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US equity markets rebounded strongly, with all three benchmark indices snapping three-week losing streaks as investors reassessed the expected path of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes - Dow rallied +823-points or +2.68% to 31,500.68, climbing back above >31,000 and recording its largest daily percentage gain since 4 May. FedEx Corp gained +7.16% after the global delivery and logistics company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that matched Wall Street’s expectations and issued guidance for the fiscal year that topped projections after the close of last Thursday’s (23 June session. The broader S&P500 gained +3.06%, logging its best daily percentage gain since 18 May, 2020. Materials (up +3.98%), Communication Services (+3.94%), Financials (+3.80%), Consumer Discretionary (+3.74%) and Information Technology (+3.57%) all rallying over >3.5% and leading all eleven primary sectors higher. Shares in the biggest U.S. banks climbed on Friday (24 June) a day after it was confirmed they had all passed the Federal Reserve's annual health check. JPMorgan Chase & Co rose +2.98%, Citigroup Inc +3.26% and Wells Fargo & Co +7.55. The Nasdaq jumped +3.34%, the technology-centric indice’s largest daily percentage gain since 13 May. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rallied +3.16%.

US equity markets advanced after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell concluded a second day of congressional testimony with a vow to battle inflation, even if it risks a recession - Dow up +194-points or +0.64% and settling near its session highs at 30,677.36. The broader S&P500 +0.95%, with more defensive sectors like Utilities (up +2.35%), Health Care (+2.22%) and Real Estate (+2.01%) atop the primary sector leaderboard for a second consecutive session. Energy (down -3.74%) was the worst performing primary sector for a second day running. Occidental Petroleum Corp added +0.57% as Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Warren Buffett increased his firm’s stake in the oil-and-gas company by 9.6M shares or US$529M in June, according to regulatory filings cited by The Wall Street Journal, lifting the holding to ~16%. The Nasdaq +1.62%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +1.27%.

US equity markets logged modest losses, unwinding earlier gains in the final hour of trading as investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest congressional testimony - Dow eased -47-points or 0.15%. Dow Inc sank -4.75% to US$52.34 and its lowest levels since early 2021 after analysts at Credit Suisse cut their rating on the specialty chemicals company to “Underperform” (reducing the target price to US$49), citing concerns that the business could continue to struggle as supply chains normalise. The broader S&P500 slipped -0.13%, with Energy (down (-4.19%) leading seven of the eleven primary sectors lower. Real Estate (up +1.55%) and Health Care (+1.42%) were the best performing primary sectors. The Fed release its latest bank stress test results tonight AEST. The Nasdaq -0.15%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -0.22%.

US equity markets resumed trading following the holiday long weekend on the front foot, with all three benchmark indices rallying over >2% following a strong session for both value and growth stocks as risk assets bounced back - Dow gained +641-points or +2.15%, The broader S&P500 rose +2.45% to log its best single session advance month-to-date and after logging its worst weekly decline since 2020 last week, with the Energy sector (up +5.14%) returning to the top of the primary sector leaderboard and leading all eleven primary sectors at least +1.5% higher. Exxon Mobil Corp gained +6.22%, buoyed by an upgrade to “Outperform” from “Neutral” from Credit Suisse. Last night’s session marked the first time since May that both S&P 500 Value and S&P 500 Growth indexes gained more than >2% on the same day, and only the third time since 2020 that both indexes rallied as much. 441 stocks in the S&P500 advanced. Tesla Inc rallied +9.35% after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk told Bloomberg that job cuts at the company would result in a reduction of as much as 3.5% of the electric vehicle maker’s total head count. Twitter Inc rose +3.07% after Mr Musk told an audience at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha that he would be “driving the product” at Twitter, while reiterating that he does not necessarily want to serve as CEO after he completes the acquisition of the social media company. Kellogg Co rose +1.95% after the food company announced a plan to split into three businesses - "Global Snacking Co", which will represent ~US$11.4B in sales and include international cereal and noodles, North American frozen breakfast, as well as snacks; "North America Cereal Co", which represents ~US$2.4B in sales and includes U.S., Canada, and Caribbean cereals; and "Plant Co", a business of ~US$340M anchored by the MorningStar Farms brand and focused on plant-based foods. The Nasdaq rallied +2.51%, with Goggle-parent Alphabet Inc rising +3.85%, Apple Inc +3.28% and Amazon.com Inc +2.32%. Chipmakers also traded strongly, with Advanced Micro Devices Inc climbing +2.72%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +1.70%.

AUD - buying ~69.51 US cents. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) release the minutes from its June monetary policy meeting that saw the central bank hike rates +50-basis points, while RBA Governor Philip is scheduled to deliver a speech titled “Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy”. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) release the minutes of their June monetary policy meeting that saw the central bank stand firm on its ultra-loose monetary policy prescription last Friday (17 June). Elsewhere, there were reports this morning that Qantas Airways has lifted the passenger mask mandate for non-stop, outbound flights to the US and UK.

US equity markets closed out a turbulent week on mixed note, leaving both the Dow and S&P500 nursing their worst weekly performance sine 2020 - Dow eased -38-points or -0.13% to 29,888.78 after sliding below 1%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 gained +0.96%. Friday (17 June) was a “quadruple witching” session, the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.

