Technology stocks drive Wall Street higher, Palantir earnings surge 24pc
It’s very likely the Australian share market will open higher, now that Wall Street has finished its day with strong gains.
Here are the US market closing figures:
- Dow Jones: +0.3% to 44,556 points
- S&P 500: +0.7% to 6,038 points
- Nasdaq Composite: +1.4% to 19,654 points
Much of the gains were driven by tech-related stocks like Apple (+2.1%), Nvidia (+1.7%), Amazon (+2%), Alphabet (2.5%) and Tesla (+2.2%).
But all that pales in comparison with Palantir, which surged 24% after the company reported much better-than-expected quarterly results.
Palantir is a major provider of software and tech services to US defense agencies, and its CEO Alex Karp says much of the company’s growth was due to its use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Its revenue jumped 36% in the December quarter, while sales full-year sales increased 29%.
‘Opportunity for investors’ as Donald Trump’s trade war sparks uncertainty for Australia’s corporate profits
Hundreds of Australian businesses will report their financial results in the coming weeks, and it might turn out more exciting-than-usual.
For starters, this reporting season kicked off with US President Donald Trump starting trade wars with trading partners Canada, Mexico and China (and threatening tariffs against the European Union).
There’s no doubt Australia’s top CEOs will be quizzed on how this new age of global protectionism will affect their future earnings.
Also, there’s a greater than 90% chance the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates, when its next meeting concludes on February 18, according to money markets.
These rate cut expectations have driven the Australian share market close to record highs, so there’s pressure to deliver strong profits and earnings forecasts to justify their expensive valuations.
For more, here’s my story on what you can expect in the next few weeks:
China retaliates with tariffs on US goods after Trump imposes new levies
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced it is implementing counter tariffs against the US on multiple products.
The government said that it would implement a15 per cent tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products, as well as a 10 per cent tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large-displacement cars.
The tariffs announcement comes as the additional blanket 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports into the US came into effect on Tuesday.
China’s decision to implement tariffs now shows Beijing wants to send a message to the US president that it sees tariffs as unhelpful and unnecessary.
For more detail, here’s the latest update from David Taylor:
Market snapshot
- ASX futures: +0.7% to 8,402 points
- ASX 200 (Tuesday close): -0.1% to 8,374 points
- Australian dollar: +0.5% to 62.6 US cents
- Wall Street: Dow Jones (+0.3%), S&P 500 (+0.6%), Nasdaq (+1.1%)
- Europe: FTSE (-0.2%), DAX (+0.4%), Stoxx 600 (+0.2%)
- Spot gold: +1% to $US2,843/ounce
- Brent crude: -0.1% to US$75.88/barrel
- Iron ore: +0.7% to $US105.05/tonne
- Bitcoin: -2.8% to $US99,011
Figures current at 7:30am AEDT
ASX set to follow Wall Street higher, following China’s retaliatory tariffs against the US
Good morning! I’ll be here to guide you through the latest finance and economic news.
The Australian share market is on track to start its day higher, after markets had a chance to digest China’s response to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
ASX futures are up 0.7%,which suggests there will be moderate gains in a few hours.
Yesterday afternoon, China announced it would impose:
- 15% tariffs on US coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, and
- 10% tariffs on US agricultural equipment and oil imports.
These tariffs are set to begin from February 10 (next week).
Initially, markets panicked a little — the Australian dollar slipped below 62 US cents, US and European futures dropped, Asian stock markets erased their earlier gains, and oil prices fell sharply.
But since then, things have calmed down as investors decided China’s response was measured (leaving plenty of room for negotiation with the US).
That realisation led to a better-than-expected day for Wall Street, which saw the Dow Jones and S&P 500 rise by 0.3% and 0.7% respectively, in late afternoon trade.
US tech stocks experienced the biggest gains, driving the Nasdaq Composite higher by 1.2%.
There was also a significant improvement for Australian dollar, which lifted 0.5% to 62.6 US cents.
On oil markets, Brent crude futures were practically flat at just under $US76 per barrel.
Meanwhile, all this global uncertainty has pushed the price of spot gold to a fresh record high, up 1% to $US2,842 an ounce.
