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US equity markets climbed as investors digested the latest pronouncements from the Federal Reserve following the conclusion of their latest two day monetary policy meeting - Dow up +160-points or +0.61% The broader S&P500 gained +1.24%, with Energy (up +2.13%) and Financials (+2.02%) leading all eleven primary sectors higher. NASDAQ +1.35%. Advanced Micro Devices Inc soared +12.54% after the chip maker late Tuesday (29 July) reported second-quarter earnings that topped expectations and boosted its full-year forecast. Apple Inc (up +1.92%), Amazon.com Inc (+1.11%), Alphabet Inc (+1.45%) and Facebook Inc (+1.38%) all advanced ahead of their release of their. The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all four of those big technology companies testified in front of Congress, addressing antitrust concerns. In broader stock moves, Eastman Kodak Co soared +318.14% after President Trump tapped the photography pioneer to produce ingredients in generic drugs in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The shares skyrocketed as much as 570% at one point, with trading halted more than 15 times due to volatility.

US equity markets retreated as investors eyed weaker consumer confidence data, some disappointing corporate earnings releases and the ongoing wrangling in the US congress over a fresh coronavirus aid plan - Dow fell -205-points or -0.77% The broader S&P500 shed -0.65%, with Materials (down -2.18%) and Energy (1.75%) leading eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. Real Estate (up +2.05%), Utilities (+1.56%) and Consumer Staples (+0.30%) advanced. The technology-centric NASDAQ fell -1.27%, with the FAANG complex (Facebook Inc -1.45%, Apple Inc -1.64%, Amazon.com Inc -1.8%, Netflix Inc -1.44% and Google-parent Alphabet Inc -1.95%) largely unwinding the gains of the previous session. The major Congressional hearing on competition in the U.S. technology sector takes place later today AEST and is set to see Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai testify before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee.

A fresh rally for technology stocks ahead of a raft of earnings releases in the sector later in the week lifted US equity markets - Dow up +115-points or +0.43% The broader S&P500 gained +0.74%. with Information Technology (up+1.61%), Materials (+1.41%) and Real Estate (+1.12%) all gaining over >1% and leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Utilities (down -1.26%) and Financials (-0.81%) were the only primary sectors to close in the red. The technology-centric NASDAQ rallied +1.67%. The FAANG complex traded higher, with Facebook Inc up +1.21%, Apple Inc +2.37%, Amazon.com Inc +1.54%, Netflix Inc +3.16% and Google-parent Alphabet Inc +1.21%. Facebook announced it has delayed the release of their second quarter result until Thursday (30 July) to allow Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the rescheduled Congressional hearing on competition in the U.S. technology sector. It means all of Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Alphabet will post earnings after the closing bell of Thursday’s (30 July) session.

Technology stocks weighed heaviest on US equity markets for second day in-a-row, with a combination of some soft corporate earnings releases, fresh US-China tensions and ongoing COVID-19 concerns promoting a broad-based sell-off - Dow down -182-points or -0.68%. Intel Corp tumbled -16.24% after revealing that its next generation of chips would be delayed and that it may seek a third-party manufacturer to make them. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (down -0.76%) will pay US$3.9B to settle Malaysia’s criminal probe over the U.S. investment bank’s role in the multibillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal. The broader S&P500 shed -0.62%, with Information Technology (down -1.19%) and Health Care (-1.11%) leading ten of the eleven primary sectors lower. Consumer Discretionary (up +0.33%) was the only primary sector to advance. The technology-centric NASDAQ fell -0.94%. Facebook Inc (down -0.81%), Google-parent Alphabet Inc (-0.25%), Apple (-0.25%) and Microsoft Corp (-0.61%) all traded lower. However, Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc bucked the weaker trend, rising +0.75% and +0.60% respectively. The major Congressional hearing on competition in the U.S. technology sector has been delayed two days to Wednesday (29 July), the House Judiciary Committee confirmed on Saturday (25 July). The antitrust hearing is set to see Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai testify before the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Biotechnology company Moderna Inc on Sunday announced the U.S. government has committed up to an additional US$472M to its efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

Technology stocks led US equity markets lower - Dow fell -354-points or -1.31%, with Apple Inc (down -4.55%) and Microsoft Corp (-4.35%) accounting for more than half of the index’s losses. Apple is reportedly delaying a fall launch event for its next batch of iPhones to the “latter half of October.” according to a Japanese technology blog. A US$1 move in any one of the 30 components of the Dow results in a 6.86-point swing. The S&P500 shed -1.32%, snapping a four session winning streak. Information Technology (down -2.63%) – which represent 27% of the weighting of the broader index – and Consumer Discretionary (-2.03%) led eight of the eleven primary sectors lower. The technology-centric NASDAQ dropped -2.29%. Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc dropped -3.6% and -2.5%, respectively. Tesla Inc fell -4.98% despite bettering Wall Street’s earnings expectations for a fourth quarter in-a-row after the closing bell of the previous session. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index settle little changed.

US equity markets advanced, getting a boost in the final hour of trading after CNBC reported that the Republican party are considering extending the enhanced unemployment insurance benefit albeit at a dramatically reduced level of US$400 per month (down from US$600) through the rest of the year - Dow up +165-points or +0.62% to 27,005.84 and its highest close since 9 June. Pfizer Inc gained +5.1% and those of BioNTech SE +13.72% after the companies said they will receive US$1.95B from the U.S. government to produce at least 1M doses of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine if it receives approval or emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The broader S&P500 advanced for a fourth straight session, up +0.57% . NASDAQ edged +0.22% higher. Advanced Micro Devices rose +8.4% to settle at an all-time high (US$61.79). In merger and acquisition (M&A) headlines, Dell Technologies Inc (up +1.15%) is exploring options for its $50 billion stake in cloud computing company VMWare Inc (up +0.56%), according to the Wall Street Journal quoting people familiar with the matter.

