Market news & insights

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) announced Q4 2023 financial results before the opening bell in Wall Street on Friday. The US bank reported revenue that fell short of estimates of $23.5 billion vs. $23.703 billion expected. Earnings per share was reported well below analyst expectations at $0.35 per share vs. $0.533 per share estimate.

Company overview Founded: 1998 (via the merger of BankAmerica & NationsBank), 1956 (as BankAmerica), 1784 (as its predecessor, the Massachusetts Bank, through the merger with FleetBoston in 1999) Headquarters: Charlotte, North Carolina, United States Number of employees: 217,000 (2022) Industry: Financial services Key people: Brian Moynihan (Chairman and CEO), Anne Finucane (Co-Vice chairman), Bruce Thompson (Co-Vice chairman) CEO commentary "We reported solid fourth quarter and full-year results as all our businesses achieved strong organic growth, with record client activity and digital engagement. This activity led to good loan demand and growth in deposits in the quarter and full-year net income of $26.5 billion. Our expense discipline allowed us to continue investing in growth initiatives.

Strong capital and liquidity levels position us well to continue to deliver responsible growth in 2024," CEO of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan said in a press release. Stock reaction The stock was down by just over 1% on Friday at $32.77 a share. Stock performance 5 day: -5.68% 1 month: -3.35% 3 months: +21.36% Year-to-date: -3.55% 1 year: -7.82% Bank of America stock price targets Barclays: $43 Odean Capital Group: $37.94 Goldman Sachs: $33 Oppenheimer: $51 BMO Capital Markets: $40 Jefferies Financial Group: $28 Evercore ISI: $33 Morgan Stanley: $32 Piper Sandler: $27.50 Royal Bank of Canada: $35 HSBC: $35 Wells Fargo: $40 Citigroup: $33 UBS Group: $36 JP Morgan: $34 Bank of America Corp. is the 39th largest company in the world with a market cap of $256.76 billion.

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Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Bank of America Corp., TradingView, MarketWatch, CompaniesMarketCap, MarketBeat

US financial services giant, JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), reported the latest financial results for Q4 2023 before the market open in the US on Friday. JP Morgan reported revenue of $38.574 billion for the quarter, falling short of Wall Street estimate of $39.73 billion. Revenue was up by 11.65% year-over-year.

Earnings per share (EPS) reached $3.04 per share for Q4 (down by 14.84% vs. Q4 2022), also below analyst estimate of $3.349 per share. Company overview Founded: 2000 Headquarters: New York City, United States Number of employees: 308,669 (2023) Industry: Financial services Key people: Jamie Dimon (Chairman & CEO), Daniel E.

Pinto (President & COO) CEO commentary "We ended the year with a solid quarter, producing net income of $9.3 billion, or $12.1 billion excluding the FDIC special assessment and discretionary securities losses. Our record results in 2023 reflect over-earning on both NII and credit, but we remain confident in our ability to continue to deliver very healthy returns even after they normalize. Our balance sheet remained extremely strong, with a CET1 ratio of 15.0%, a staggering $514 billion of total loss-absorbing capacity and $1.4 trillion in cash and marketable securities.

We continue to believe that the recent series of regulatory and legislative proposals, including Basel III endgame, could cause serious harm to consumers, businesses, and markets. We hope that regulators will make the necessary adjustments so the rules promote a strong financial system without causing undue consequences for end users," CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon commented on the latest results. Dimon also made comments on the state of the US economy and global challenges: "The U.S. economy continues to be resilient, with consumers still spending, and markets currently expect a soft landing.

It is important to note that the economy is being fueled by large amounts of government deficit spending and past stimulus. There is also an ongoing need for increased spending due to the green economy, the restructuring of global supply chains, higher military spending and rising healthcare costs. This may lead inflation to be stickier and rates to be higher than markets expect.

On top of this, there are a number of downside risks to watch. Quantitative tightening is draining over $900 billion of liquidity from the system annually, and we have never seen a full cycle of tightening. And the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have the potential to disrupt energy and food markets, migration, and military and economic relationships, in addition to their dreadful human cost.

These significant and somewhat unprecedented forces cause us to remain cautious. While we hope for the best, the past year demonstrated why we must be prepared for any environment." Stock reaction The stock ended Friday down by 0.73% at $169.05 a share. Stock performance 5 day: -1.87% 1 month: +2.31% 3 months: +14.22% Year-to-date: -0.62% 1 year: +18.21% JP Morgan Chase & Co. stock price targets Deutsche Bank: $190 Bank of America: $188 Barclays: $212 Oppenheimer: $243 Morgan Stanley: $191 Piper Sandler: $170 BMO Capital Markets: $171 Jefferies Financial Group: $169 Evercore ISI: $167 Royal Bank of Canada: $158 HSBC: $159 Credit Suisse: $170 JP Morgan Chase & Co. is the 13th largest company in the world with a market cap of $488.72 billion.

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Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: JP Morgan Chase & Co., TradingView, MarketWatch, MarketBeat, CompaniesMarketCap

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) released first quarter of fiscal 2024 financial results before the opening bell in Wall Street on Thursday. The American healthcare, pharmacy, and retail company reported revenue of $36.707 billion for the quarter, which topped analyst estimate of $34.949 billion. Revenue was up by 10% from the same period a year prior.

