BPO TV

Wall Street closed in the green on Tuesday as investors begin buying into the August dip, especially in the technology space. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.74% on Tuesday, in its best session since June, while the Dow Jones rose 0.85% and the S&P500 added 1.45%. The 2-year Treasury yield tumbled more than 16-basis points as consumer sentiment data came in softer-than-expected. Elsewhere, the latest jobs openings and labour turnover survey showed a decline in open listings in July, which is another sign of a cooling US economy. The economic data combined with recent sell-offs in US equities presents an opportunity to buy back into stocks at the August dips especially the likes of Meta, Tesla, Apple and Microsoft.

Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio fell 5.8% on Tuesday after posting a wider quarterly loss than expected. Best Buy shares rallied nearly 6% on Tuesday after the retailer’s second quarter results beat on both top and bottom lines.

In Europe, markets closed higher on Tuesday amid positive global momentum and as investors look ahead to a fresh round of economic data out later this week. The STOXX600 rose 1% on Tuesday, Germany’s DAX added 0.88%, the French CAC lifted 0.67% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 had the biggest rally of 1.72%.

The local market closed 0.71% higher on Tuesday driven by a 1.6% rally for materials stocks while the consumer discretionary sector rose 1.42%. Healthcare and technology stocks were the only two sectors to close yesterday’s session lower.

Sayona Mining soared over 26% on Tuesday as investors bought back into the lithium producer following a 30% drop on Monday after the shock departure of managing director and CEO, Brett Lynch.

Mineral Resources rose 8% on Tuesday after the mining giant released strong FY23 results including its full year dividends rising 90% on FY22 to $1.90/share. EML Payments also had a very strong day on Tuesday following the release of the payments company’s FY23 results. Despite the company reporting a net loss of $248.8m, revenue rose 9% to a record $254.2m which was above the company’s guidance range.

Fintech stocks rose on Tuesday possibly in the wake of Zip Co releasing FY23 results including record transaction volumes and revenue for the year to June as consumers opt for instalment payment options in the higher cost-of-living environment.

We are nearing the end of reporting season and as of yesterday, 272 companies have reported with 89 beating expectations, 103 falling in-line with expectations and 80 missing expectations. 38 companies have been upgraded by brokers and 36 have been downgraded. Some key trends we have seen this reporting season include exposure to China is hurting outlook for companies operating in this region, retailers who reduced inventory over the last financial year showed resilience in FY23, and healthcare valuations continue to decline amid slowing earnings growth outlook.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of the local trading session, the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX to open the midweek session up 0.66% on the back of the US rally overnight.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil is trading 1.26% higher at US$81.13/barrel, gold is up almost 1% at US$1936/ounce and iron ore is down 1.7% at US$115.50/tonne.
• AU$1.00 is buying US$0.65, 94.44 Japanese Yen, 50.97 British Pence and NZ$1.09.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained a hold rating on LGI (ASX:LGI) and decreased the 12-month price target from $2.77 to $2.32 per share following the market leader in the recovery of biogas from landfills, FY23 results. While the company reported FY23 results largely in-line with Bell Potter estimates if not slightly ahead, the hold rating is maintained, and price target decreased based on commodity pricing updates and downward revisions to Bell Potter’s forecast biogas volume growth.
• Bell Potter has also maintained a buy rating on Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) and increased the price target on the rare earths miner from $7.80 to $8.50 following the release of the company’s FY23 results which saw the business deliver NPAT of $310m which exceeded Bell Potter’s expectations of $292m even though Lynas faced production issues in Q1 and the NdPr prices were weaker. Lynas also increased Capex as inflationary and time pressure mounts on the Kalgoorlie project, however the company also announced the installation of 9 thousand tonnes per annum of NdPr equivalent of increased capacity at Kalgoorlie.