A long-anticipated meeting between President Biden and Xi Jinping of China wasn’t enough to push the US stock market off its weeklong recovery. Whilst Xi indicated China did not support the attack on Ukraine, it also warned of a less passive geopolitical environment in the decades to come.
Despite this, all three US benchmarks finished higher on Friday, the Nasdaq adding 2.1%, the Dow Jones up 0.8% and the S&P 500 gaining 1.2%, with the oil price remaining above US$100 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the Canadian sharemarket reached an all-time high, with commodities a key contributor.
Amazon closes MGM deal
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) gained 2.5% after closing its US$8.5 billion deal to purchase MGM film studios as the content and streaming war ramps up.
MGM is now a part of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and its catalogue includes more than 4,000 film titles and 17,000 TV episodes. The deal marks Amazon’s second-largest acquisition behind Whole Foods in 2017.
Fed Ex upgrades
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) fell 4% despite delivering 20% growth in sales on the back of the online shopping boom and guiding to even stronger growth.
US stock markets post best week since vaccine
The strong finish on Friday meant that the US stock market delivered its strongest week since November 2020 following the original COVID vaccine news.
Tech stocks were the biggest winner, with the Nasdaq gaining 8.2% over the five days, whilst the financials and materials sectors boosted the Dow Jones and S&P 500, up 5% and 6% each.
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is tipped to follow this positive lead from US stock markets to open higher this morning. For a round-up of the latest news, check out my ASX 200 morning report.
