Stocks on Wall Street snapped a six-day streak of gains at Friday’s close, but still finished the week in the green. European stocks, meanwhile, hit a two-year high as investors cheered strong earnings and found seams of optimism running through recently released economic data.

The big story this week: Earnings, earnings, and still more earnings. It’s looking to be an unusually packed week for earnings season on Wall Street. More than a dozen household names are due to report, and analysts will be looking for insight into what to expect as 2024 takes shape:

  • Apple and Microsoft: The world’s two most valuable companies duke it out — pundits look for signs of how consumer and business demand are evolving.
  • Amazon and Starbucks: How robust is US consumer demand?
  • Exxon Mobil and Chevron: What signs of their expectations for oil prices this year?
  • Qualcomm and AMD: How strong is the outlook for the chip industry, where flat demand from consumer electronics giants is running against big demand for AI chips.
  • Boeing: What will it say about the 737 Max fiasco?

AND- That USD 100 bn Chinese government market bailout package? It hasn’t materialized. Prime Minister Li Qiang called only for “more forceful and effective measures to stabilize the market and boost confidence,” sending stocks down.

TASI

12,161.56

-0.1% (YTD: +1.6%)

MSCI Tadawul 30

1,583.18

-0.2% (YTD: +2.1%)

USD : SAR (SAMA)

3.75 Sell

3.75 Buy

Interest rates

6% repo

5.5% reverse repo

EGX30

27,666.18

+0.3% (YTD: +11.1%)

ADX

9,567.68

-0.6% (YTD: -0.1%)

DFM

4,163.33

-0.2% (YTD: +2.6%)

S&P 500

4,890.97

-0.1% (YTD: +2.5%)

FTSE 100

7,635.09

+1.4% (YTD: -1.3%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,635.47

+1.2% (YTD: +2.5%)

Brent crude

USD 83.55

+1.4%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.71

+5.5%

Gold

USD 2,036.10

-0.03%

BTC

USD 42,159.32

+0.4% (YTD: +82.8%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The TASI fell 0.1% yesterday on turnover of SAR 7.2 bn. The index is up 1.6% YTD.

In the green: APC (+5.8%), Almawarid (+3.7%) and GIG (+3.6%).

In the red: MBC Group (-9.9%), Al Baha (-6.7%) and Ribl (-3.8%).

CORPORATE ACTION

Investors in the Derayah REIT closed-end real estate investment fund will be receiving a dividend of SAR 0.086 per share for 4Q 2023, according to a disclosure (pdf) to Tadawul. The fund will pay out a total of SAR 9.2 mn in dividends for some 107.5 mn units within 35 days of the ex-date on 4 April, 2024. The fund’s unit price rose 2.5% to SAR 7.9 a unit at Thursday’s close.

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