Pre-Open Data
Key Data for the Week
- Monday – US – Chicago Fed National Activity Index
- Tuesday – US – Consumer Confidence
- Tuesday – US – New Home Sales
- Wednesday – AUS – Construction Work Done Q1
- Thursday – AUS – Business Conditions and Sentiments
- Thursday – US – Gross Domestic Product
- Friday – EUR – Economic Confidence
- Friday – UK – Retail Sales
Australian Market
The Australian sharemarket rose 0.2% on Friday in a mixed session of trade. The Health Care sector led the gains; CSL added 2.2% and Ramsay Health Care rose 0.9%.
The Materials and Energy sectors both underperformed. Mining heavyweights BHP, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto all fell between 0.9% and 2.2% following a fall in the price of iron ore. Oil Search, Santos and Woodside Petroleum all lost between 2.4% and 4.8% after the price of oil slipped in response to progress made towards a deal to lift US sanctions on Iran, which could boost crude supply.
Online retailer Kogan.com slumped 14.3% after the company warned of lower earnings after wrongly assuming the pandemic sales surge would continue in 2021.
The Financials sector closed higher, while the big four banks were mixed; Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.4%, NAB rose 0.1%, while ANZ and Westpac both added 0.5%.
The Australian futures market points to a 0.07% fall today.
Overseas Markets
European sharemarkets closed higher on Friday, with the broad based STOXX Europe 600 up 0.6%. HelloFresh continued its recent run of strength to add 1.1%. Airbus and Vestas Wind Systems rose 1.5% and 0.5% respectively to rebound from recent weakness.
For the week, the STOXX Europe 600 added 0.4%, while the UK FTSE 100 fell 0.4%.
US sharemarkets were mixed on Friday, with inflation again a key focus. The Financials sector outperformed, while Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology were the weakest performers. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft all fell between 0.5% and 1.5%.
Computer graphics processor manufacturer NVIDIA rose 2.6% after the company announced its plans to complete a four for one stock split. By the close of trade, the Dow Jones rose 0.4%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the NASDAQ lost 0.5%.
All major markets closed lower for the week except the NASDAQ, which rose for the first week in five. Over the week, the Dow Jones lost 0.5% and the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, while the NASDAQ added 0.3%.
CNIS Perspective
Epic Games, the video game developer that created the popular game Fortnite, is accusing technology giant Apple of operating an illegal monopoly and forcing developers to pay exorbitant fees to access its one billion iPhone users through its App Store. This ‘battle royale’ is now in a Californian court, with Apple CEO Tim Cook on the stand last Friday.
Fortnite players have spent US$1.2 billion over the past two years with its in-game purchases. It is estimated the total amount spent in Apple’s App Store was US$72 billion in 2020, while the 30% cut Apple are taking from purchases is no small change, with an operating margin close to 80%.
Epic Games is suggesting Apple has breached anti-trust rules, which is set to become a larger debate as the Democrats and Republicans are increasingly in agreement that ‘big-tech’ have too much power.
Apple claims developers can go elsewhere and the 30% commission is a fair price for the billions of dollars Apple has poured into its iOS infrastructure. The impact from the trial on the broader App Store fee structure, along with anti-trust concerns, remain risks for Apple and other big-tech names.
Should you wish to discuss this or any other investment related matter, please contact your Investment Services Team on (02) 4928 8500.
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