Morgans AM: Friday, 8 April 2022

Morgans Financial Limited

US equity markets staged a comeback overnight as investors digested minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting, showing the central bank weighing a plan to reduce its bond holdings by $95 billion per month as it tries to stamp out surging inflation. The Dow rose +87.06 points or +0.30%. The broader S&P500 gained +0.4%, with Health Care (+1.85%), Energy (+1.36%), and Consumer Staples (+1.18%) leading the way. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Thursday dismissed talk of recession, saying that the U.S. expansion “is not ‘old’ and can continue for a long time.” Bullard has called for the Fed to raise interest rates swiftly to counter inflation, saying he wants to get the Fed’s benchmark interest rate above 3% this year. Shares in HP Inc. jumped +14.8% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. disclosed that it had taken an 11.4% (US$4.2bn) stake in the computer and printer maker. This follows a near US$20bn buying spree by Berkshire Hathaway recently. The Nasdaq also rose +0.1% helped by Tesla Inc (+1.2%) and Microsoft (+0.6%), while Twitter fell -5.4% The small capitalisation Russell 2000 was lower -0.35%.