Wall Street started the week on an up note as investors cheered the focus on rare earth minerals in trade talks between the US and China, buoying chipmakers and semiconductor firms such as Nvidia.
US President Donald Trump authorised Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s negotiating team to cede on recent restrictions on a range of technology and other products sold to Chinese buyers in reaching a deal.
Meanwhile, Warner Bros Discovery sank after the media group confirmed plans to carve out its cable business – which owns New Zealand’s Three television and streaming broadcaster – into a standalone listed company.
And as Australia returns to work from its long weekend, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission is shortening the process for companies to go public, opening an informal review channel to look at offer documents before they’re formally lodged.
Around the table
Stocks on Wall Street started the week stronger with the S&P 500 up 0.3% in late Monday trading, while European markets were more subdued with the UK’s FTSE 100 slipping 0.1% and Germany’s DAX 30 down 0.5%, as investors prepared for high-level trade talks between the US and China.
Chipmakers such as Nvidia were buoyed by news that US President Donald Trump empowered his negotiating team to give ground on export controls, with access to rare earth minerals – key in technology components – the main goal.
“White House economic advisor [Kevin] Hassett told CNBC that US export controls on semi-conductors will be eased (excluding the very, very high end Nvdia chips) and rare earths will be released in volume by China,” Bank of New Zealand senior market strategist Jason Wong said in a note. “Let’s see if that is indeed the outcome.”
The kiwi dollar rose to 60.56 US cents at 7am in Auckland from 60.37 cents.
Meanwhile, US chipmaker Qualcomm climbed 4.3% after agreeing to buy UK-listed semiconductor firm Alphawave IP for about US$2.4 billion.
Media group Warner Discovery declined 2.9% after announcing plans to spin out its cable business as a standalone listed company from its HBO streaming and studio arm to better compete in the streaming era. The international TV businesses, including New Zealand’s Three, would go with the cable arm.
Close but no cigar
And trading platform Robinhood dropped 3.6% after missing out on a spot in the S&P 500 after some speculation it would join the benchmark index.
Australian markets return from the long King’s Birthday weekend, with futures pointing to a 0.5% gain for the S&P/ASX 200 index.
Meanwhile, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission is launching a two-year trial to accelerate listing times, reviewing offer documents up to two weeks before they’ve been formally lodged.
Australia’s initial public offering pipeline is enjoying a small revival with Virgin Australia filing its prospectus last week for a listing on the ASX later this month, and property developer GemLife expected to go public in July.
NZX-listed fruit exporter Scales Corp is holding its annual meeting in Christchurch today, while local data include ANZ New Zealand’s truckometer gauge of transport movements.
And investors will also respond to yesterday’s S&P/Dow Jones Indices update that SkyCity Entertainment Group will leave the NZX20 index later this month, replaced by utilities software firm Gentrack.
Reporting by Paul McBeth. Image from Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash.
