New US inflation data surprises market

New inflation data out of the US overnight New Zealand time drove down US markets which then later soared, all before NZ investors had managed to drink their first coffee of the day.

Friday, October 14th 2022, 5:58PM

by BusinessDesk

Greg Boland, head of investment brokerage Tiger Fintech NZ said the US consumer price index (CPI) data increased by 0.4% for the month, which was higher than expected.

The core inflation rate over the past year climbed to a new peak of 6.6% – up from 6.3% – which was the biggest gain in 40 years, he said.

In the US, the S&P 500 had a gain of 2.6% – rebounding significantly after falling 2.4% in early trading.

“The 5% market turnaround from being down 2.4% to closing up 2.6% is one of the biggest intraday bounces in US share market history,” Boland said.

In NZ, the S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 50.7 points, or 0.47%, to 10,868.09. Turnover was very light at $80.7 million.

Grant Davies, an investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene said NZ’s market had followed the US market's upwards trend today – although not to the same degree.

“It was a funny old night in the US last night with the market dropping initially on the inflation figures and then recovering quite strongly,” he told BusinessDesk.

Fonterra told the market in the late afternoon it was trimming its milk collection forecast for the current season for a second time.

The world's biggest dairy exporter cut its forecast by 1% to 1,480 million kilograms of milk solids (kgMS), down from a previous prediction of 1,495m kgMS.

Fonterra collected 1,478 million kgMS last season, which was down 4% on the prior year.

“The variable weather conditions which caused a slow start on-farm have continued, contributing to lower collections through September and early October, which has caused us to further revise our collections forecast,” chief executive Miles Hurrell said.

Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund Units were up 1.7% to $3.05.

A2 Milk fell 2.5% to $5.95, with Davies saying that A2 Milk had been one of the most “volatile” stocks on the NZX.

Synlait Milk was down 0.6% to $3.22.

Telco Spark was up 1.3% to $5.135 after revealing it had completed the sale of 70% of its TowerCo business, after first announcing the sale back in July. TowerCo’s new buyer is the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board which has paid $900m for the 70% stake.

The transaction was conditional on overseas investment office (OIO) approval, which has now been received, Spark told the stock exchange. Spark will still keep 30% of the company.

Technology company Rakon also rose 2.6% to $1.18. Healthcare manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare jumped up 3.3% to $18.70.

Genesis Energy lifted its full-year earnings guidance by $45m following favourable trading conditions in the first quarter of this financial year. It was up 2.3% to $2.68.

Among other energy stocks, Meridian Energy was flat at $4.60 per share, Contact Energy was up 0.4% to $7.14 and Manawa Energy was down 0.5% to $5.45.

Napier Port jumped 5% to $2.92 after falling yesterday.

Today, the NZ dollar was trading at 56.19 US cents at 3pm in Wellington, up from 55.83 US cents on Thursday.

Tags: Market Close