Citigroup survey shows increase in Christmas spending expected
According to a Citigroup survey, shoppers will spend more money this holiday season because they have more to spend.
As the heart of the holiday season approaches, 34% of the roughly 2,800 respondents said they expect to increase the dollar level of their gifts, while 27% said less. In 2022, the respective answers were divided at 30%.
When asked why they expected to spend more, 46% said they would "buy more for others," while 45% said "have more money to spend," with the latter category showing the largest year-over-year increase among possible answers. .
Broken down by income, the largest group expecting to spend the most was in the $25,000 to $74,000 category, and 34% of that group responded affirmatively.
โJeff Cox
European markets rise; Volvo shares fall
European stocks It started Friday's trading session slightly higher.
The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 Index It was last up just over 1% mid-morning London time. Financial services titles led the rise, adding 1.88%, followed by basic resources, which rose 1.79%.
Volvo Cars shares plummeted up 14% early on Friday, when its Chinese parent company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, began selling around 100 million shares of the Swedish automaker, but recouped some losses as the day progressed.
โSophie Kiderlin
We hope to break even in 2025, says Xpeng president
Chinese electric car company. Xpeng deliveries exceeded 40,000 units in the third quarter of 2023. Subsequently, the automaker predicts that vehicle deliveries will increase to between 59,500 and 63,500 in the fourth quarter.
"The earnings we announced have actually shown very encouraging signs of renewed growth for the company... and further growth is expected for the current fourth quarter," Brian Gu, vice president and president of Xpeng, told CNBC.Asia Street Signs".
He added that Xpeng has seen "a significant improvement in profit margin starting in the fourth quarter," anticipating a positive margin and stronger cash flow in the future.
Gu also expects Xpeng to improve its profitability and balance by 2025.
โ Quek Jie Ann
Oil prices were little changed on Friday and are heading for the fourth week of declines
Oil prices were little changed on Friday but were headed for a fourth straight week of declines after hitting four-month lows in the previous session.
US price Raw oil fell 5% on Thursday as inventories rose while a slowdown in industrial activity raised concerns about declining demand.
He West Texas Intermediate rose 0.14% to $73 a barrel in Asian trading hours, while the Brent It gained 0.11%, to $77.54 a barrel.
US crude and the global benchmark traded at their lowest level since early July on Thursday.
"The decline was probably initially driven by concerns about oversupply," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts wrote in a note. "Concerns about demand added to the oversupply narrative, particularly with continued US jobless claims rising to the highest level in nearly two years."
โ Shreyashi Sanyal
Alibaba shares fall 9% to 12-month low after scrapping cloud spinoff plans
Signage at the offices of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Alibaba's reform could serve as a model for a restructuring of China Tech itself - a restructuring that achieves Beijing's goal of breaking up tech titan countries while potentially unlocking billions of dollars in pent-up value for shareholders.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | fake images
Actions of Ali Baba fell 9% in early Hong Kong trading on Friday after the Chinese e-commerce giant said it would not proceed with the full spin-off from its cloud group due to US chip export restrictions
Alibaba shares fell to their lowest level since late November last year, last trading at around HK$73. The company's Hong Kong-listed shares have fallen more than 13% since the start of the year, underperforming majors Hang Seng Index Decrease of 11.2% to date.
The company reported quarterly earnings on Thursday, with net income of 27.7 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) for the September quarter, below the 29.7 billion yuan expected by analysts.
Revenue met expectations at 224.79 billion yuan, up 9% year-on-year.
Alibaba also announced that it will issue its first annual cash dividend in 2023. Dividends are a way of sharing a portion of the profits made by companies with their shareholders.
The company's board of directors approved an annual cash dividend of $0.125 per common share or $1 per American depositary share for the fiscal year.
- Shreyashi Sanyal, Ryan Browne
Big Retail ETF Suffers Worst Day Since May as Walmart Stock Falls
Shares of large retailers plunged on Thursday, dragging down the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) to its worst day in almost six months.
XRT fell 3.4%, marking its worst day since May 19.
The ETF crash came immediately after WalmartThird quarter fiscal report. The large retailer exceeded analyst expectations in the top and bottom lines, but issued a weak forecast for the year and offered a cautious outlook on consumer spending. Shares fell 8%.
Bath and body work, another component of XRT, fell almost 7%. The soap and candle retailer posted adjusted earnings that beat Street forecasts but were in line with revenue. Bath & Body Works said it had "lower sales expectations for the fiscal year."
-Darla Mercado, Chris Hayes
Six Transportation Stocks to Watch, According to Goldman Sachs
Lackluster volume and disappointing margins meant a very difficult third-quarter earnings season for the transportation sector, Goldman Sachs said.
"Our general view is that volumes may be stabilizing, but the strong rebound from the lower recovery from a freight recession may be more moderate in this cycle due to uncertainty around consumer and the pace of trends. of replenishment of carriers". wrote analyst Jordan Alliger. "As such, we generally prefer those names that can do well in a lower volume growth recovery; including rail and parcel, which will benefit from taking advantage of potentially more modest freight growth against a relatively high fixed cost base ".
Alliger shared six stocks "with idiosyncratic opportunities and reasonable relative valuations" that investors should keep an eye on. These include Union Pacific, Norfolk South, JB Hunt Transportation Services, United Parcel Service, FedEx and XPO.
-Lisa Kailai Han, Michael Bloom
Emerging market stocks will offer the highest returns in the next decade, according to UBS
According to UBS, stocks, specifically emerging market stocks, will generate the highest returns among major asset classes over the next decade.
"Aggregate earnings growth should be well supported by solid growth in companies driving technology, energy and healthcare disruption," the bank wrote in its outlook for next year.
However, he clarified that stock valuations are likely to be lower due to higher interest rates.
"Global diversification will be important to navigate a deglobalizing world," the bank added. "Emerging market stocks, for example, are trading at significant discounts to historical levels, and we expect them to deliver the highest rates of return over the next decade."
โLisa Kailai Han
Stock futures open little changed
Stock futures opened little changed on Thursday, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke a four-day winning streak during regular trading.
Dow futures rose 25 points, or 0.07%, while S&P 500 Futures rose 0.06%. Nasdaq Futures fell 0.06%.
โBrian Evans
