Morgans AM: Monday, 25 October 2021

Morgans Financial Limited

US equity markets mixed on Friday night (22 October) as investors weighed strong corporate earnings against persistent concerns over elevated global inflation - Dow up +73-points or +0.21% to a record closing high of 35,677.02. The broader S&P500 dipped -0.11%, with falls for Communication Services (down -2.28%) and Consumer Discretionary (-0.66%) offsetting gains for Financials (up +1.33%) and Energy (+0.93%). Tesla Inc extended its rally, rising +1.7% after hitting a new intraday high (US$909.68) earlier in the morning session that lifted the electric vehicle maker’s market capitalisation above >US$905B (which is more than almost half of the auto industry put together). The Nasdaq lost -0.82%. Quarterly results late last Thursday (21 October) from Snapchat parent Snap Inc (down -26.59%), which forecast a weaker-than-expected holiday season and expressed concerns over digital advertising, prompted a decline in internet and social-media related stocks, including Google-parent Alphabet Inc (down -3.04%) and Facebook Inc (-5.05%). Intel Corp dropped -11.68% following a soft quarterly result after the close of the previous session that the company blamed on weaker-than-expected sales amid an industry-wide component shortage. However, Netflix Inc (up +1.78%), Ebay Inc (+5.75%) and Microsoft Corp (-0.51%) all touched fresh record intra-day highs. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 eased -0.21%.