Markets Overview
- ASX SPI 200 futures up 0.4% to 7,744.00
- Dow Average up 0.5% to 38,778.10
- Aussie little changed at 0.6614 per US$
- US 10-year yield rose 6.0bps to 4.2809%
- Australia 3-year bond yield fell 2.1 bps to 3.79%
- Australia 10-year bond yield fell 1.3 bps to 4.11%
- Gold spot down 0.6% to $2,319.22
- Brent futures up 2.3% to $84.50/bbl
Economic Events
- 14:30: (AU) June RBA Cash Rate Target, est. 4.35%, prior 4.35%
A rally in several large technology companies drove stocks to all-time highs, with some prominent Wall Street strategists rushing to boost their targets even as many hedge funds grow increasingly cautious.
The S&P 500 hit its 30th record this year, defying concerns about narrow breadth that could make the market more vulnerable to surprises. As traders geared up for retail-sales data and a slew of Federal Reserve speakers, Treasuries fell amid a flurry of high-grade corporate bond sales that exceeded $21 billion, led by Home Depot Inc. That’s ahead of Wednesday’s holiday.
Optimism over a resilient economy, improving corporate earnings and the potential start of rate cuts have pushed equities up about 15% this year, with ebbing inflation and the artificial-intelligence fervor also propelling equities higher.
The S&P 500 topped 5,470, with Tesla Inc. and Apple Inc. leading gains in megacaps. Nvidia Corp. edged lower. The Nasdaq 100 came closer to the 20,000 mark.
French stocks rebounded after last week’s tumble. Yet the Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed as Citigroup Inc. downgraded the region’s equities, citing “heightened political risks” among other reasons.
Gains in the shares of American technology giants are likely to keep pushing the S&P 500 to new highs, says Citigroup Inc.’s Scott Chronert.
The bank’s US equity strategist boosted his year-end forecast for the stock benchmark on Monday, to 5,600 from 5,100. He cited continued strength in the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks and expectations for earnings growth to extend to other S&P 500 companies.
Citigroup is the third firm since Friday’s close to lift its forecast for the gauge, joining Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Evercore ISI as US stocks keep climbing to records.
Other News
Deloitte Australia rolled out a new artificial intelligence platform to its 13,000 staff Monday, after trials found it improved productivity for nearly two-thirds of staff.
The Big Four firm said in a press release Monday it introduced its internally-developed MyAssist GenAI platform to help staff with tasks such as information research and data handling.
Globally, the firm has strategic alliances with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Services and AI specialist NVIDIA to develop such technology, which has been tailored for Australian requirements.
(Bloomberg)
