Singapore manufacturing output falls 2.7% in January, below expectations
Singapore’s manufacturing output decreased 2.7% in January 2023 on an annualized basis, lower than economists’ expectations of a 2.9% rise. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 6.3%.
Data from the country’s Economic Development Board showed that the biomedical manufacturing and transport engineering expanded 23.2% and 4.7% respectively.
In comparison with December, manufacturing output decreased 1.1%, and if biomedical manufacturing was excluded, output grew 0.4% in comparison with the month before.
Singapore’ benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.57% after the announcement.
CNBC Pro: Investor names the stock to purchase for the following 10 years
Veteran investor Mark Hawtin has revealed the one stock he thinks is best to own over the following five-to-10 years.
Hawtin oversees several global long-only and long/short funds that put money into disruptive growth and technology stocks at GAM Investments.
“It’s undoubtedly our favourite mega-cap name,” he told CNBC’s Pro Talks Wednesday.
The investment director said this company’s dominant position and significant role within the enterprise software ecosystem make its shares ideal to own through a downturn in the worldwide economy.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
China EV maker Nio to construct recent 40 GWh battery plant: Reuters
Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio plans to construct its first battery plant to supply big cylindrical cells much like those utilized by Tesla, Reuters reported.
Citing two people aware of the matter, Reuters said this comes as the corporate seeks to chop its reliance on suppliers like battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology.
The brand new plant can have an annual capability to supply 40 gigawatt hours of batteries, which might power about 400,000 units of long-range EVs.
It’ll be situated next to its essential manufacturing hub in Hefei city, in eastern China’s Anhui province.
Shares of Nio in Hong Kong were trading 7.35% lower on Friday.
– Lim Hui Jie
Bank of Japan governor nominee Ueda says current strategy ‘appropriate’
Bank of Japan governor nominee Kazuo Ueda has expressed support for the present monetary policy, Reuters reported, citing his commentary at parliament.
Despite quite a few unintended effects, the present strategy is “appropriate,” Ueda reportedly said, commenting on the central bank’s ultra-dovish monetary policy.
He added more time is required to realize the central bank’s inflation goal and it goals to realize price stability in a sustainable and stable manner.
— Jihye Lee
Singapore’s tech giant Grab tumbles 8.29% despite narrowed losses
Shares of ride-hailing and food delivery giant Grab fell 8.29% in U.S. trade after the corporate released its latest earnings report on Thursday.
Grab reported a narrower lack of $1.7 billion in 2022 after cost-cutting measures. In the course of the earnings call, Grab’s executives further pledged to chop incentives.
“I believe investors are a bit bit anxious about whether this strategy will result in lower growth in the long run,” said Sachin Mittal, DBS Bank’s head of telecom & web sector research, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Friday.
“In the event you give lesser incentives to consumers and delivery people, the business may not grow much, especially once we are seeing rising inflation.”
He added that the trade off is kind of evident, nevertheless it is the “right strategy in the present environment, especially when investors really care about profitability.”
Grab’s stock performance
Mittal said that he was not positive about Grab thus far, adding that their essential concern continues to be the low margin of the business.
He explained that it is feasible to “deliver 10-15 packages on a single route” in e-commerce delivery. But for mobility and food delivery, the delivery personnel “can only deliver a single passenger or package on a road.”
– Sheila Chiang
Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares slip over 3% despite higher than expected earnings
Shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong fell 3.6% lower, despite reporting better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal third quarter.
For the quarter ending Dec. 31, Alibaba recorded 247.76 billion Chinese yuan in revenue ($35.92 billion), up 2% on an annualized basis and better than the 245.18 billion yuan expected.
Most notably, net income got here in at 46.82 billion yuan, 69% higher than the identical period a yr ago.
On Thursday, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang during a earnings call noted sales of online physical goods “remained weak” in January to early February of this yr resulting from Covid-19 cases in China, based on FactSet transcript.
Still, Zhang said he expects recovery to select up, saying “all of our merchants have also expressed their strong desire to get to business.”
