhone income and a 34 per cent decline on a quarter-on-quarter basis. While more cautious about revenue growth, the bank is more optimistic about group profit margins given the commodity costs of foreign exchange and deflation. Overall, the bank will cut its second-quarter earnings forecast by 5 per cent and earnings per share by 4 per cent.
In fifth place, Amazon.Com Inc closed 2.1% higher, with a turnover of US $6.69 billion. More than 3000 Amazon.Com Inc employees have recently received layoffs in New York, California and Washington State, media reported on Thursday. This is part of the company's second wave of massive layoffs. This week and last week, Amazon.Com Inc submitted layoff notices to the three states in accordance with the law.
The sixth place Meta Platforms closed 4.1% higher, with a transaction of $3.7 billion. Meta Platforms said on the 25th that it will restore Trump's Facebook Inc account. The account has been frozen for two years.
In ninth place, ServiceNow Inc closed 3.19% higher, with a turnover of US $2.9 billion. Bank of Montreal raised its target price to $500 from $475. Bernstein lowered his target price to $586 from $641. Oppenheimer raised its target price to $500 from $450.
In 11th place, Chevron Corp closed 4.86% higher, with a turnover of US $2.61 billion. Chevron Corp previously announced a $75 billion buyback plan-five times the company's current annual repurchase expenses and will increase its dividend by 6.3 per cent to $1.51 per share.
In 12th place, Exxon Mobil Corp gained 4.02%, with a turnover of US $2.43 billion.
The 13th IBM closed down 4.48%, with a turnover of $2.36 billion. IBM's fourth-quarter revenue was $16.69 billion, beating expectations of $16.36 billion, adjusted earnings per share of $3.60, slightly ahead of expectations of $3.59, and free cash flow of $5.21 billion, below expectations of $5.76 billion. The company expects free cash flow of $10.5 billion in 2023, down from $10.8 billion.
The company CFO also announced global layoffs of 1.5%, or about 3900.
The 15th American software services giant Saifu closed 5.71% higher, with a turnover of $2.15 billion. After Starboard Value, activist investor Elliott Management has invested billions of dollars in Saifu. In the face of two aggressive investors at the same time, there may be more layoffs, senior restructuring and strategic adjustments in the future.
Earlier this month, Saifu announced that it would cut 10 per cent, or about 8000 jobs. The number of employees at Saifu has increased by more than 60 per cent in the last three years or so, reaching about 80,000 by the end of October 2022. Some of that growth comes from a number of acquisitions, including the acquisition of Slack, a business chat app, for more than $27 billion in 2021.
Xuanwei paint Company, No. 17, closed down 8.92%, with a turnover of US $1.73 billion. Founded in 1866, Sherwin-Williams Co is engaged in the development, manufacture, distribution and sales of paints, paints and related products, mainly for industrial, commercial and retail customers in North and South America.
Pfizer Inc, 18th, closed down 0.92% to a turnover of US $1.69 billion. UBS downgraded Pfizer Inc to neutral from buy, with a target price of $47.
The following are the 20 most actively traded stocks of the day (by turnover):
Edit / Jeffy