Stocks

BLOOMBERG As Wall Street economists and central bankers debate if and when the US economy will slip into a recession, big money managers aren’t waiting to find out. Increasingly, professional stock pickers are shifting money out of economically sensitive shares like banks while parking it in stocks seen as resilient during  economic downturns, such as utilities and consumer staples. Hedge ...

BLOOMBERG The biggest swings in bonds in more than a decade this year are a fresh challenge to the time-honoured 60/40 investment strategy. Holding 60% of portfolios in stocks and 40% in bonds, revered as reliable for decades, fell 17% last year, the worst performance since 2008. While it’s unlikely such a dismal result will be repeated this year, some ...

BLOOMBERG Stock market investors holding on to hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the second half could be disappointed later this week, according to Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson — a staunch Wall Street bear. The US central bank is expected to hike interest rates on May 3, marking the 10th consecutive increase going back to March 2022. ...

BLOOMBERG US equity futures retreated as a rally in tech stocks lost steam and persistent inflationary pressures cemented expectations for higher rates in the US and Europe. Treasuries advanced. Contracts on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 slipped as Amazon.com Inc’s warning after the market close on growth in its key cloud computing business soured the mood. Treasuries recouped ...

BLOOMBERG Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp have never held more sway over the S&P 500 Index, leaving some investors on edge over the gauge’s increasingly top-heavy nature. The world’s two most-valuable companies saw their combined weightings in the benchmark jump to a record 14% after strong earnings reports from Microsoft and others fuelled a rally in technology stocks. When you ...

BLOOMBERG Confidence is in short supply among Chinese investors these days, confounding analysts who say reasons to own the market are finally coming true. The MSCI China Index’s valuations are shrinking and 12-month rolling returns are negative, a sign investors are pricing in an earnings contraction. Recession-proof trades are gaining traction, with a defensive strategy of buying dividend payers suddenly ...

BLOOMBERG Even as Warren Buffett’s blessing and buying by the foreign investors helps drives outperformance in Japanese stocks this year, retail investors are turning increasingly bearish. The blue-chip Nikkei 225 Stock Average has risen more than 9% so far to above 28,000, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index Excluding Japan Index is up less than 1%. Gains have been helped ...

BLOOMBERG A rout in Chinese stocks paused after a $446 billion wipeout in value for mainland shares this month, but a meaningful rebound may be hard to come by as geopolitical tensions simmer. The benchmark CSI 300 Index ended little changed on Wednesday. The MSCI gauge of Chinese shares advanced as much as 1.6% after a six-day slide, though it’s ...

BLOOMBERG The rebound in European equities since mid-March has failed to win over strategists, who predict that the sustained campaign of central-bank interest rate hikes will stall the rally. They are sticking to their gloomy outlook for the rest of 2023, unconvinced by a 10% advance in the Stoxx Europe 600 so far. The benchmark index is set to fall ...

BLOOMBERG Excitement over electric vehicles and other technology has made South Korea’s stock market one of the world’s best performers in 2023 — and its initial public offerings (IPOs) are doing even better. The 28 stocks that have listed in Seoul this year to date are up by a weighted average of 47% from their IPO prices. That’s ahead of even ...