Weekly Market Update - 29 April 2024

Tech Earnings

The stakes were high for the two biggest AI players — Microsoft and Alphabet — a day after Meta Platforms spooked investors with its forecast. They did not disappoint. Microsoft’s quarterly sales and profit climbed more than projected, lifted by corporate demand for the software maker’s cloud and artificial intelligence offerings. First-quarter revenue from Google’s parent company Alphabet exceeded analysts’ expectations as well, buoyed by growth in its cloud computing unit. Snap, meanwhile, saw its share price soar after posting stronger-than-anticipated revenue projections, but the picture for Intel was more downbeat. Shares in the biggest maker of personal computer processors tumbled after it gave a lackluster forecast.

Source: Bloomberg

Mining Megadeal

BHP Group has approached Anglo American about buying the 107-year-old mining company in what could rank as this year’s biggest deal. Anglo American said that it received an unsolicited all-share merger proposal from the world’s biggest miner, after Bloomberg reported that BHP was considering a potential takeover offer. Anglo’s board is reviewing the proposal and it cautioned that there is no certainty an offer will be made. If successful, a takeover would mark a return to large-scale dealmaking for Australia’s BHP, which has revived its appetite for transformational acquisitions in the past couple of years under Chief Executive Officer Mike Henry.

Source: Bloomberg

JPY

The yen weakened beyond 155 per US dollar for the first time in more than three decades, fuelling risk that the key level may prompt Japan to step in. The Asian nation’s currency depreciated as much as 0.4% to a session low of 155.37 on Wednesday, marking the first time since June 1990 that it crossed the 155 level against the greenback. Helping drive the yen lower was demand for contracts to sell it against both the dollar and euro, according to data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. Japanese officials have said repeatedly that they will take action to address excessive moves in the yen if needed. The authorities have emphasized a focus on the pace of the currency’s depreciation rather than a precise level.

Source: Bloomberg