Daily Digest: Monday 26th February


USA
During this weekend’s South Carolina primary, Former US President Donald Trump beat Nikki Haley in polling. The win has pushed Trump ever closer toward the Republican nomination.

Momentum seemed to slow across US markets, with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow all closing below their opening prices. The one to watch as of late Nvidia ($NVDA) managed to close up 0.35% at $790.92, but failed to hold session highs of $803.

As mentioned on Friday, Berkshire Hathaway posted their Q4 results on Saturday. Earnings totalled $96.bn for 2023, rising 21% from the previous year. Berkshire Hathaway also reported a record cash balance exceeding $165bn, generating some rather cool monthly interest returns, as rate cut expectations are pushed into June.

Hathaway’s Class B shares ($BRK.B) made strong gains in the pre-market, but trading throughout the session pushed shares down 1.96%, at $409.14.

Berkshire’s Annual Report is linked here, featuring Buffet’s tribute to friend, business partner, and ‘architect’ of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger. A worthwhile read for anyone familiar with their works.


Europe
The FTSE 100 struggled throughout Monday’s session closing with a 0.29% loss at 7,684.30. The index was driven down from the open by the announcement of an antitrust investigation led by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) into eight leading UK property developers. Those identified under the CMA industry report into UK housebuilding are as follows: Persimmon (£PSN), Barratt (£BDEV), Berkeley Group (£BKG), Taylor Wimpey (£TW), Bellway (£BWY), Bloor Homes, Redrow (£RDW), and Vistry (£VTY). All eight are now subject to investigation under the Competition Act of 1998, as the watchdog has reasonable grounds to believe the above engaged in the distribution and sharing of commercially sensitive information.

Additionally, delivery service and tech provider Ocado (£OCDO) struggled during trading, falling by 6.98%, following rumours that the firm may have missed key performance targets, thereby voiding a pay out from joint owner Marks & Spencer.

In other news, Sweden is set to join international defence alliance NATO, as Hungary has ratified their stance to approve Swedish accession.


Rest of the World
The Nikkei 225 (N225) continued its charge toward ¥40,000, but closed the session down 0.22%, trading just off its intraday highs of ¥39,388 which reinforced investor confidence after the holiday.


Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin traded at a 52 week high, exceeding $54,442 per coin at US market close. While Ethereum traded up 2.88% on the day at $3,184.27.

MicroStrategy, the US domiciled tech firm known for their Bitcoin holdings have announced the purchase of an additional 3,000 coins at $51,813 (totalling $155m). This takes the total business holdings to 193,000 Bitcoin, valued at some $10.69 billion as of writing. This has pushed MicroStrategy ($MSTR) shares up 15.86% during trading, closing at $796.48.

US listed Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase ($COIN) rode the positive change in sentiment trading 16.85% higher during the session, closing at $193.94. Just $3.01 short of the 52 week high.


Fixed Income, Currencies, & Commodities
European farmers have continued protests, pushing agricultural commodity prices to the forefront of watchlists.

Crude prices rose into the new trading week without any clear catalyst, while gold struggled to gain momentum falling 0.31% by US market close.


What to watch

  • Japanese Core CPI

  • Workday Inc Earnings ($WDAY)


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Daily Digest: Tuesday 27th February

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Daily Digest: Friday 23rd February