- Asia Shares Fall as Data Cut Quick Fed Pivot Hope: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks declined as strong US economic data further reduced expectations for a swift Federal Reserve pivot to monetary easing. Treasuries gained after another slump Monday. Equities in Japan and Australia opened lower, while futures for Hong Kong shares pointed to modest gains after Beijing stepped up efforts to ease a stock selloff. US equity futures were steady after the S&P 500 dropped 0.3% and the Nasdaq 100 shed 0.2% Monday. - Oil Steady as Middle East Risks Offset by Hawkish Fed Comments
(Bloomberg) — Oil held a modest advance as the market weighed geopolitical risks in the Middle East against hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve. Brent crude traded near $78 a barrel after rising 0.9% on Monday in a session that saw it rebound from a three-week low. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was near $73. The US vowed more strikes against Iranian forces and regional proxies, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said absolute victory over Hamas was essential for his country’s security. - Trump, US House GOP Leaders Reject Senate Border-Ukraine Deal
(Bloomberg) — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and House Republican leaders denounced a bipartisan Senate deal to impose new US border restrictions and unlock billions of dollars in Ukraine aid, endangering its prospects for passage. Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders in a joint statement Monday declared the Senate compromise “a waste of time” and “dead on arrival” in the House. - Japan’s Wage Talks Closely Watched as BOJ Mulls Rate Hike Timing
(Bloomberg) — Japan’s annual wage negotiations have kicked off in earnest, drawing increased attention as the Bank of Japan looks for evidence of a virtuous wage-price cycle that would allow it to exit from the world’s last negative rate regime. Anecdotal evidence indicates some companies plan to conduct wage hikes exceeding last year’s historic gains and topping the inflation rate, in what would be welcome news for households contending with rising costs of living. - Bonds Fall After ‘One-Two Punch’ of ISM, Fed speak: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders sent bonds and stocks down, with strong economic data reinforcing the view that the Federal Reserve isn’t ready to call victory over inflation just yet. Treasuries came under renewed pressure on speculation that optimism regarding disinflation may have gone too far. In another sign that the world’s largest economy remains on solid footing the Institute for Supply Management’s services gauge hit a four-month high while prices picked up. - Powell Tells ‘60 Minutes’ Fed Is Wary of Cutting Rates Too Soon
(Bloomberg Government) — Americans may have to wait beyond March for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as officials look for more economic data to confirm that inflation is headed down to 2%, Jerome Powell said. In an interview conducted Thursday with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired yesterday evening, the Federal Reserve chair sought to explain the central bank’s rationale for eventual reductions to a broad public audience. - Estée Lauder Cos. said it’s cutting as many as 3,000 positions as part of a restructuring plan to put one of the world’s largest beauty companies back on track.
The shares jumped 12%. The revamp plan is aimed at making the owner of the Ordinary and Clinique brands a leaner and more profitable company, so it can respond more quickly to beauty trends fuelled by social media and invest more in its brands. The company, whose labels also include MAC, Le Labo, Tom Ford and Jo Malone, has at times ceded market share to rivals due to lagging on what’s fresh and new. Plummeting sales at duty-free shops in airports and elsewhere in Asia have also dragged down sales and profits at Estée Lauder in the past year. The travel retail business, as it’s called, represented about a fifth of Estée Lauder’s revenue and had been a driver of stellar growth until the pandemic disrupted sales. Since then, China’s slower-than-expected economic growth has repeatedly pushed back executives’ forecasts for a recovery in the business. - Palantir Technologies Inc. said that demand for its artificial intelligence products was driving sales and gave a higher-than-expected profit outlook for 2024. The company’s shares climbed 17.5% in after-hours trading.
The software and analysis company said it expects adjusted income from operations of $834 million to $850 million for this year. Analysts, on average, had expected $760.3 million. Palantir also reported 2023 net income of $210 million, its first year of being profitable, Palantir Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp said. The results exceeded analyst estimates of $194.5 million. “Our commercial business is exploding in a way we don’t know how to handle,” Karp said. “We don’t know what to do with the onslaught of demand.” The company said revenue in the fourth quarter increased 20% to $608 million. Analysts had expected $603 million. - Eli Lilly & Co rose 5.8%. The move comes as rival obesity drugmaker, Novo Nordisk A/S agreed to buy three manufacturing plants to help meet surging demand for its weight-loss drugs.
Novo said it’s paying its main shareholder, Novo Holdings A/S, for the fill-finish sites after Novo Holdings agreed to buy the owner of the assets, Catalent. Novo Holdings agreed to buy Catalent, the contract manufacturer for $63.50 per share in cash, valuing the company at $16.5 billion on an enterprise value basis. RBC Capital Markets sees a chance of additional competing offers. - DocuSign’s deal talks with Bain, Hellman & Friedman stall.
Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman have cooled in their pursuit of DocuSign Inc (DOCU.O), opens new tab over disagreements on how much they should pay to acquire the provider of online signature services, three people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The private equity firms, which were competing to buy DocuSign, have not been able to agree a deal price with the company, which has a market value of $11 billion, after weeks of talks, the sources said.
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