News

We reiterate our BUY rating for Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. The company reported search figures in-line with expectations, whilst their cloud business exceeded US$6 billion in quarterly revenues for the first time. Slowing growth in the YouTube segment continues to be of concern, with revenues decelerating for the second quarter in a row. We do however note this is consummate with slowing ad spend on comparative platforms (Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter) which rely strongly on user-generated content. Search remains the ‘crown jewel’ of Alphabet and continues to account for the bulk of revenue. We consider this to be a defensive and compelling characteristic of Alphabet, as it is highly predictable and continues to be unaffected by secular trends. Search grew ~17%, ahead of industry consensus of ~12%.

Global markets slipped overnight, as US markets (S&P 500 Index, -0.3%) retraced slightly following a strong finish for the month of July. There have been two key news items of interest overnight, US House Speaker Pelosi’s pending visit to Taiwan and US ISM manufacturing data.

Global markets were up on Friday, as US markets (S&P 500 Index, +1.4%) welcomed strong tech earnings, despite lingering concerns around high inflation and recessionary risks.

Global markets were up overnight, as US markets (S&P 500 Index +1.2%) continued to rally as the US economy entered into a ‘technical recession’ (2 quarters of negative growth).

Global markets rallied overnight, as US markets (S&P 500 Index +2.6%) surged following better than feared results from Mega-Cap tech players Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft.

Global markets were lower overnight, as US markets (S&P 500 Index -1.2%) fell after digesting Walmart’s profit downgrade, sparking concerns around weaker consumer sentiment.

Global markets were mostly flat overnight, as US markets (S&P 500 Index +0.1%) edged higher, recovering from a small loss as investors brace themselves for a busy week ahead of mega-cap tech earnings, the US Fed’s interest rate decision, and second quarter US GDP data.

Global markets were lower on Friday, as US (S&P 500 Index -0.9%) stocks declined amid a batch of weak corporate earnings.

Global markets were higher overnight, as US markets (S&P 500 Index, +1%) continued to rebound as investors assess better than expected earnings. So far 90 companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings to date for the second quarter, and 78% reported above analyst expectations.