Besides low interest rates, another expectation that’s propped up stock prices is the forecast that US companies will continue to deliver solid growth in profits.
Keurig Dr Pepper climbed 6.9 per cent Monday after reporting profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts’ expectations. The company behind the Canada Dry and Green Mountain coffee brands said it benefited from higher prices for K-Cup products, among other things
Some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks are set to report their own results this week, including Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday. They’ll need to deliver big growth and justify big spending underway in artificial-intelligence technology.
Worries have been climbing that AI may be in the midst of a bubble, similar to the dot-com bonanza that ended up bursting in 2000. Nvidia’s stock is up 42.5 per cent for the year so far, for example, and Qualcomm soared 12.7 per cent Monday after unveiling AI products for data centres.
Announcements of mergers and buyouts also helped move stocks on Monday. Cadence Bank rose 2.7 per cent after Huntington Bancshares said it would buy the bank with locations across Texas and the South for $US7.4 billion ($11.3 billion) in stock. Huntington fell 4 per cent.
Avidity Biosciences leaped 42.4 per cent after Novartis agreed to buy the biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego for $US12 billion in Shanghai and 1 per cent in Hong Kong. They rose even more in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 jumped 2.5 per cent, and in Seoul, where South Korea’s Kospi rallied 2.6 per cent.
The Nikkei 225 topped the 50,000 level for the first time as opinion polls show Japan’s newly installed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi enjoying high levels of public support for her market-friendly policies. Takaichi favors raising spending on defence, and that has boosted prices of stocks in major defence contractors, such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which jumped 9 per cent Monday.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.00 per cent from 4.02 per cent late Friday.
All the optimism flowing through financial markets helped knock down the price of gold. The metal’s price has stalled after it nearly touched $US4,400 per ounce last week, when it set its latest record. It’s dropped back toward $US4,000, but it’s still up more than 50 per cent for the year so far.
AP
