US equity markets settled with modest losses despite rebounding somewhat late in the session, with all three key indices still hitting fresh record intra-day highs - Dow settled -124-points or -0.41% lower (at 30,179.05), paring a decline of over >270-points and after touching a fresh record intra-day high (30,342.59) at the opening of the session. The broader S&P500 eased -0.35% (to 3,709.41) amid a lot of rebalancing activity, snapping a three session winning streak and having touched an
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intra-day record peak of 3,726.70. Economic bellwether FedEx Corp fell -5.71% despite posting quarterly sales (US$20.6B) that topped >US$20B for the first time after the close of the previous session. FedEx also delivered better-than-expected earnings per share (EPS) of US$4.83 versus consensus estimates for US$4.01. The delivery company said year to date e-commerce volumes grew 33% faster than traditional retail. Moreover, FedEx expects e-commerce packages to triple, to 111M per day in 2026 from 35M per day in 2019. Both FedEx and United Parcel Service (up +0.4%) are an important part of the distribution chain for COVID-19 vaccines. Intel Corporation dropped -6.3% following a Bloomberg report that Microsoft Corp (-0.38%) was developing in-house chips for its servers and Surface PCs. Microsoft plans to develop a chip using Arm Holdings Plc designs for its data centres, and is exploring using another chip to power its PCs, according to the report. Advanced Micro Devices Inc lost -0.95%. Cybersecurity company Fortinet Inc (up +6.91%) was the leading S&P500 performer, buoyed by a recent spate of cyber attack disclosures from companies such as Microsoft. The technology-centric Nasdaq dipped -0.07% (to 12,755.64) after notching a record intra-day high of 12,809.60. Tesla Inc rallied +5.96% to a fresh record closing high (US$695) on heavy volume (over 200M shares or ~US$148B changed hands, more than quadruple the stock’s 30-day average trading volume and with Tesla trading more than the next 25 most active stocks combined) ahead of the company’s inclusion in the S&P500 index at conclusion of last Friday’s (18 December) session. Telsa will enter the S&P500 with a 1.69% weighting, the fifth largest in the index. Since the S&P announced on 16 November that the electric vehicle maker would be included in the S&P500 Tesla has added US$271.96B in market value, which is greater than Toyota Motor Co.’s market capitalisation (currently ~US$213B). Apple Inc (down -1.59%) closed all of its 54 stores in California over the weekend, with stores in about a dozen other U.S. locations already closed. About 80 of Apple’s 508 retail stores worldwide (including 270 in the US) are closed in total. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index lost -0.41%.
