A roundup of Thursday’s stock market results from across the region
🗽 On Wall Street:
Speculation about what might happen with the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy once again affected U.S. stock markets, which closed the day with losses.
Stocks fell after Treasury yields rose on speculation that the central bank will raise rates aggressively to deal with inflation.
The S&P 500 lost 1.21%, while the Nasdaq Composite (CCMPDL) fell 2.14% and the Dow Jones Industrials retreated 0.33%.
The stock market news of the day was the $43 billion hostile takeover bid launched by entrepreneur Elon Musk to take the rest of the Twitter (TWTR) shares he does not own, for $54.20 in cash for each share, 54% more than what the shares were valued at on January 28.
However, at the end of the day, the social network’s stock closed down 1.68% after Musk said during a TED talk that he was not sure he would succeed in his attempt to takeover the company.
Musk, who anticipated that part of his idea is to delist Twitter from the stock market, also said that the offer aims to create “an inclusive scenario for freedom of expression” and he does not see it as a way to make money.
🔑 The Day’s Key Events:
Oil prices closed out a week of gains on Thursday, boosted in the final day by news that the European Union is once again weighing the possibility of sanctioning Russian crude oil, as the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine continues.
President Vladimir Putin said Europe currently has no alternative to Russian gas supplies, and any attempt to reduce those shipments will have massive negative consequences for the continent’s economy.
“There are simply no spare volumes on the global market, and deliveries from other countries, mainly the U.S., which can be shipped to Europe, will cost consumers much more,” he said in a televised speech.
This outlook comes on top of a report from the International Energy Agency, which said that OPEC+ members delivered only 10% of the supply increases pledged last month.
Both oil benchmarks closed above $100.
📉 A Bad Day:
Today was a holiday in most Latin American countries and, among the region’s main stock exchanges, the markets of Chile and Brazil were the only ones that traded on a day in which there were no gains.
Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV) dropped 0.51%, dragged down by the performance of the stock markets in the United States and the information technology, materials and real estate sectors.
In addition, Petrobras shares (PETR3, PETR4) were among the worst performers in the session, on the same day that the process for José Mauro Coelho to become the oil company’s next CEO was completed. The company also elected Marcio Andrade Weber, a civil engineer from the State University of Rio Grande do Sul, as president.
Although this brings the leadership change process to an end, the company will still be under political scrutiny due to high fuel prices, in the run-up to the October elections in which current president Jair Bolsonaro and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face each other.
🍝 For the Dinner Table Debate:
Despite announcing it with great anticipation, it now appears that social network Facebook (FB) is slowly beginning to back away from its bet on podcasts. The company is now focused on hosting events in the metaverse and driving online shopping through its platform, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Last year, Facebook launched Live Audio Rooms, short-form stories called Soundbites and podcasts for U.S. users. It even signed agreements with creators and sponsored one of the largest industry conferences in the country: Podcast Movement.
However, the company seems to be backing away, and another sign of shifting priorities is that Irena Lam, a podcast product manager at Facebook, appears to have moved into a music-oriented role, according to her LinkedIn page.
A spokesperson for the social network said it continues to work on podcasts, but that its team is accelerating priorities on other features such as Reels, which are popular on Instagram.
*Stock markets will remain closed on Friday, April 15 for the Good Friday holiday
