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| This week's gainers and losers |
Top: Darktrace (+35%): The British cybersecurity company has raised its annual sales forecast, and is now targeting recurring revenue growth of between 21% and 23% for fiscal 2024. The company also boasts that it has emerged unscathed from an independent review carried out by EY: while the auditor has identified certain areas for improvement, the report will have no impact on the company's previous financial statements. Stifel has raised its target price on the share. Carvana (+24%): The troubled used car dealer is seeing the light. The American group has reached a restructuring agreement with its creditors, which should reduce its outstanding debt by more than $1.2 billion. It also reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with sales ahead of expectations despite a decline in vehicle sales. The Group's shares have gained some 800% since the start of the year, but some observers consider this rise to be unjustified. RocketLab (+20%): Shares climb after the successful launch of seven satellites for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Space Flight Laboratory and Spire Global from the launch complex in New Zealand. The company also completed the recovery of the first stage of its Electron rocket from the ocean after launch, as part of a program to make the Electron a reusable rocket. Matson (+19%): The US maritime transport and logistics company saw its share price rise after reporting preliminary second-quarter earnings late Thursday, from $2.14 to $2.28 per diluted share, against analysts' expectations of $2.26. Flop: Toast (-13%): Double outcry for the American restaurant technology group. In June, Toast added a $0.99 commission on customer transactions, but faced with a backlash from its customers, the group reversed course and removed the controversial fee this week. The markets did not take kindly to this about-face and the loss of earnings on the company's margins. Omnicom (-12%): Mixed results for the American advertising and marketing group. Sales disappointed Wall Street, but earnings beat expectations. The group showed little confidence for the future and did not publish any forecasts, citing economic uncertainty. It should be noted that the stock hit a high on Monday, just before the downturn. Equifax (- 9%): The information services supplier provided earnings forecasts for the third quarter and full year 2023 that were not convincing enough for investors, despite announcing revenues of between $5.270 billion and $5.330 billion. Tesla (-7%): Although the electric vehicle manufacturer reported higher-than-expected revenues and earnings per share for the quarter, the share price fell. The markets punished management's cautious approach, which expects third-quarter production to be slightly lower, due to summer shutdowns and plant upgrades. Investors also continue to take a dimmer view of the decline in margins resulting from the Group's price cuts, and the delays in production of the Cybertruck and the launch of autonomous driving. |
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| Commodities |
| Energy: Brent crude still flirting with the $80 a barrel mark. Although oil prices are poised for a fourth straight week of gains, the weekly advance remains limited. This is due to mixed economic data from China, which is affecting financial sentiment. In addition, the rising US dollar is weighing on dollar-denominated oil prices. However, two factors are supporting prices. The first is fundamental, as the oil market is heading for a tightening with more limited supply and relatively resilient demand. Secondly, the Fed could make its last rate hike of the year, thereby limiting its impact on the slowing US economy. In terms of prices, North Sea Brent is trading at around USD 80.40 a barrel, compared with USD 76.45 for its US counterpart, WTI. Metals: Overall, metal prices gave up some ground this week. A tonne of copper is trading at around 8500 USD on the London Metal Exchange. Rising inventories and the currency effect are limiting buying pressure. On the mining front, Antofagasta reduced its copper production forecasts for this year. The group is pointing to the consequences of the numerous water shortages in Chile. On the precious metals front, gold edged up to USD 1,960. Not much else to add. Agricultural products: Moscow withdraws from the Black Sea grain agreement. The tone adopted by the Kremlin isn't easy, as Russia warned that all cargo ships sailing to Ukrainian ports would be considered military targets. The port of Odessa was also the target of Russian bombardments this week. This tension was reflected in Chicago wheat prices, which jumped to 720 cents a bushel, a weekly increase of over 10%. |
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| Macroeconomics |
| Atmosphere: Following the decline in inflation in the United States, it's now Britain's turn to observe the same trend. As a result, investors continued to celebrate the end of monetary tightening a little early, while the pound sterling plummeted. At the same time, US macroeconomic indicators looked bleak during the week, with retail sales and industrial production at half-mast. The same was true of the housing market and building permits. This deterioration in statistics is rather in line with investors' beliefs that the US central bank will complete its rate hike cycle next week. The Fed won't be the only one to communicate in the coming days: the ECB and BoJ will also be on board. Meanwhile, the dollar remained weak, although a late-week surge enabled it to climb back to USD 1.1115 per EUR 1 on Friday. Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin is down 1.5% since Monday, and is trading at around $29700 at the time of writing. Ether, meanwhile, is losing a little more ground, down 1.80% and now flirting with the $1900 mark. The crypto-asset industry remains mired in a lack of regulatory clarity on the other side of the Atlantic, fuelling legal action by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against industry giants such as Coinbase and Binance. This has led to a significant drop in trading volumes on the main assets in recent weeks, and suggests a relatively quiet summer period for bitcoin and co... |
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| Things to read this week | ||||
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*The weekly movements of indexes and stocks displayed on the dashboard are related to the period ranging from the open on Monday to the sending time of this newsletter on Friday. The weekly movements of commodities, precious metals and currencies displayed on the dashboard are related to a 7-day rolling period from Friday to Friday, until the sending time of this newsletter. These assets continue to quote on weekends. |
