Morgans AM: Wednesday, 12 January 2022

Morgans Financial Limited

US equity markets advanced, with technology stocks consolidating the late rally of the previous session - Dow up +183-points or +0.51% . International Business Machines (IBM) Corp fell 1.60%, paring an earlier session decline of more than >5% that came after analysts at UBS downgraded the stock (lowering their price target to US$124 from US$136) citing concerns about revenue growth following the company’s spinoff of managed infrastructure-service business Kyndryl Holdings Inc and IBM’s ability to compete in the cloud market. Boeing Co (up +3.21%) said that it won orders for 909 planes in 2021 but delivered only around 280 passenger jets, falling behind Airbus SE (+0.42%) and relying more on its cargo jets and military versions of commercial planes. Including cancellations, Boeing secured 535 net new orders, including older deals for 56 planes that it now considers more likely to be fulfilled. Airbus on Monday (10 January) said it delivered 611 jets in 2021 and won orders for 771, or 507 net of cancellations. The broader S&P500 +0.92%, with Energy (up +3.41%) returning to the top of the leaderboard and leading eight of the eleven primary sectors higher. Exxon Mobil Corp gained +4.21%. Information Technology (+1.21%), Materials (+1.11%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.03%) and Communication Services (+1.02%) all gained over >1%. Utilities (down -0.92%) was the worst performing primary sector overnight. American Airlines Group Inc climbed 1.22% after the carrier updated its fourth-quarter guidance to reflect a performance that turned out to be not as bad as expected. The airline said it now expects revenue to be down ~17% compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, before the start of the pandemic, better than previous guidance of down 20%. The company flew 61.1B total available seat miles in the quarter, down -13% versus the prior guidance of down 11% to 13%. The company expects cost per available seat mile (CASM), a measurement of efficiency, to be up +13% to 14% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, compared with earlier guidance of up 8% to 10%. The technology centric Nasdaq gained +1.41%, with Amazon.com Inc rising +2.40%, Apple Inc +1.68% and Nvidia Corp +1.52%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 +1.05%.