U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday (16th) as investors waited for more information from the minutes of the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting as investors waited for more information from the minutes of the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting. At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 200 points, or 0.5%, the Nasdaq Composite was down more than 1%, the S&P 500 was down 0.7%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was up 1.55%.
The secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said on Wednesday morning that Russia still has military deployments on the Ukrainian border and that the veracity of Russia’s previous withdrawal statement remains to be clarified. For the United States, the main concern is that in the event of a war, sanctions on Russia might limit global commodity supplies, which might push up oil prices and put pressure on consumers.
On the energy front, oil prices rebounded higher following the latest uncertainties following the cooling of the conflict between the two countries the previous day sent oil prices sharply lower, with West Texas crude oil rising 1.43% to 93.39 per barrel. DollarBrent crude rose 1.63% to 94.80 a barrel Dollar. Energy analysts say Brent crude is now over 100 per barrel DollarAlmost a foregone conclusion, but some market players now predict that oil prices may exceed 125 per barrel Dollaror even higher.
U.S. Treasury yields were mixed as investors remained focused on geopolitical tensions and the release of economic data, with the 10-year yield falling to 2.0210 percent by press time.
Part of the reason why the Russia-Ukraine conflict has become the focus of the market is that the market has already digested the news that the Federal Reserve (Fed) may raise interest rates significantly. Now that the inflation index is still high, the market expects the Fed to raise interest rates in March. 2 yards instead of 1. Traders are awaiting minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting, due later, to see how quickly the Fed will raise interest rates and shrink its balance sheet in the coming months.
In addition, U.S. retail sales rose 3.8% in January, rebounding sharply from a 1.9% decline in December last year, much higher than the market’s 2% forecast and hitting a new high since October.
Before the deadline at 22:00 on Wednesday (16th) Taipei time:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 189.42 points, or 0.54%, to 34,799.42
- The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 179.98 points, or 1.28%, to temporarily close at 13,953,87 points
- The S&P 500 fell 32.86 points, or 0.73%, to end at 4,438.21
- Feihan fell 55.04 points or 1.55% to 3,499.41
- TSMC ADR fell 2.21% to 121.77 per share Dollar
- 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell to 2.0260%
- New York Light crude oil rose 1.73% to 93.66 a barrel Dollar
- Brent crude rose 1.83% to 94.99 a barrel Dollar
- Gold rose 0.48% to 1,865.20 an ounce Dollar
- DollarIndex fell to 9.5845
Stocks in focus:
Shopify(SHOP-US) fell 15.09% to 753.67 per share in early trade Dollar。
Despite the stellar fourth-quarter financial report for fiscal 2021, Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify said it expects revenue growth this year to be lower than last year’s 57%, as the boom during the pandemic fades and coupled with the impact of high inflation.
Shopify’s fourth-quarter (ending 12/31) revenue rose 41% year over year to 1.38 billionDollarfollowing excluding some items, the earnings per share reported 1.36 Dollarboth better than analysts’ estimates of 1.34 billion and 1.26 billion Dollar.In addition, Shopify platform website transaction value (GMV) increased by 32% year-on-year to 54.1 billionDollarhigher than analysts’ estimate of 52.6 billionDollar。
Airbnb (ABNB-US) rose 2.17% to 184.06 per share in early trade Dollar。
As the new crown epidemic continues to ease, Airbnb has delivered a stellar report card in the fourth quarter, with revenue up 78% year-on-year to 1.53 billionDollarearnings per share reported 0.08 Dollarboth better than market estimates of 1.46 billion and 0.03 Dollar。
Airbnb predicts that the number of nights booked in the first quarter of 2022 will significantly exceed the level of the first quarter of 2019.Revenue estimated at 1.41 billionDollarto 1.48 billionDollarhigher than analysts’ estimate of 1.24 billionDollar。
Roblox(RBLX-US) fell 20.36% to 58.18 per share in early trade Dollar。
Online gaming platform Roblox reports poor fourth-quarter earnings despite revenue up 83% to $568 millionDollardeferred revenue increased 20% annually to 770 millionDollarbut the latter fell short of Wall Street analysts’ estimate of 772 millionDollarthe loss per share last quarter was 0.25 Dollaralso higher than the market forecast loss of 0.13 Dollar. Deferred revenue refers to Robux (in-game currency) that players have purchased but not yet used.
Key Economic Data:
- U.S. retail sales in January increased by 3.8% month-on-month, the estimated value was 2%, and the previous value was -1.9%
- The US import price index in January increased by 2% month-on-month, the estimated value was 1.2%, and the previous value was -0.2%
- The U.S. industrial production index in January increased by 1.4% month-on-month, the expected value was 0.5%, and the previous value was -0.1%
Wall Street Analysis:
UBS financial adviser Brenda O’Connor Juanas said volatility and uncertainty in the market will increase as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine remains unclear, coupled with stubbornly high U.S. inflation.
Michael Cembales, chairman of markets and investment strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management, said the latest inflation data shattered the theory that “inflation is purely temporary”, following the market believed the Fed raised interest rates less than once last September, market watchers estimated There will be 6 to 7 rate hikes this year, with some arguing for 2 instead of 1.
Ben Gutteridge, director of model portfolio services at Invesco Investment Management, said the Fed is concerned regarding long-term inflation, which still appears to be fairly benign, at least from a bond market perspective, and doesn’t see the need to raise rates six or seven times. Although the market has already recognized this.
Looking ahead, among core investors, Michael Langford, director of corporate consultancy AirGuide, said:DollarA more preferred safe-haven asset than gold, and likely to fall on a further easing in the Ukraine crisis, which would prompt a rally in gold and vice versa.
