- Wall Street indices open higher
- Lack of further Middle East escalation supports market moods
- Tesla drops after announcing price cuts
Wall Street indices launched today's trading higher, following upbeat trading in Europe and in spite of a mixed performance of regional indices during the Asia-Pacific earlier today. S&P 500 gains 0.3% at session launch, Dow Jones and Nasdaq move 0.4% higher and small-cap Russell 2000 jumps 0.6%.
Upbeat sentiment on Wall Street at the beginning of a new week can be partially reasoned with lack of further escalation in the Middle East over the weekend, after last week's tit-for-tat strikes between Iran and Israel. Strong declines that can be spotted on gold, oil as well as safe haven currencies support this explanation.
Source: xStation5
Small-cap Russell 2000 (US2000) is the best performing Wall Street index at the beginning of a new week. Taking a look at US2000 chart at D1 interval, we can see that the index plunged and tested 1,925 pts support zone on Friday, marked with 200-session moving average (purple line). However, bulls managed to defend the area and index recovered all of the losses. Rebound continues today with the index gaining around 0.5% at press time. Should upbeat moods prevail, the next potential target for buyers could be 2,025 pts resistance zone.
Company News
Crypto-linked stocks are trading higher, following Bitcoin halving. The event did not result in a feared drop in crypto prices, with Bitcoin price continuing a recovery move launched last week.
Informatica (INFA.US) pulls back after Wall Street Journal that talks with Salesforce (CRM.US) over potential acquisition have collapsed. WSJ reported as recently as on April 12, 2024 that the two companies are in advanced talks over potential Informatica acquisition by Salesforce. However, Salesforce has been later pressured by activist investors over the cost of acquiring an over-$10 billion market cap company and now WSJ reports that failure to agree on terms led to breakdown in negotiations. Salesforce gains on the news.
Tesla (TSLA.US) is trading lower after announcing price cuts for various models of its cars by up to $2,000 per vehicle as well as cut price of its self-driving software by a third, to $8,000. This is another piece of news, following weak Q1 delivery figures and big lay-off announcement, that suggest company's fundamental picture as well as demand for its products is deteriorating.
Analysts' actions
- Cisco Systems (CSCO.US) rated 'neutral' at JPMorgan. Price target set at $53.00
Tesla (TSLA.US) deepens ongoing share price slump after news of price cuts to its vehicles. Stock opened over 4% lower today and reached fresh 15-month lows. However, part of the drop has been erased after session launch. Source: xStation5
