Asia markets largely fall as investors await Big Tech earnings

Hong Kong unemployment rate dropped to 3.1% 3.3% for the period January to March 2022, compared to 3.3% for the period December to February 2022.

This marks the 10th straight month of declining unemployment in the region and the lowest since October 2019, according to Refinitiv data.

Hong Kong’s Census and Statistics Bureau said it saw a notable decline in the building maintenance, repair and decoration sector, as well as the wholesale sector.

Hong Kong’s Labor and Welfare Secretary Chris Sun predicted that Hong Kong’s labor market should improve further, pointing to a continued recovery in domestic economic activity and inbound tourism, as well as the payment of a new batch of consumption vouchers. doing.

— Lim Hijie

Analysts have been very bullish on hydrogen as part of the clean energy investment landscape, as clean energy investments are gaining momentum due to the US Inflation Reduction Act.

HSBC said in its April 20 memo that clean hydrogen remains a “more compelling” decarbonization option, as opposed to batteries, when it comes to trucks, ships, trains and planes. .

Banks provided exposure to hydrogen in a variety of ways, citing stocks offering over 100% upside.

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— Tan Weizhen

Gross Domestic Product of South Korea 0.8% increase in the first quarter compared to a year ago, according to advance estimates from the country’s central bank.

This was slightly below economists’ expectations of 0.9%.

On a quarterly basis, South Korea’s GDP expanded by 0.3%, just above economists’ expectations of 0.2%

After the announcement, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi rose slightly while Kosdaq fell 0.25%.

— Lim Hijie

The Federal Reserve’s policy meeting won’t be held until next week, but Oppenheimer said the knowledge that it was around the corner could add some volatility to the market this week.

“Investor expectations for the FOMC meeting, scheduled for the first week of May, are in line with market day-to-day conditions, as earnings activity across a broad spectrum has picked up this week,” John said. We expect volatility to increase,” he said. Stoltzfuss, the company’s chief investment strategist.

Many market participants expect the central bank to raise rates by another quarter of a percentage point at its next meeting. Investors have been watching the Fed amid concerns that its rate hike campaign could lead to a slowdown or recession in the economy.

“There remains a sliver of uncertainty in the market as to how long the Fed will continue to raise rates and whether it will push the economy into recession before the current Fed rate hike cycle ends,” Stoltzfus said.

— Alex Haring

Fox stock came under pressure after Fox News announced that host Tucker Carlson was leaving the cable network.

Fox’s Class A and B shares each fell about 4% after the announcement.

Carlson’s resignation coming soon Fox settled a nearly $800 million defamation lawsuit from the Dominion voting system.

“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to separate,” the company said in a statement Monday. “We thank him for his contributions to the network as a host and earlier as a contributor.”

— Jesse Pound

With about a third of the members of the S&P 500 due to report results this week, investors are turning to tech giants and heavyweights in the energy and industrial sectors for more clues about the health of the broader economy. I’m here.

Earnings for the quarter have exceeded expectations so far. Goldman Sachs recently reported that 53% of companies in the broader index outperformed consensus expectations by at least one standard deviation, above the 25-year average of 48%. Fifteen percent of companies deviate from the consensus estimate by at least one standard deviation, lower than the 25-year average of 14 percent.

Here are the main names reported this week:

• Monday: Coca-Cola Company, Cadence Design Systems, Ameriprise Financial Services, First Republic Bank
• Tuesday: Google, Microsoft, Visa, PepsiCo, McDonald’s
• Wednesday: Meta, Boeing, ServiceNow
• Thursday: Amazon, Intel, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, Merck
• Friday: Exxon, Chevron, Sony, Colgate-Palmolive

— Pia Singh

Tech stocks underperformed on Monday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite down 0.6% as of 10:45 a.m. ET.

The information technology sector in the S&P 500 fell 0.6%, weighed down by falling chip stocks and clean energy stocks, with First Solar and Enphase Energy down 5.4% and 1.3% respectively. Among semiconductor makers, Advanced Micro Devices dropped his 1.7%, while Lam Research, Qorvo and Western Digital each fell at least 1%. Salesforce fell 1.5%.

Consumer goods stocks also lagged, with Tesla and Amazon down 3.2% and 0.8% respectively. Some cruise stocks also contributed to the decline.

This week, we bring you earnings reports from major tech stocks including Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta Platforms. Shares of all three companies fell slightly in morning trading, weighing on the Nasdaq.

— Samantha Soobin