Earnings per share reported at $0.66 (down by 43.1% year-over-year) vs. $0.616 per share expected. Walgreens cut its dividend by 48% from the previous quarter to $0.25 per share. Company overview Founded: 31/12/2014 Headquarters: Deerfield, Illinois, United States Number of employees: 331,000 (2023) Industry: Retail, pharmaceuticals Key people: Stefano Pessina (Executive Chairman), Tim Wentworth (CEO) CEO commentary Tim Wentworth commented on the latest results: "WBA delivered fiscal first quarter results in line with overall expectations, reflecting disciplined execution in a challenging consumer backdrop.

We are evaluating all strategic options to drive sustainable long-term shareholder value, focusing on swift actions to right-size costs and increase cash flow, with a balanced approach to capital allocation priorities. Today we are announcing a 48 percent reduction in our quarterly dividend payment, while maintaining a competitive yield. We are proud to be a trusted and independent partner of choice, delivering healthcare to millions of people.

And, we will leverage our local, convenient presence to engage with patients and help payors, providers, and pharma companies also achieve better health outcomes at an affordable cost." Stock reaction The stock was down by over 6% on Thursday after the latest results, trading at $23.84 a share – the lowest level since 12/12/2023. Stock performance 1 month: +19.60% 3 months: +14.72% Year-to-date: -2.07% 1 year: -31.80% Walgreens Boots Alliance stock price targets Barclays: $21 HSBC: $27 JP Morgan: $30 Royal Bank of Canada: $26 Evercore ISI: $21 Truist Financial: $25 Mizuho: $25 Deutsche Bank: $27 Credit Suisse: $30 Morgan Stanley: $27 UBS Group: $35 Loop Capital Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.is the 882nd largest company in the world with a market cap of $22.04 billion. You can trade Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) and many other stocks from the NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEX and ASX with GO Markets as a Share CFD.

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Why trade during extended hours? Volatility never sleeps. Trade over earnings releases as they happen outside of main trading hours Reduce your risk and hedge your existing positions ahead of a new trading day Extended trading hours on popular US stocks means extended opportunities Sources: Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., TradingView, MarketWatch, Benzinga, CompaniesMarketCap

Global markets enter the second week of the new year in cooldown mode with risk assets taking a hit after the red-hot finish to 2023. The NASDAQ having its worst start to a year since 1999, dropping almost 4% on the week, risk sensitive currencies AUD and NZD following not far behind. FX traders have a slew of CPI reports in the coming week to look forward to, with inflation readings out of Switzerland, Australia, China and the US that have the potential to get FX markets moving.

Charts to Watch Gold – XAUUSD Gold faltered last week as higher yields and a US dollar on tear weighed on the precious metal. Attempts by the bulls to push through and hold the key 2070 level were rebuffed and saw XAUUSD drop to a low of 2025 in Fridays NFP inspired volatile session. This weeks US CPI figure will be a big test of the markets pricing of Fed rate cuts, hotter than expected and gold could take another leg down with that 2070 resistance level capping the upside.

Cooler than expected could see the bulls make another attempt to breach and hold that level as support. AUDUSD AUDUSD didn’t have a great week either, having its biggest weekly drop since November. Decembers surge higher in this pair did look like to far too fast when looking at the AU and US rate differential, AUDUSD also hit a zone of resistance between 0.68 – 0.69 where sellers managed to turn the pair around.

This week’s Aussie, Chinese and US CPI readings all set to causing some volatility in the pair. Key level to watch to the upside is the resistance starting at 0.6800, to the downside the big figure at 0.6700 has lent some short-term support to this pair. US Dollar Index - DXY The US dollar has had a resurgence to start 2024 with DXY pushing through key levels 101 and 102 with ease.

Resistance at 102.57, where upside faltered in December and August ’23, has come into play and a couple of attempts to breach were rejected last week. This level also lines up with the 61.8% Fib level measured from the July lows to October highs and will be the key level to watch coming into the US CPI reading. Full calendar of the week’s economic announcements at the link below: https://www.gomarkets.com/au/economic-calendar/

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The new trading year kicked off with a dip in equities with Big Tech leading losses in Tuesday’s session, AAPL being the big loser after a downgrade from Barclays citing concern in iPhone demand. Yields and the USD ripped higher, the US Dollar Index having its biggest daily gain since March 2023. Crude oil capped off an interesting session with a pump and dump rollercoaster ride.

Charts To Watch: Apple - AAPL Apple stock fell 3.6% during Tuesdays New York session, it’s worst day since August. The dump came after Barclays downgraded the iPhone maker and lowered its price target on concerns of slowing iPhone sales, particularly in China. This saw the stock price gap down, erasing all of December’s gains and hitting a low of 183.89 before finding some bids and rebounding modestly.

US Dollar Index – DXY DXY surged on the first trading day of 2024, having its biggest up day since March 2023, there was little in the way of newsflow behind the move but more a result of a jump in yields and some oversold technicals that were amplified by a low volume session. DXY retaking the 200-day SMA and 102 handle, hitting a high of 102.22, the next test to the upside being the resistance around 102.57. Crude Oil – USOUSD The most interesting move today was in Crude Oil, initially surging in the APAC session amid growing Middle East tensions, only to dump at the start of the US session with no obvious catalyst.

Some souring of risk sentiment and a stronger USD seemingly the only drivers. USOUSD finishing the session just above 70 USD a barrel, with the major support at 67 the next level to watch to the downside.