Nvidia to get closer to OpenAI, buoying tech-heavy Nasdaq
Fed speakers are getting their thoughts out there.
Stocks on Wall Street kicked on from their Friday gains as chipmaker Nvidia’s plans to invest as much as US$100 billion in artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI gave the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite a fillip.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials are doing the rounds with Beth Hammack and Alberto Musalem more cautious about the need for the central bank to keep cutting interest rates.
The goldrush is showing no signs of abating with the precious metal climbing to new heights amid rising flows into gold exchange traded funds such as the NZX’s Smart Gold ETF, which is up 34% so far this year.
And New Zealand’s economic growth minister Nicola Willis and immigration minister Erica Stanford announced two new migrant residence pathways to make it easier for skilled workers and tradies and technicians, coming at a time when the US is making it trickier for high-skilled people to get the H-1B visa favoured in Silicon Valley.
Onwards and upwards
Stocks on Wall Street continued to notch up new records as Nvidia gained 3.9% in late trading after announced plans to invest up to US$100 billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI to help the AI firm build out its data centres. Semiconductor and chip firms were mixed, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co on the rise while Broadcom declined.
Teradyne – which this year bought New Zealand’s Quantifi Photonics for US$127.2 million – led the S&P 500 as it climbed 12%, with upbeat analyst reports about the semiconductor test equipment firm’s outlook. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in late trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%.
Gold rose to new highs, with futures up 2% at US$3,780 an ounce at 7am in Auckland. Money has been flowing into gold exchange-traded funds as investors have an eye on the Federal Reserve’s cycle of interest rate cuts and the prospect of a weaker greenback.
The kiwi dollar traded at 58.70 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 58.58 cents yesterday.
Meanwhile, more Federal Reserve officials have proffered their opinion on the current cycle, with St Louis Fed president Alberto Musalem and Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack – both voting members on the federal open market committee – talking down the need for further reductions this year. Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic, who’s not on the FOMC, told the Wall Street Journal he would be more cautious about cutting again.
“US equities and gold have powered up to fresh record highs in the wake of the Fed restarting the easing cycle last week,” Bank of New Zealand senior markets strategist Jason Wong said in a note. “Fed speakers have been doing the rounds, with the turn of the more hawkish FOMC members overnight and, coincidentally or not, US Treasuries have traded with a cautious tone, with rates nudging higher.”
Less rosy
Things were more muted across the Atlantic with the UK’s FTSE 100 index nudging up 0.1%, while Germanys DAX 30 falling 0.5% and France’s CAC 40 declining 0.3% as automakers offset gains in tech and mining companies.
Porsche dropped 7.2% after the carmaker cut its outlook for the year and warned of delays in electric vehicle rollouts.
Australian futures are pointing to a 0.3% gain for the S&P/ASX 200 index when trading opens across the Tasman this morning, which has gained for the past two sessions.
School holidays are expected to keep trading volumes fairly quiet for New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index, with the benchmark up 1.6% so far in September.
No local data are scheduled for today, with European and US manufacturing activity surveys coming into view.
And the government has unveiled two new migrant pathways to residency, with economic development minister Nicola Willis and immigration minister Erica Stanford announcing the new avenues for highly-skilled workers and tradespeople and technicians coming into effect from the middle of next year.
The skilled work experience pathway will be aimed to help firms retain experienced workers already contributing to the domestic economy, while the trades and technician pathway will recognise the need for practical skills where sub-degree qualifications are used.
Coalition partner NZ First invoked the agree to disagree clause in the governing agreement.
The move comes as the US clamps down on its own skilled worker visas, imposing a US$100,000 on new applications.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash.