— Lim Hui Jie, Arjun Kharpal, Evelyn Cheng
CNBC Pro: Asia tech is back, Bernstein says, naming Alibaba and 5 more top picks
Trying to money in on the China reopening, while being mindful of a possible recession? Bernstein has a raft of tech stocks it says checks the boxes.
Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Zavier Ong
Singapore bank OCBC posts record profit, full yr dividend rises 28%
Singapore bank OCBC has posted a record full yr net profit of $5.75 billion Singapore dollars ($4.28 billion), up 18% in comparison with 2021’s figure of S$4.86 billion.
This was due to “strong growth in net interest income and lower allowances,” the corporate said in its earnings release.
The bank’s net interest income grew 31% to a record S$7.69 billion in comparison with 2021, “underpinned by a 37 basis point expansion in net interest margin and 6% growth in average assets,” said the discharge.
Revenue for 2022 also increased 10% on an annualized basis to S$11.7 billion.
OCBC declared a dividend of 40 cents for the six months ending December, bringing its total dividend to 68 cents, 28% higher than the yr before.
— Lim Hui Jie
Japan’s consumer price index rises 4.2% in January
Japan’s nationwide consumer price index rose 4.2% in comparison with a yr ago in January, government data showed.
That reading was according to expectations of economists surveyed by Reuters.
The economy’s core CPI excluding fresh food and energy prices rose 3.2%, data showed, as overall CPI rose 4.3% yr on yr.
— Jihye Lee
Stocks ended up on Thursday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 111 points, or 0.3%.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.
The foremost averages are still on pace to finish the week on a downturn, with the S&P 500 on target for its worst weekly performance since Dec. 16.
— Hakyung Kim
CNBC Pro: Nvidia’s stock is soaring on the A.I. buzz. Here’s where Wall Street sees it going next
After a nasty 2022 — together with most chip firms — U.S. giant Nvidia has seen a serious turnaround, clawing back much of the losses it incurred.
Has the stock got further to go even with its big surge this yr? Here’s what Wall Street analysts say about where they see it going next, and AI’s impact on the firm.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
— Weizhen Tan
Control the three,900 S&P 500 level, chart analyst Katie Stockton says
Fairlead Strategies’ Katie Stockton said she’s closely watching the three,900 level on the S&P 500, noting it’s at risk of being broken. “Unfortunately, the following support level is that 3,500 level that was tested back in October.”
The S&P 500 traded around 3,990 on Thursday, struggling to snap a four-day losing streak — its longest slide since December.
The broader market index has also given up a piece of its January gains. It was last up about 4% for the yr after popping greater than 6% in January.
SPX yr to this point
“That abrupt reversal shows a shift in market sentiment that, I believe, is … going to be difficult to weather within the near term,” Stockton said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
— Fred Imbert
Wavering within the markets trying to proceed, based on BankRate
The back-and-forth rally within the markets is trying to proceed within the near future, based on BankRate’s chief financial analyst Greg McBride.
“The market is rallied a few times under this false premise that the Federal Reserve goes to pivot and begin cutting rates of interest right. And time and time again, the Fed pushes back on that, and the market eventually gets the message, and we see a pullback. I do not expect it to play out any in a different way this time,” said McBride. “The economy is the economy is remarkably strong. Inflation continues to be hot. The labor market was tight. And all of that argues for a fed that’s going to proceed raising rates of interest.”
McBride added that currently, the markets are only pricing in a soft landing.
He added, “The market has not priced in the danger of recession. The market has not priced within the no landing scenario where the Fed has to proceed raising rates of interest due to elevated inflation and for the foreseeable future.”
— Hakyung Kim
2023 is a more micro-driven market, based on Goldman Sachs
The market has shifted this yr, based on Goldman Sachs’ trading desk, presenting opportunities for investors.
“Fears of recession and elevated rate of interest volatility helped create a very macro-driven marketplace for much of 2022,” based on a Wednesday note from the firm’s trading desk.
“But 2023 is shaping as much as be a way more micro-driven market, presenting a chance for fundamental stock pickers and alpha generation as we move further and further into the post-pandemic, post-modern cycle.”
The note highlighted the “importance of margins (over revenues) amidst higher rates of interest, dearer input costs (like commodities and labor), and high inflation.”
— Hakyung Kim
