Market Highlights 💡- 3 May 2024

*Stocks soar ahead of non-farm payrolls report

🇺🇸 S&P 500: 0.91% 📈

🇺🇸 Nasdaq: 1.51% 📈

🇪🇺 Stoxx 600 Index: -0.16% 📉

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 Index: -0.10% 📉

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: 2.50% 📈

🇨🇳 CSI 300 Index: Closed

* U.S. stocks ended higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively, led by gains in technology stocks as investors continued to digest a raft of corporate earnings ahead of Friday's key monthly jobs report.

* Initial jobless claims remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 208,000 for the week ended April 27.

* Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2.5%, in line with strength in its currency on positive sentiment driven by the Federal Reserve's repricing of its policy path and GDP expansion in the first quarter of 2024.

💡 Future events: 💡

* On Friday we will see releases on the EU unemployment rate and the US unemployment rate.

💡 Things you need to know today: 💡

1. Apple $Apple(AAPL)$   shares rose in late trading after the company reported stronger-than-expected sales for the last quarter and forecast a return to growth this quarter, sparking optimism that the economic slowdown is easing.

Apple

2. Qualcomm $Qualcomm(QCOM)$   shares rose 4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the smartphone-focused chipmaker said artificial intelligence was driving a rebound in demand after two years of slump, especially in China. 

Qualcomm

3. Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co., which has been blacklisted by the United States, is secretly funding cutting-edge research at American universities, including Harvard University, through an independent foundation in Washington.

4. In the UK, with Wegovy and Mounjaro weight loss pills only months on the market, online pharmacies and weight loss clinics are reducing their prices as initial supply shortages ease.

Wegovy

Mounjaro

5. Microsoft $Microsoft(MSFT)$  will invest an additional US$2.2 billion or RM10.5 billion in the country over the next four years, marking the company's largest single investment in Malaysia in its 32-year history.

✅ Key Points:

The Fed meeting is less hawkish than feared and we will see some relief in the markets.

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