Nasdaq drags on Wall St as AI slowdown fears hammer Nvidia, chipmakers
Market Scorecard
The passing of Queen Elizabeth II dominated news services overnight. US markets rose after a wobbly start, as investors digested remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. We are on track for our first weekly advance in three, thankfully. By now we really should have priced in all the worries about monetary tightening, energy shortages and China's economic growth slowdown. Upwards from here, surely, come on now.
In company news, biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) jumped by 18.8% on positive results from a trial for a medicine to treat eye disease. Elsewhere, e-signature service provider DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) rallied 18.5% after reporting quarterly sales that came in ahead of expectations.
At the end of the day, the JSE All-share was up 0.82%, the S&P 500 rose 0.66%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.60%. We'll take it.
One Thing, From Paul
Friday advice time again! Readers seem to like this column, so I'll keep going.
Be confident. Put your hand up when opportunity arises. Don't be shy and retiring. Have a good attitude. Don't moan. Don't be annoying.
Successful people are great marketers. Of course, you need to balance the need to appear confident with the danger of coming across as arrogant. Try to read the crowd.
American property billionaire Sam Zell (real name Shmuel Zielonka) put it this way: "I'm a professional opportunist, an entrepreneur. I have a lot of self-confidence, justified or not. Failure is not in my lexicon. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but I never fail. I succeed with a combination of ego and humility. I go backward and forward to achieve my objectives."
Byron's Beats
The African continent is underbanked. This is a big opportunity for fintech companies, because most of the old-school banking operators are fat and lazy. As it turns out, PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) has created a team to explore these opportunities.
According to News24, PayPal has interviewed 400 SMEs to understand e-commerce flows in the continent, specifically targeting offshore sales and cross-border payments.
Here in South Africa, multi-currency payments are a huge opportunity. Our local banks completely "rip the ring" when performing these switches. If you've ever sent funds from Rands to Dollars you'll know what I mean - you always seem to get the worst rate of the trading day. This area is ripe for further disruption by fintech players.
I'm sure the same problems are experienced by people throughout the continent. How nice would it be for a Mozambican wood worker to sell his products to a US retailer with seamless transaction facilities? The future is bright for fintech companies, especially in Africa.
Bright's Banter
According to the China Passenger Car Association, Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) August deliveries were surprisingly good. The electric vehicle maker churned out over 77 000 cars for the month, nearly tripling from July and up 74% year-on-year. That was thanks to a big jump in production from its Shanghai Gigafactory. More than 42 000 of those deliveries were exports.
Tesla had a market share of about 12% of Chinese EV wholesale deliveries in August, behind the 16% share for BYD's pure EVs. BYD produces several popular battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
If you recall, Tesla put its Shanghai plant on hold for several days in July to upgrade assembly lines. In addition, the Shanghai Covid lockdown led to huge production losses. The good news is that the plant can still crank out more than 750 000 cars a year.
Signing Off
Asian markets are advancing this morning. Equities rallied over 2.6% in Hong Kong in what looks like short covering. Japan and mainland China also gained. Official Chinese consumer inflation numbers moderated in August, giving policy makers in Beijing more room to move.
US equity futures are pointing towards another positive open on Wall Street later. The Rand is at around R17.40 to the US Dollar, looking a bit wobbly after weak trade deficit numbers were published yesterday.
