Morgans AM

US equity markets fell sharply, unwinding opening gains as President Trump said that tariffs against Mexico and Canada will go ahead as planned tonight AEST (and also signed an action to impose an additional 10% duty on China, according to an administration official), while investors also digested signs of a fresh spike in inflation pressures - Dow dropped -650-points or -1.48%. Nvidia Corp fell 8.81% to US$114.22 to be the worst performer in the 30-stock index overnight, with the stock falling into official correction territory after settling more than >20% below its record all-time closing high of US$149.43 set on 6 January. There were reports that Nvidia and Broadcom Inc (-6.05%) are testing Intel Corp’s (-4.17%) chip manufacturing process. Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (2 March) that Chinese buyers were finding ways to buy Nvidia’s chips despite President Trump’s attempts to limit sales to Beijing. Elsewhere, Amazon.com Inc (down -3.42%), Caterpillar Inc (-3.46%) and Chevron Corp (-3.49%) all fell over >3%.

Benchmark US equity indices settled with solid gains on Friday (28 February) on heavy volume to close out a dreary February on a brighter note, with investors digesting the latest inflation figures that pushed US Treasury yields to fresh multi-month lows  - Dow rose +601-points or +1.39%, with 26 of 30 index components advancing.

US equity markets retreated heavily on Friday The DOW down 750 Points or -1.7% amid reports of increased volatility and a potential correction sited by Goldman Sacs as being related to some 2.7 Trillion in derivatives that are set to expire. Only the consumer staples sector was positive during the session up 1% whilst Consumer discretionary was the worst sector down 2.77%.  The Energy, IT and Industrials sectors all falling 2% or more.


Nvidia Corp pulled back 4% and will report this week. Also of note United Health was the biggest detractor down over 7% with Amazon and Amex also negative 2.8% each.  Leading performers in the 30-stock index Merck 7 co, Coca Cola and Proctor & Gamble.

Stocks declined on Thursday after two consecutive record highs for the S&P 500, as investors sold off popular stocks following Walmart’s cautious forecast, raising concerns about the broader economic outlook. It was red across the board with all four major US indices closing down.
 Dow:  down 451pts or -1.01% (44,176pts)
S&P500:  down 26.6pts or -.43% (6,117pts)
Nasdaq:  down 94pts or -.47% (19,962 pts)
Russell 2000: down 20.7pts or -.8% (2264 pts)

US markets closed up slightly overnight, as investors looked beyond continued tariff threats by the Trump administration. The S&P 500 closed at yet another record high. Notably, the last two ‘record all time highs’ have been without the help of the Magnificent 7.   Shares of Microsoft gained 1% and led the broader technology sector higher after the company unveiled its first ever quantum computing chip. Nvidia added 1% while Tesla climbed more than 2%. Analog Devices stock surged nearly 10% after posting better-than-expected quarterly results on the top and bottom line. Apple announced that it would be releasing a version of the iPhone 16e that will be powerful enough to run AI technology.

Outgoing Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker sounded an upbeat note on the state of the U.S. economy on Monday, and said he saw no reason to change interest rate policy right now as the central bank continued to work to lower inflation levels. This preceded comments by Fed Reserve Governor Bowman who noted that while monetary policy “is now in a good place,” she wants to see data reflect more progress on inflation before cutting interest rates further.