Financial Markets Archives - Jennings Financial Services

Market update perspective with MLC

Key takeaways • The disorderly rollout of America’s new trade policy has rattled sharemarkets (Chart 1), and investors must prepare to navigate greater uncertainty and volatility through Mr Trump’s four-year presidential term. • Global sharemarket returns have been strong over the past two years driven mightily by investor appetite for US technology stocks, especially the Magnificent Seven (Apple, Microsoft, Google’s parent Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and Tesla). This trend resulted in such stocks’ valuations hitting great heights, which has left them as well as markets vulnerable to a correction. • We estimate that for every 1% increase in effective tariffs, US GDP declines 0.05%. • While the trade stoush is a headwind, President Trump’s tax cutting and deregulatory ambitions are a counter-veiling force and thus we expect US corporate earnings to be higher over 2025, which may boost investors’ morale. • Current events are a reminder that macroeconomic factors are ever present, sometimes with more force than usual, [...]

Overnight Update

This article highlights the key developments influencing market movements and investor sentiment in both Australia and the US. The key takeaways from the last 24 hours ASX dips as banks and supermarkets decline The Australian share market experienced a slight decline on Tuesday as major banks and supermarket giants faced a sell-off, which outweighed gains in the mining sector. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped by 0.1 per cent, or 10.9 points, closing at 8142, while the All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) finished flat. Investors were largely unaffected by the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to maintain the cash rate at 4.35 per cent, with Governor Michele Bullock signalling that no rate cuts would occur in the near future. The big four banks—Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank Limited (ASX: NAB), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ASX: ANZ), and Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX: WBC)—all ended the session in the red as investors moved funds from financials [...]