Morgans Financial Limited

US equity markets settled with modest losses as investors digested the latest monetary policy pronouncements from the Federal Reserve and eyed results after the closing bell from two of the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ cohort of mega-capitalisation technology companies - Dow fell -172-points or -0.38% , with 3M Co (down -3.41%) the worst performer in the 30-stock index. Procter & Gamble Co lost -2.38% after the company posted better-than-expected fourth quarter results after the close of the previous session and named Shailesh Jejurikar as its new chief executive. Nvidia Corp (up +2.14%) was the leading Dow component overnight.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq pulled back from record highs as investors waded through a fresh round of corporate earnings releases and eyed the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate tomorrow morning AEST (31 July) - Dow fell -205-points or -0.46%

US equity markets kicked off an extremely busy week with modest gains, lifting the S&P500 and Nasdaq to fresh record highs following news that the US and European Union (EU) had reached a framework for a trade deal on Sunday (27 July) - Dow slipped -64-points or -0.14% to 44,837.56. Nike Inc rallied +3.89% to US$79.24 and was the leading performer in the 30-stock index after J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral" with a target price of US$93 and said investors should "just buy it" ahead of next year’s football World Cup co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

Chris Titley sits down with Jason Orthman, Deputy Chief Investment Officer / Lead Portfolio Manager / Investment and Executive Deputy Committee Chairs / Executive Director at Hyperion Asset Management Limited. Hyperion Asset Management is an Australian boutique fund manager, established in 1996, specializing in high-conviction growth-style investments in Australian and global equities. Based in Brisbane, the company is 50.1% owned by its executives, with Pinnacle Investment Management holding the remaining stake. Hyperion focuses on sustainably growing clients’ wealth over the long term (minimum five years) by investing in high-quality companies with strong value propositions, sustainable competitive advantages, innovative cultures, and large addressable markets.

US equity markets advanced, with the S&P and Nasdaq logging fresh record closing highs ahead of a busy week that includes key central bank monetary policy meetings, fresh corporate earnings releases and President Trump's 1 August deadline for negotiating trade deals - Dow rose +208-points or +0.47% to 44,901.92, settling just 0.25% shy of a its all-time record closing high set on 4 December (45,014.04). American Express Co (up +1.09%), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (+1.36%), McDonald’s Corp (+1.35%), 3M Co (+1.32%) and Nike Inc (+1.13%) all gained over >1%.

US equity markets mixed following a fresh flurry of corporate earnings releases with the both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq edging up to fresh record closing highs albeit settling well off their highs of the session - Dow fell -316-points or -0.70%. International Business Machines (IBM) Corp dropped -7.62% despite the company’s headline numbers topping Wall Street’s expectations for the second-quarter after the close of the previous session, with the software segment underwhelming investors’ expectations. UnitedHealth Group Inc fell -4.76% after the health insurer confirmed several reports in recent months that the Department of Justice is probing aspects of its business. The company said it recently "proactively reached out to the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain aspects of the Company’s participation in the Medicare program," and is now "complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the Department.

US equity markets advanced amid some positive news and headlines in the trade front, while investors continued to wade through the latest quarterly earnings releases - Dow rallied +508-points or +1.14% to 45.010.29, falling just shy of recording its first record closing high since December. All of Boeing Co (up +2.36%), Caterpillar Inc (+2.49%), Chevron Corp (+2.05%), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (+2.44%), Merck & Co Inc (+2.90%), UnitedHealth Group Inc (+2.59%) and Nvidia Corp (+2.25%) rising over >2%.

US equity markets mixed as investors waded through the latest round of corporate earnings releases and eyed results from the first of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ cohort of mega-capitalisation stocks after the closing bell of tonight’s AEST session - Dow rose +179-points or +0.40%. Amgen Inc (up +3.32%) and Merck & Co Inc (+2.90%) were the leading performers in the 30-stock index. Nvidia Corp (down -2.54%) was the weakest Dow component overnight.

US equity markets advanced to kick off a busy week of second quarter earnings, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting fresh record closing highs - Dow dipped -19-points or -0.04%, with American Express Co (down -1.62%) and Travelers Companies Inc (-1.03%) both falling over >1%.

