Ms Intl. Share Price (MSI)

Issues 2889

Advances 839

Declines 1975

U/c 75

NH 44

NL 48

T/vol(bn) 4•0

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DJ -375 (38,086)

SP -23 (5048)

NS -96 (17,430)

R2 -11 (1274)

WTI $83

10ytb 4•697%

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Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $88.

Gold $2335. Copper $4•576.

Palm $952. Silver $27•435.

$1•250. €1•166.

FF +60. DF +85.

The Dow slumped over 700 at one time before wiser heads prevailed. The mrkt ended over 1% down at 38,086 by the close. Dow futures are called 50 better and the 500 to close the week in positive territory.

Signs of persistent inflation are dampening hopes of a rate cut in the first half as US Q1 GDP came in at 1•6% much lower than forecast as inflation gathered pace to 3•4%. Growth stocks came under pressure following Meta's 2 day fall of $61(13%). Alphabet and Msoft will report after the mrkt closes on Thursday.

IBM ($168) came off 9% after it announced it would buy HashCorp in a deal worth $6bn to expand its cloud based software business. The company also missed consensus estimates for Q1 revenues. Southwest Airlines ($27) slid 8% after it slashed estimates for new deliveries from Boeing.

Boeing is having production problems, a credit rating downgrade from Moodys, multiple legal actions resulting from the Alaska Air accident and in the midst of buying its key supplier SpiritAeroSystems.

On a brighter note Newmont ($43) the world's largest gold miner gained 10% beating Wall's estimates for Q1 profits. The company also disclosed plans to divest non core assets and trim its workforce to reduce debt after the acquisition of Newcrest in November.

Morning all.

Mrkt talk yesterday was all about is the US Nsdq exchange about to acquire London's Aim mrkt. Likely at this stage its just wishful thinking by bored traders but here's a thought.

In 2000 UK listed equities made up 11% of the MSI World Index which tracks 1500 companies. That is down to 4pc now. Citi research shows MSCI UK Index which tracks 80 of the bigest UK listed firms trades at a near 40% discount to the 625 strong US Index.

Valuations of British companies are egregiously low according to Nick Train a leading fund manager who has a 4% stake in the LSE saying one way to wake up investors was if a giant UK blue chip launched a takeover of Aim.

Taking Aim away from the LSE opens up a myriad of possibilities as NSDQ European operations have been growing fast. Adding AIM despite its problems would put rocket boosters under its network which includes seven exchanges inc those of Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

The timing could be fortuitous as in 2007 there were 1700 companies listed on Aim now down to 738 with just 1 company joining this year so far.

DJ -43 (38,461)

SP +1 (5072)

NS +55 (17,527)

R2 -3 (1285)

WTI $83

10ytb 4•650%

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MSCI(W) +1 (3323)

Gold Bugs u/c (256)

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Nyse data

Issues 2890

Advances 1186

Declines 1596

U/c 108

NH 58

NL 30

T/vol(bn) 3•7

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Latest :- Vix 16. Brent $87.

Gold $2310. Copper $4•451.

Palm $1042. Silver $27•020.

$1•246. €1•164.

FF -1. DF -54.

Talking point of the day was the after hours slump in Meta stock price which fell 15% to $419. Earnings came out above expectations (Q1+27%) but Zuckerberg said the company would spend billions more on Ai which shocked investors. Capex is forecast to rise between $37bn-$40bn from $28bn last year.

Meta woes weighed on the wider mrkt as big cap techs fell in sympathy. Bucking the trend Tesla added $17 to $162

on reports sales would be up this year and production of more affordable EVs would start in early 2025. They are expected to be priced around $25,000. On the big board gainers outpaced losers by 18 to 12 with Boeing propping up the losers after its fist Q loss in 7 quarters. Plane deliveries fell 47% in the quarter.

Boeing never out of the news reported a Q1 loss of $1•13 per share on revs of $16•6bn which were better than forecast. Boeing declined to give any 2024/5 guidance even after United and Delta said they are talking to Airbus. Boeing has a massive order backlog of 5591 planes worth c.$500bn.

Morning all.

Maybe Sunak saying under conservatives defence will increase to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, could be all just annoncements pre election though, nice to see break out of rut anyway.

We have seen the occasional spike up in trades in the past which subsequently amounted to nothing. Have no reason to think todays 45 trades are any different.

At least the shares have broken out of the 820-840 range but need to kick on from here before anyone gets too excited.

Evening all.