Morgans AM: Wednesday, 21 December 2022

Morgans Financial Limited

US equity markets advanced, recovering from some initial weakness after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) surprised the market with a policy shift - Dow added +92-points or +0.28%, Boeing Co rose +1.41% after the 4,155 page omnibus spending package included an extension for the aircraft maker's 27 December deadline for 737 MAX 7 and 10 certification. The measure in the omnibus bill will require some safety improvements, but short of what current law would demand on all 737 MAX jets to be manufactured under certification rules by safety officials. Boeing has said it would be forced to scrap the MAX 7 and the MAX 10 if it had to meet a deadline of 27 December to get approval for new cockpit-alerting systems for pilots. The broader S&P500 edged +0.10% higher, with Energy (up +1.52%) comfortably the leading performer and lifting seven of the eleven primary sectors into positive territory. Consumer Discretionary (down -1.13%) was the wort performing primary sector overnight. Tesla Inc continued to slide, dropping a further -8.05% to US$137.80. Sources told CNBC that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk is searching for a new chief executive of Twitter. Mr Musk wrote on Sunday (18 December) that “The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive.” The latest drop pushed Tesla’s market capitalisation below Exxon Mobil Corp (up +1.45%) and left it as ninth most valuable equity by market capitalisation in the S&P 500 index after previously ranking as high as No. 5 on that list. The Nasdaq eked out a +0.01% rise. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +0.54%.