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MORNING Quote AMERICAS-Tech-led U.S. 'exceptionalism' highlighted

A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan If you required an illustration of U.S. financial exceptionalism,. Merely contrast its still-booming economy with this week's. news that Japan and Britain entered technical economic crisis late. in 2015 while the euro zone flatlined.

A minimum of part of that blistering outperformance versus many. other G7 economies is associated with its excellent innovation sector,. instilled again over the past year by re-shoring of chip. production and an artificial intelligence boom.

When again took the program, chipmaking giant Nvidia. on Wednesday, with another 2.5% jump seeing its market cap. leapfrog that of Alphabet to make it America's third. most important company behind Apple and Microsoft.

And regardless of the early week wobble on a hot inflation reading. for January, which quickly dampened interest rate cut hopes,. Wall St stocks rallied highly on Wednesday and futures have. held those gains overnight. Thursday's long list of economic. health checks, including January retail and market readouts,. now supply the next juncture.

The S&P 500 leapt back nearly 1% to regain the. 5,000-point turning point. It wasn't simply led by the tech-heavy. Nasdaq - the Russell 2000 small cap index roared. back nearly 2.5% as rate cut concerns relieved somewhat.

Nvidia aside, the fizz in individual tech names. continued. Uber surged practically 15% to a record high,. enhanced by a $7 billion share buyback strategy, while Lyft. skyrocketed 35% after its earnings beat estimates and it flagged. positive totally free cash flow for the first time this year.

On Thursday, the reasonably darker macro picture overseas. set the tone.

Japan said its economy unexpectedly slipped into recession. at the end of last year, losing its title as the world's. When, third-biggest economy to Germany and raising doubts about. the Bank of Japan will begin to exit its decade-long ultra-loose. financial policy.

Regardless of the implications for BOJ policy, the yen. firmed back toward the 150 per dollar level - with markets still. wary of this week's central bank warnings of extreme currency. weak point.

However neither the firmer yen nor negative GDP update could. stop Tokyo stocks, where chip fever also assisted lift the Nikkei. to a brand-new 34-year peak that now leaves the index less. than 2% from the record held up in 1990.

Chip-making equipment giant Tokyo Electron. contributed the most, with a 5% jump. Synthetic. intelligence-focused startup financier SoftBank climbed up. 3.6%. Business revenues also produced some outsized winners,. with green energy company Ebara and e-commerce company. Rakuten surging almost 16% each.

The dour macro state of mind in Britain, meantime, held bit of. that stock market fillip for a flat FTSE.

Britain's economy fell under an economic crisis in the 2nd half. of 2023, a tough background ahead of this year's expected election. for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. GDP contracted by 0.3% in the. last quarter having actually diminished by 0.1% between July and September.

The fourth-quarter contraction was deeper than all. economic experts' price quotes in a poll.

What appears like a shallow technical recession simply. reinforces a much deeper longer-term funk for the UK economy, where. the National Institute of Economic and Social Research points. out that GDP has actually now decreased in between the first quarter of 2022. and the final quarter of 2023 and GDP per head remains lower. than pre-COVID levels.

For the Bank of England, the news will heap pressure on it. to relieve rate of interest this year despite above-target inflation. - that at least didn't rise once again last month as anticipated.

Flirting with its lows of the year versus the dollar,. sterling ticked lower once again on Thursday while gilt yields. fell.

The U.S. interest rate picture softened once again, meantime, as. more dovish Federal Reserve officials deflected away from the. customer cost inflation surprise earlier in the week.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on Wednesday the. Fed's course back to its 2% inflation target rate would still be. If rate boosts run a bit hotter-than-expected, on track even. over the next couple of months and it should watch out for waiting too. long before it cuts rates.

Futures are back pricing close to 100bps of Fed rate cuts. for 2024 and, assisted by a retreat in crude oil prices, U.S. Treasury yields fell back.

The European Central Bank employer was less accommodative. Christine Lagarde said on Thursday the ECB must prevent cutting. rates too early since that could prolong high inflation and. even force the bank to tighten policy once again.

Secret journal items that might offer instructions to U.S. markets later. on Thursday:. * United States weekly jobless claims, Jan retail sales and industrial. production, Jan import/export costs, NAHB Feb real estate market. index, Philadelphia Fed's Feb company survey, NY Fed's Feb. production study; Canada Jan real estate starts. * Chile reserve bank policy choice. * Federal Reserve Board Guv Christopher Waller and Atlanta. Fed President Raphael Bostic speak; European Reserve bank chief. economist Philip Lane speaks; Bank of England policymakers. Catherine Mann and Megan Greene both speak. * U.S. corp profits: Consolidated Edison, Applied Products,. Alliant Energy, Deere, Southern, Ingersoll Rand, Zebra Tech,. Roku, Doordash, Dropbox, CBRE, Mercer, Liberty Global, Cohu,. Digital Realty, West Pharmaceuticals, Bio Rad Labs, Epam, Targa,. Wendy's, Crocs, Genuine Parts, Laboratory Corp of America. * U.S. Treasury sells 4-week bills

(source: Reuters)