Morgans AM: Tuesday, 4 January 2022

Morgans Financial Limited

A positive start to 2022 for US equity markets, with both the Dow and S&P500 logging fresh record closing highs - Dow up +247-points or +0.68% to a record closing high 36,585.06. The broader S&P500 rose +0.64% to also scale a record closing peak of 4,796.56, with Energy (up +3.10%) the standout primary sector performer. Consumer Discretionary (+2.76%), Financials (+1.24%) and Information Technology (+1.02%) all gained over >1%. Tesla Inc soared +13.53% after releasing a statement on Sunday (2 January) and saying it delivered more than >936K vehicles in 2021 - 911,209 of which were Model 3 sedans and Model Y SUVs. It marked an 87% increase versus 2020’s totals (when it delivered 499,647 vehicles) and more than the 897K forecast by analysts. The company delivered 308,600 vehicles in the fourth quarter alone, crushing consensus analyst forecasts for 266K. Tesla added that its final delivery numbers are slightly conservative, and may rise slightly after final calculations are made for its fourth-quarter earnings announcement. The Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla’s in-house software engineering helped make it more agile than its rivals at adjusting to the chip shortfall that plagued automakers in 2021. Ford Motor and General Motors rose about 4.8% and 4.3%, respectively. Elsewhere, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 4 notice regarding cruise travel - the highest level, which indicates very high COVID-19 levels. “Avoid cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status,” the agency said in an advisory. “Even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.” The CDC reported over >90 cruise ships had COVID-19 cases reported. All but three of those ships were under CDC investigation, including ships operated by Carnival Corp (up +6.9%) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (+6.4%). The Nasdaq rallied +1.20%. Apple Inc (up +2.5% at US$182.01) became the first public company to reach US$3 trillion in market capitalisation. The milestone was achieved after the company briefly traded above US$182.86 per share. Apple first hit the US$2 trillion market cap level on 20 August, 2020 (hitting US$1 trillion for the first time in August 2018). The small capitalisation Russell 2000 gained +1.21%.