Ahead of the Federal Reserve, decision the Chinese stock market jumped more than 12% in Wednesday’s session after the government announced wide-ranging support for the market and economy. It marks a stark turnaround from the 24% fall for the market in March alone.
In a wide-ranging release, the government indicated the crackdown on big tech would be coming to an end, along with property taxes and that progress had been made on ensuring the future of companies listed on US stock exchanges.
The result was a 37% jump in Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), a 39% increase in both JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) and Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), and a more than 50% gain from Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD).
US Fed raises rates
Turning to the US and all three benchmarks were stronger with the Nasdaq gaining 3.7% despite the Federal Reserve making the well-flagged decision to hike the cash rate by 0.25%. They now predict seven more increases despite the impending threat of an oil price driven recession.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones also gained, adding 2.2% and 1.6%.
In further positive news, the fourth round of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia appeared to be making progress, offering another potential catalyst.
Berkshire Hathaway unstoppable
In stock-specific news, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) class A shares are now sitting above US$500,000 a pop. Bucking the market volatility, shares are up 10% so far this year and 21% in the last six months.
I recently recorded a podcast episode with analyst Owen Rask reflecting on the latest Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter and sharing 10 pieces of Buffett’s wisdom. Click here to listen now.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Wednesday.
- Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM) up 14.6%
- Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) up 14.3%
- Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) up 12.5%
- Meta (NASDAQ: FB) up 6.0%
- Nike (NYSE: NKE) up 4.8%
- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) down 6.1%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow this positive lead from US markets to open higher this morning. For a round-up of the latest news, check out my ASX 200 morning report.
