Morgans AM: Friday, 22 April 2022

Morgans Financial Limited

US equity markets retreated, selling off in the afternoon session after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell added his support for moving faster on raising interest rates to cool inflation, including through a potential 50 basis point hike in May - Dow down -368-points or -1.05%, recording an intra-day swing of more than >700-points. The broader S&P500 fell -1.48%, with the Energy sector (down -3.10%) leading all eleven primary sectors lower. Tesla Inc advanced +3.23% after the electric vehicle maker posted better-than-forecast earnings after the close pf the previous session, aided byprice hikes. The Nasdaq shed -2.07%, unwinding an earlier session rally of as much as +1.9%. Netflix Inc fell -3.52%, extending the previous session’s -35.12% slump after the streaming giant reported a net loss of -200K paid subscribers in the first quarter after the close of Tuesday’s (19 April) session. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 lost 2.29%. Gap Inc fell over >11% in the extended session trading after the clothing retailer said Old Navy Chief Executive Nancy Green would be leaving the company by the end of the week and that it expects a larger-than-expected sales declines for the fiscal first quarter because of “macro-economic dynamics as well as the execution challenges at the Old Navy brand.” Gap said it now expects first-quarter sales to decline in the “low to mid-teens year over year,” compared with a previously forecast decline of “mid to high single-digit year over year.”