Update Equities: Staying on track
Market attention recently has remained firmly focused on the US Federal Reserve’s rate-cut decision, expectations regarding upcoming monetary easing dynamics and the broader implications for economic and financial conditions, particularly in the US.
From this perspective, with a global supportive environment and a certain tolerance for uncertainty, equity markets have displayed relative stability. Meanwhile, gold has reached record highs, and the US dollar has once again weakened.
Broadly speaking, since the end of last week, communication services, consumer discretionary and energy stocks have outperformed. In contrast, utilities, basic materials, real estate and health care sectors have globally been a bit weaker. In this context, no significant performance discrepancies in terms of regions occurred.
Although this period was relatively quiet in terms of earnings releases, there have been a few noteworthy developments among major names. This includes the persistence of positive sentiment surrounding Alphabet. There was a notable rally of over 15% in September and upward momentum appears strong. Notably, Alphabet has crossed the milestone of USD 3 trillion in market capitalization.
Leadership transitions continue to shape Nestlé. Following its recent CEO change, the company has announced the earlier-than-expected appointment of a new chairman of the board, underscoring a period of significant governance restructuring.
Also, after unveiling a massive new compensation plan, still subject to shareholder approval, Tesla's stock received a boost this week from the news of additional share purchases by CEO Elon Musk totalling approximately USD 1 billion. This move has been interpreted as a strong signal of commitment from the company's leader.
Since the end of last week, Seagate Technology (computer hardware and storage), Estee Lauder (cosmetics) and Tesla (automotive and clean energy) were among the best performing companies in the US, while Insulet (medical equipment), Warner Bros (media) and Norwegian Cruise Line (travel) underperformed. In Europe, Puma (sports equipment), Kering (luxury), ThyssenKrupp (industrials) and ASML (semiconductor manufacturing equipment) stood out as notable outperformers. Meanwhile, Commerzbank (financials), DSM-Firmenich (ingredients & flavours) and Vopak (energy storage) declined.