Image: BigstockAlong with its Magnificent Seven peer Amazon ( – ), Apple ( – ) highlighted a week that saw a nice rally in broader markets after Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismissed the possibility of rate hikes on Wednesday. Adding momentum to the market, Apple was able to exceed quarterly expectations for its fiscal second quarter and announced an increase in its dividend and stock buybacks. Q2 Financial Highlights  Revenue records in more than a dozen countries helped Apple post an all-time high for Q2 EPS at $1.53, which edged estimates of $1.51 a share and rose a percentage point from the comparative quarter. Canada, Latin America, and the Middle East were some of the international segments that saw record growth, with Q2 sales of $90.75 billion beating estimates by 1% despite decreasing from $94.83 billion a year ago.Notably, Apple has exceeded top and bottom-line expectations for five consecutive quarters, posting an average earnings surprise of 4.14% in its last four quarterly reports.Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Dividend Increase & Stock Buybacks Apple’s board authorized an additional $110 billion for share repurchases, given continued confidence in its business as the tech giant aims to be cash-neutral. Additionally, Apple will be raising its dividend by 4% to $0.25 per share (quarterly), and it is planning for more annual payout increases going forward.Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Growth Trajectory  Based on Zacks estimates, Apple’s annual earnings are now expected to be up 6% in fiscal 2024, and are projected to rise another 8% in FY25 to $7.10 per share. […]

Image Source: During LSEG Lipper’s fund-flows week that ended May 1, 2024, investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including both conventional funds and ETFs) for the second straight week, adding a net $22.0 billion.This past week, money market funds (+$26.2 billion), municipal bond funds (+$515 million), and commodities funds (+$214 million) reported inflows. Meanwhile, equity funds (-$4.2 billion), mixed-assets funds (-$444 million), taxable bond funds (-$253 million), and alternative investments funds (-$20 million) suffered outflows.After seeing their third largest weekly outflow on record (-$118.5 billion), money markets have recorded back-to-back weeks of inflows.Actively managed equity (-$4.4 billion) reported outflows for the sixth straight week, while passive equity funds (+$216 million) have attracted new capital in nine of the last 10 weeks. Actively managed fixed income funds (+$2.6 billion) saw its sixteenth weekly inflow over the past 18 weeks, as passive fixed income funds (-$2.4 billion) have seen outflows in two of the last three.Spot Bitcoin ETFs reported their first weekly outflow as a group, ending a streak of 15 straight inflows since launching. Index Performance At the close of LSEG Lipper’s fund-flows week, U.S. broad-based equity indices reported negative returns for the fourth week in five—the DJIA (-1.45%), Nasdaq (-0.68%), Russell 2000 (-0.76%), and S&P 500 (-1.05%) were all in the red.Both the FTSE U.S. Broad Investment Grade Bond Total Return Index (+0.17%) and FTSE High Yield Market Total Return Index (+0.05%) saw gains on the week. The FTSE U.S. Municipal Tax-Exempt Investment Grade Bond Index suffered its seventh consecutive […]

Image Source: Today you will see EURUSD price prediction based on the technical analysis. What is the support and resistance on the daily time frame for EURUSD. What to expect where the price will breakout for the EURUSD based on the supply and demand zones.Video Length: 00:03:26 

, we discussed whether the recent rally from the lows was just a sucker rally ahead of a more significant decline. Our assessment was that was likely not the case. To wit:“On Friday, following blowout earnings from Google and Microsoft, the market challenged the intersection of the 20- and 50-DMA. With the market not overbought yet and the MACD ‘buy signal’ approaching, the bullish case is building. However, the initial resistance of the 50-DMA could prove challenging.” On Wednesday, Jerome Powell’s speech following the conclusion of the latest FOMC meeting provided a more “dovish” than expected message. While Powell did note that progress on inflation has been lackluster, the announcement of the reversal of “Quantitative Tightening” (QT) excited the bulls. Beginning in June, the Committee will slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings by reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion. The Committee will maintain the monthly redemption cap on agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities at $35 billion and will reinvest any principal payments in excess of this cap into Treasury securities” Of course, the reversal of QT means a buyer of Treasury bonds is returning to the market, increasing overall market liquidity. It also means the Treasury will issue $105 billion less in gross in Q3. The bond market also got the memo, as the Fed’s return to the bond market suggests lower yields in the months ahead, easing financing pressure in the economy.The market surged higher on Thursday […]

The good news is: Breadth improved along with prices again last week.  The NegativesThe first chart covers the last 6 months showing the NASDAQ composite (OTC) in blue and a 10% trend (19 day EMA) of NASDAQ new highs (OTC NH) in green.  Dashed vertical lines have been drawn on the 1st trading day of each month.  OTC NH will not confirm an index high, if there is one, anytime soon.  The next chart is similar to the one above except it shows the S&P 500 (SPX) in red and NY NH in green has been calculated with NYSE data.  NY NH also will not be confirming a new index high any time soon. The PositivesThe next chart covers the past 6 months showing the OTC in blue and a 40% trend (4 day EMA) of NASDAQ new highs divided by new highs + new lows (OTC HL Ratio), in red.  Dashed horizontal lines have been drawn at 10% levels for the indicator; the line is solid at the 50%, neutral level (equal numbers of new highs and new lows).OTC HL closed at the neutral level.The next chart is similar to the one above except it shows the SPX in red and NY HL ratio, in blue, has been calculated with NYSE data.NY HLR closed at a comfortable 77%.The next chart covers the past 6 months showing the OTC in blue and a 10% trend (19 day EMA) of NASDAQ new lows (OTC NL) in brown.  OTC NL has been plotted on an inverted […]

The resilience of the US economy and stickiness of price pressures spurred a reassessment of the trajectory of Fed policy. This sparked a sharp rise in US interest rates and extended the dollar’s advance. The somewhat disappointing April jobs report and a softer CPI report in the middle of May could signal that the interest rate adjustment is over. Federal Reserve Chair Powell played down the likelihood of the need to lift rates again, and as it was in  Q4 23, when CPI moderated to a 2% annualized rate, the central bank is being prudent in both directions.The IMF identified US fiscal policy as a key to fueling demand, inflation, and the stronger greenback, which has heightened concern among several countries in the Asia Pacific region, including Japan, South Korea, China, and Indonesia. It appears that Japan intervened materially in late April and again in early May. Indonesia hiked rates to defend the rupiah. South Korea, and a few other countries in East Asia expressed concern about the pressure on their currencies. Europe is not providing anywhere close to the US fiscal support. As a consequence, the EU and UK are nearly stagnant, and the repair of supply chains have seen inflation trend lower. That said, both the EU and UK economies appear to have found better footing here in early 2024 after contracting late last year. Still, the combination of weak growth impulses and falling price pressures will likely allow the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and Sweden’s Riksbank […]