US semiconductor giant NVIDIA was firmly in the spotlight last week as it published its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday. And the Company did not disappoint, smashing expectations and guiding towards an even better revenue and profit outlook than even the most optimistic analyst had forecast[1]. The subsequent rally in its share price added a staggering $277.0bn to its market cap[2], a daily record whilst the broader S&P 500 index rose by +1.7% in US Dollar terms.
Chinese equity markets enjoyed a rare week of outperformance with the Shanghai Composite rising by +4.9% in local currency. Having been closed during the prior week for the Lunar New Year holidays, local markets came back with a bang with optimism around consumer activity during the holiday coupled with central bank support boosting sentiment. Rapidly published data suggested that tourism revenue spiked by more than +47.0% when compared to the same holiday period in 2023[3] although average spend per person was lower. Last week was also another good one for Japanese equities where the +1.6% increase in the Nikkei 225 (in Yen) helped it to reach an all-time high.
Elsewhere, the MSCI Europe ex UK index rose by +1.4% with technology stocks receiving a boost from those impressive NVIDIA results. An improvement in the region’s PMI data may also have provided support with the data suggesting that the Eurozone economy may be showing signs of stabilization. Across the Channel, the FTSE 100 was flat with weak performance in the energy and mining sectors weighing on the index.
In the commodity markets, oil prices posted a weekly decline on waning Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cut hopes with Brent Crude shedding -0.9% to $82.45 a barrel having fallen by circa -3.0% on Friday alone. Gold prices benefitted from some weakness in the US Dollar with the precious metal rising by +1.2% over the course of the week to $2,033 an ounce.
Week Ahead
| Day | Country | Measure | Period | Forecast | Previous |
| Monday | Japan | Core CPI YoY | January | 1.80% | 2.30% |
| US | New Home Sales (Annually Adjusted) | January | 0.680m | 0.664m | |
| Tuesday | US | Durable Goods Orders YoY | January | -4.80% | 0.00% |
| Wednesday | Japan | Retail Sales YoY | January | 2.30% | 2.10% |
| US | GDP 2nd Estimate (Annualised) | Q4'23 | 3.30% | 3.30% | |
| Thursday | Japan | Unemployment Rate | January | 2.40% | 2.40% |
| UK | Bank of England Mortgage Approvals | January | - | 50.46K | |
| Friday | China | Caixin Manufacturing PMI | February | 50.70 | 50.80 |
| Europe | Flash CPI Inflation YoY | February | 2.50% | 2.80% | |
| Europe | Unemployment Rate | January | 6.40% | 6.40% | |
| US | ISM Manufacturing PMI | February | 49.50 | 49.10 |
Source: Refinitiv Workspace, 26/02/24
[1] NVIDIA – Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2024, 21/02/2024
[2] T. Rowe Price – Global Markets Weekly Update, 23/02/2024
[3] Statista – Tourism Revenue During Chinese New Year 2017-2024
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