US equity markets fell sharply, more than erasing the bounce recorded the previous session following the Federal Reserve’s largest rate hike since 1994, as concerns about the economic outlook returned to centre stage - Dow dropped -741-points or -2.4% to 29,927.07, sliding below 4%, with all eleven primary sectors closing in the red. Tesla Inc fell -8.54% after the electric vehicle maker hiked prices again on all its US models as it battles rising aluminium costs and the global supply chain crisis. The Dow and S&P 500 booked their lowest settlements since December 2020. The technology-centric Nasdaq slumped -4.1% to log its lowest close since September 2020. Amazon.com Inc (-3.72%), Apple Inc (-3.97%) and Netflix Inc (-3.75%) all sank nearly 4%. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk held a question and answer session with Twitter Inc (down -1.66%) staff, pitching a vision of a one-billion-user platform (versus the current user base of ~229M) but providing no fresh updates on his US$44B deal. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -4.70%.

A late rally saw the Dow and S&P500 snap a five session skid after a choppy session as investors digested the latest monetary policy pronouncements from the Federal Reserve and comments from central bank Chair Jerome Powell - Dow up +304-points or +1.00%, briefly climbing as much as +600-points. The broader S&P500 +1.46%, Consumer Discretionary (up +3.02%) led ten of the eleven primary sectors higher. Energy (down -2.12%) was the only primary sector to close in the red. The Nasdaq rebounded +2.49%. Apple Inc rose 2.01% after it announced Major League Soccer would be exclusively available on Apple TV starting in 2023, in a 10-year deal estimated to be worth US$250M. All three indexes booked their best daily percentage gain since 2 June, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +1.36%.

The Dow and S&P500 extended declines into a fifth straight session, with stocks hitting their session lows in the closing hour of trading ahead of the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s latest two day monetary policy meeting - Dow lost -152-points or -0.50% to 30,364.83, its lowest settlement since 1 February, 2021. The index had climbed as much as +170-points earlier in the session and dropped as much -370-points. FedEx Corp rallied +14.41% (leading the Dow Transports index over >2% higher) to log its best day since 1986 after the economic bellwether announced that it would raise its quarterly dividend by more than >50% and add three new directors to its board. The broader S&P500 eased -0.38% to 3,735.48, logging its lowest settlement since 29 January, 2021 a day after entering official bear market territory. The S&P 500 has dropped -10.2% over the past five trading days, the worst percentage decline over that time span since March 2020, when the U.S. was first confronting the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The broader index now sits 22.1% below its 3 January record closing high. Utilities (down -2.58%) led nine of the eleven primary sectors lower. Information Technology (up +0.62%) and Energy (+0.07%) were the only two primary sectors to advance. The Nasdaq edged +0.18% higher. Oracle Corp rallied +10.41% after the Silicon Valley giant posted a better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter result after the closing bell of the previous session. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost -0.39%.

US equity markets logged a second consecutive session of steep losses in the wake of last Friday’s (10 June) blistering inflation report, with the benchmark indices touching their session lows in the closing 30-minutes of trading after the a Wall Street Journal report suggested the Federal Reserve would consider raising rates by +75 basis points at the conclusion of their two day monetary policy meeting later this week - Dow tumbled -876-points or -2.79%, dropping as much as -1,019 points at one point in the session. Boeing Co (down -8.77%), Salesforce Inc (-6.96%) and American Express Co (-5.26%) were among the major drags on the Dow. The broader S&P500 shed -3.88% to 3,749.63, the lowest close since March 2021. Only five index constituents closed the session in the positive territory. The index settled over >21% below the 3 January record close (3837.248) and entered official bear market territory. The last time the S&P500 was in a bear market was in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. Energy (down -5.13%) led all eleven primary sectors lower, with all sectors declining over >2%. Travel stocks declined despite the Biden administration announced that it will drop the COVID-19 testing requirement for inbound air travellers from abroad from Sunday (12 June), ending one of the longest-running travel restrictions of the pandemic. United Airlines Holdings Inc fell -10.06% and Delta Air Lines Inc -8.29%, while cruise operators Carnival Corporation and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell -10.32% and -12.23% respectively. The Nasdaq slumped -4.68%, extending losses for the technology-centric index during this current sell-off to more than >33%. Netflix Inc (down -7.24%), Nvidia Corp (-7.82%) and Tesla Inc (-7.10%) all fell over >7%. Tesla proposed a 3-for-1 stock split in its proxy statement filed after the closing bell last Friday (10 June), saying it would provide more flexibility for its employees managing their equity and serve as a recruiting tool. The split would be Tesla’s second in as many years, with the electric vehicle maker undertaking a 5-for-1 stock split in August 2020. Tesla is slated to hold its annual shareholder meeting on 4 August. Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs downgraded Netflix last Friday (10 June) to a “Sell” from “Neutral” and cut its price target to US$186 from US$265, citing “concerns around the impact of a consumer recession as well as heightened levels of competition on demand trends”. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 slumped -4.76%.