12 Mins Ago
Stocks open flat Monday
U.S. stocks started Monday’s trading session little changed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 5 points, or 0.01%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite added 0.07% and 0.28%, respectively.
— Hakyung Kim
43 Mins Ago
These three key drivers could indicate that earnings are headed lower from here, JPMorgan says
It’s been a strong earnings season so far for corporations, but JPMorgan believes that these good fortunes might take a turn in the near future.
“The earnings reality might turn out to be the opposite as we move through the year,” wrote strategist Mislav Matejka, who listed three key drivers that might indicate that corporate profitability is due to turn weaker.
First of all, Matejka believes that corporations were able to benefit from a lower net interest expense this economic cycle. While this condition will drive outperformance through the first half of this year, the strategist wrote that this “rather counter-intuitive development is set to normalize as time passes.”
Matejka also hinted at strong COVID-induced pricing power driving strong topline for companies. But going forward, he expects earnings to slide as the producer price index turns negative.
Finally, the analyst underscored last year’s strong U.S. economic activity, but noted that unit labor costs could pick back up this year.
“Profit margin proxy, corporate deflator minus ULCs, could turn into more of a headwind,” he wrote. “Putting the above 3 together, one might end up with a disappointing profits outcome even without seeing an outright recession, and we note that 2024 EPS projections keep coming down in key regions.”
— Lisa Kailai Han
An Hour Ago
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket
Check out some of the companies making headlines in premarket trading.
- Domino’s Pizza — Shares surged more than 6% after the restaurant chain said it will raise its dividend by 25% and increase its buyback program by an additional $1 billion. The increased dividend will be payable on March 9, while the additional stock repurchase was cleared to begin at the conclusion of the fourth quarter on Feb. 21.
- HashiCorp — Shares of the software company popped 8% on the back of an upgrade by Morgan Stanley to overweight from equal weight. The bank said HashiCorp should benefit from a resurgence in cloud initiatives.
- Berkshire Hathaway — Class B shares of Warren Buffett’s conglomerate climbed nearly 3% on the back of a nearly 30% year-over-year surge in operating earnings for the fourth quarter. Berkshire’s cash hoard also swelled to record levels.
Read the full list here.
— Brian Evans
An Hour Ago
Wilson parent stock rises after series of positive analyst calls
The New York Stock Exchange welcomes executives and guests of Amer Sports, Inc. (NYSE: AS) to celebrate its listing. To honor the occasion, Jie Zheng, Chief Executive Officer, and Shizhong Ding, Board Chairman & Executive Director of ANTA Sports rings The Opening Bell®.
NYSE
Amer Sports shares popped more than 3% before the bell Monday after multiple Wall Street analysts provided optimistic outlooks following its initial public offering.
The Wilson and Arc’teryx parent debuted on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. In recent days, several analysts have come out with bullish calls on the stock.
“We view AS as a compelling portfolio of premium, innovation-led brands with healthy growth opportunity,” Goldman Sachs analyst Brooke Roach wrote in a Sunday note to clients. “The company has significant scope for profitable growth and margin expansion.”
CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.
See Chart…
Amer Sports, 1-day
2 Hours Ago
Amazon joining Dow Jones Industrial Average
In this photo illustration, an Amazon logo seen displayed on a smartphone.
Mateusz Slodkowski | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
2 Hours Ago
Berkshire Hathaway rises after strong operating earnings
Warren Buffett
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway were up more than 3% after the Warren Buffett-led conglomerate posted strong fourth-quarter results.
The company’s operating earnings surged 28% year over year to $8.481 billion for the quarter, led by strong gains in insurance. Berkshire also reported a record cash hoard of $167.6 billion.
— Fred Imbert
9 Hours Ago
Xiaomi falls amid broader decline in EV shares ahead of showcasing its electric vehicle in Barcelona
Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi revealed on Dec. 28, 2023, its forthcoming electric car, the SU7 sedan.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng
Hong Kong-listed shares of Xiaomi fell 1% in midday trading Monday amid a broader decline in shares of electric vehicle makers.
The Chinese smartphone company said it has identified a consumer niche that will pay up for its upcoming electric car.
“We think it’s a good starting point for us in the premium segment because we have already 20 million premium users in China based on the smartphone,” Weibing Lu, Xiaomi Group President told CNBC ahead of the car’s international reveal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which starts Monday.
“I think the initial purchases will be very overlapped with the smartphone users,” Lu said.
Shares of Chinese EV maker Nio fell nearly 5%, while Xpeng shed nearly 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.7% by midday trading.
— Shreyashi Sanyal, Evelyn Cheng
9 Hours Ago
South Korea unveils measures to tackle ‘Korea discount’, boost stock markets
South Korea’s financial regulatory body announced steps to better corporate governance on Monday, taking a leaf out of Japan’s playbook, to boost its undervalued stock markets and address the “Korea discount.”
Korea’s Financial Services Commission provided details on its “Corporate Value-up Program,” which aims to prioritize shareholder returns through various incentives including tax benefits.
Korean authorities acknowledged the similarities in its program with that of Japan’s, which has seen Tokyo markets hitting record highs for the first time in 34 years.
The FSC said it will also introduce the “Korea Value-up Index” for institutional investors, including pension funds.
— Shreyashi Sanyal
11 Hours Ago
Veteran investor David Roche would rather invest in India, Indonesia and Japan than China
Veteran investor David Roche, would rather invest in India, Indonesia and Japan rather than China.
“It’s certainly where I would have more money than I would in China at the moment,” the president of Independent Strategy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” when asked about prospects for India and Indonesia. “I would also, by the way, still have more money in places like Japan than I would in China,” he added.
Roche noted that there are plenty of companies in China which are “fundamentally cheap,” but major problems such as deflation still plague the economy. Still, Roche said Chinese markets could be in for a bounce.
“When markets fall as much as China has done, they’re in for a bounce,” he said.
—Lee Ying Shan
12 Hours Ago
China de-linking talk is overdone, Asian Development Bank says
China is still a critical trading partner for many countries across the world, and the often-used narrative of the superpower being delinked from the global economy is overdone, says the Asian Development Bank.
“China’s still probably the number one trading partner for the majority of countries in the world,” ADB’s Chief Economist Albert Park told CNBC. “The story of China being delinked from the global economy — I think those are probably generally very overdone or very partial.”
The economic powerhouse remains a top trading partner to over 120 countries, and is still the largest trading partner to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, according to U.S. think tank Wilson Center.
China also continues to play an outsized role in the global economy as the world’s largest trading economy even with trade tensions between China and the U.S. festering since 2018.
—Lee Ying Shan
15 Hours Ago