US equity markets retreated on Friday (July) amid reports President Trump had pushed for greater tariffs on the European Union (EU) - Dow fell -142-points or -0.32%, with Merck & Co (down -1.91%) and UnitedHealth Group Inc (-1.8%) both down ~1.9%.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq scaled fresh record highs following better-than-expected retail sales data and another busy corporate earnings calendar - Dow rose +230-points or +0.52%, with Coca-Cola Co (up +1.91%) and Walt Disney Co (+1.99%) rising over >1.9%. Caterpillar Inc (+1.26%), Microsoft Corp (+1.20%) and Nvidia Corp (+0.95%) all hit record all-time highs

US equity markets advanced after a choppy session as investors digested a fresh round of second quarter earnings releases and reports that President Trump was giving serious thought to dismissing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell - Dow rose +231-points or +0.53%, recovering from an earlier slide of as much as -264-points. Amgen Inc (up +2.23%) and Caterpillar Inc (+2.04%) rose over >2%.

• US equity markets weaker as investors digested the latest inflation figures and a mixed bag of second quarter results from some major banks - Dow dropped -436-points or -0.98% to 44,023.29, with American Express Co (down -3.20%) and UnitedHealth Group Inc (-2.95%) both down ~3%. Nvidia Corp rallied +4.04% to a record closing high of US$170.70 and was the leading Dow component following news that the U.S. government plans to grant licenses for the chipmaker to sell its H20 graphics processing units in China.

On 7 July the AFR published a list of 37 Economists who had answered a poll on when the RBA would next cut rates. 32 of them thought that the RBA would cut on 8 July. Only 5 of them did not believe the RBA would cut on 8 July. I was one of them. The RBA did not cut.

US equity markets logged modest gains as investors continued to monitor trade headlines ahead of key inflation data and the beginning of second quarter earnings season tonight AEST - Dow rose +88-points or +0.20% Boeing Co rose +1.62% after a preliminary report was released over the weekend regarding the cause of last month's Air India crash that killed more than 250 people on board and on the ground and did not recommend actions to fix any safety issues for operators or manufacturers of the Boeing plane and GE Aerospace (+2.71%) engines. Chevron Corp (down -2.36%) and Procter & Gamble Co (-2.09%) fell over >2%.

US equity markets retreated on Friday (11 July) as President Trump’s threats of new tariffs against a host of U.S. trade partners unnerved investors, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pulling back from record closing highs logged a day earlier - Dow fell -279-points or -0.63%, with Nike Inc (down -2.67%) and Visa Inc (-2.23%) falling over >2%.

US equity markets advanced, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting fresh record highs as investors continued to shrug off tariff-related concerns - Dow rose +192-points or +0.43%, with American Express Co (up +2.49%) the leading performer in the 30-stock index. Nvidia Corp rose +0.75% to settle with a closing market capitalisation above >US$4 trillion after breaching that level intra-session a day earlier.

US equity markets advanced, with the technology-centric Nasdaq climbing to a fresh record high as tariff and trade headlines remained in focus and as investors parsed meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June monetary policy meeting - Dow rose +218-points or +0.49% to 44,458.30, settling ~1% below its record closing high. Nvidia Corp rose +1.80% to US$162.88, pulling back from earlier highs that saw the chipmaker become the first ever company to achieve a market capitalisation of US$4 trillion. Nvidia needed to finish at or above US$163.93 to reach the $4 trillion milestone at the close. Nonetheless, the chipmaker’s closing market capitalisation of US$3.974 trillion was a record closing peak for any company. Amazon.com Inc +1.45% that its cloud division has developed hardware to cool down next-generation Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) that are used for artificial intelligence workloads. UnitedHeatlh Group Inc fell -1.56% to be the worst performing Dow component overnight following a report fro

US equity markets settled little changed after another choppy session dominated by trade and tariff headlines - Dow fell -166-points or -0.37%, with JPMorgan Chase & Co (down -3.15%) and Nike Inc (-3.41%) down over >3%. Amazon.com Inc fell -1.84% as the eCommerce giant’s four-day "Prime Day" sale event kicked off overnight. Nvidia Corp rose +1.11% and continues to close in on becoming the first company ever to market capitalisation of US$4 trillion.

US equity markets fell sharply after resuming trading following the Independence Day holiday long weekend, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq retreating from record all-time highs as investors digested a flurry of headlines related to tariffs and global trade - Dow dropped -422-points or -0.94%,with Sherwin-Williams Co (down -2.18%) the worst performer in the 30-stock index, while seven other components fell over >1.5%. Nvidia Corp fell -0.69% to US$158.24 despite analysts at Citigroup lifting their target price to US$190 per share (from US$180 previously) and now calculating that the total addressable market for data-centre AI chips could be $563B by 2028 (versus a prior projection of US$500B).Citigroup believes sovereign AI, which refers to countries looking to build out their own AI infrastructure, could contribute “up to billions of dollars” to Nvidia’s top line in 2025 and will come to make up an even bigger portion of Nvidia’s business mix next year. Amazon.com Inc inched +0.03% higher and was the only member