US equity markets mixed, paring earlier gains in the final hour of trading - Dow up +160-points or +0.60%, climbing above >27,000 at its session peak (27,0235.38). Chevron Corp (up +7.18%) and Boeing Corp (+2.41%) were among the leading index constituents. The broader S&P500 edged +0.17% higher, logging its highest close since 21 February and sits just 3.8% from its 19 February closing high. Some fresh rotation into economically sensitive cyclical stocks, with gains for the Energy (up +6.15%) and Financials (+1.91%) sectors were largely offset by a -1.06% fall for the Information Technology sector. The NASDAQ fell -0.81% after logging a fresh record intra-day high (10,839.93) shortly after the opening bell. Shares of Facebook Inc (down -1.50%), Amazon.com Inc (-1.83%), Netflix Inc (-2.45%), Microsoft Corp (-1.35%) and Apple Inc (-1.38%) were all down more than >1%.

More upbeat headlines around progress on coronavirus vaccines and fresh gains for technology heavyweights underpinned the the latest gains for US equity markets albeit trading volumes were light - Dow eked out a +9-point gain, recovering from an earlier -150-point decline. Dow member Pfizer Inc (up +0.69%) and BioNTech SE (+3.46%) reported early positive data on a joint coronavirus vaccine candidate, saying the drug “elicited high, dose level-dependent SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing titers and RBD-binding IgG concentrations after the second dose.” Pfizer shares rose 0.6% on the news while BioNTech traded 3.4% higher. The broader S&P500 gained +0.84% albeit Consumer Discretionary (up +3.14%), Information Technology (+2.58%) and Communications Services (+1.25%) were the only primary sectors to advance. Energy (down -1.73%) was the worst performing primary sector. Airlines were under pressure (American Airlines Group Inc down -3.69%, United Airlines Holdings Inc -4.69% and Delta Air Lines Inc -3.07%) after data from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration showed travel demand declined last week, snapping a 12-week increase. The technology-centric NASDAQ outperformed with +2.51% rally (to 10,767.09), booking its largest one-day percentage climb since 29 April and 28th record closing high of 2020. Amazon.com Inc jumped +7.93% (to US$3,196.84), with analysts at Goldman Sachs hiking their price target to US$3,800 per share and the highest among analysts covering the e-commerce giant. Analysts at MKM Partners also lifted their target price +33% to US$3,350 and citing the company as a two-pronged beneficiary of the COVID-19 pandemic given the accelerated shift to on-line shopping and towards cloud computing. The rise came after Amazon logged its worst weekly performance since the week ended 28 February - and first weekly loss in eleven weeks – last week with a -7.4% decline. Amazon is up +70.2% year-to-date. Texas Instruments Inc gained +2.01% to settle at a record closing high (US$136.58) ahead of their result tonight AEST. In merger and acquisition (M&A) news, Chevron Corp (down -2.2%) confirmed an all-stock ~US$5B deal to acquire Noble Energy Inc (up +5.44%)

US equity markets settled with modest gains as investors weighed the prospect of more fiscal stimulus against concerns around of further business disruptions due to a fresh rise in COVID-19 cases - Dow slipped -63-points or -0.23%, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc (down -1.5%) a key drag. The broader S&P500 rose +0.28%, with Utilities (up +2.28%), Real Estate (+1.40%) and Health Care (+1.36%) leading the gains and offsetting declines for Energy (down -1.52%) and Financials (-0.84%). The technology centric NASDAQ added +0.28%. Netflix Inc fell -6.5% after the streaming giant’s second quarter result released after the closing bell of last Thursday’s (16 July) session undershot analysts’ expectations in terms of earnings per share (US$1.51 versus US$1.81 expected) and was accompanied by weak third quarter guidance for subscriber growth. Amazon.com Inc fell -1.3% to cap its worst weekly performance since the week ended 28 February - and first weekly loss in eleven weeks - with a -7.4% decline. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that The Walt Disney Co has “dramatically” slashed its advertising budget on Facebook Inc and Facebook-owned Instagram. Disney was Facebook’s biggest U.S. advertiser for the first six months of 2020, according to research firm Pathmatics Inc.

US equity markets fell amid mixed corporate earnings and economic data, with technology stocks underperforming - Dow down -135-points or -0.50%, snapping a four session winning streak. The broader S&P500 eased -0.34%. Financials (down 10.74%) were the major drag. Airlines (American Airlines Group Inc down -7.27%, United Airline Holdings Inc -5.17%) and cruise operators (Carnival Corp -9.73%) were under fresh pressure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it was extending a no-sail order that had been scheduled to expire 24 July through until the end of September. Major cruise lines that belong to an industry trade group had already cancelled cruises until 15 September because of ongoing discussions with federal officials over how to restart operations safely. The technology-centric NASDAQ lost -0.73%, with Apple Inc (down -1.23%) and Microsoft Corp (-1.98%) both fell over 1%. Harley-Davidson Inc (up +2.8% to US$29.68) climbed to a four-month high, buoyed by an upgrade from an analyst at Wedbush who has been a long time critic of the motorcycle group. James Hardiman lifted his rating on Harley-Davidson to ‘Outperform’ and raised his target price +33% to US$36 per share.