A roundup of Tuesday’s stock market results from across the Americas
🌎 Peru’s stock exchange leads in LatAm:
Latin America’s stock markets started August with mixed results. The day’s biggest gains were for the Lima Stock Exchange (SPBLPGPT), and the Santiago Stock Exchange’s IPSA index (IPSA), which gained 0.73% and 0.60% respectively.
Analysts at Credicorp Capital Bolsa remarked that the Lima Stock Exchange was mainly driven by the performance of the mining sector (up 5.08%), benefited by the increase in the price of Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO) shares, which rose 6.58%; and those Buenaventura (BVN), with a 2.53% increase. The volume traded on the Lima stock exchange was $5.7 million, led by Ferreyros (FERREYC1), with $2.7 million, and Alicorp (ALICORC1), with US$530,000.
In economic news from Peru,, inflation maintained a downward trend at the end of July and year-on-year was the lowest since February 2022; on the other hand, the Ministry of Economy indicated that a contraction of the economy is expected for the month of June -the figures will be published on August 15-, which would confirm a technical recession following a decline over two consecutive quarters.
Chile’s IPSA was boosted by the gains of shares of SQM-B and Enel Americas (ENELAM).
Colombia’s COLCAP index (COLCAP) gained 0.35%, while Mexico’s market (MEXBOL) and Argentina’s Merval index (MERVAL) closed lower, down 1.11% and 0.90%. The shares on the Mexican market with the sharpest declines were Gentera SAB (GENTERA*), down 5.06%; Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC*), which closed 4.08% lower, and Grupo Bimbo (BIMBOA), down 3.69%.
🗽On Wall Street:
The rally that drove the stock market up almost 30% from its October lows took a little break at the start of the new month amid calls for a near-term pullback.
Just a few days ahead of the all-important jobs report, data suggested some softening in demand for workers in a still tight labor market. The numbers weren’t enough to entice investors, who also grappled with a mixed bag of corporate earnings. The S&P 500 finished the session with a small loss. Bonds fell, with the 30-year yield hitting its highest since November as the Treasury prepares to ramp up issuance of longer-dated securities.
“It looks like stocks on Wall Street are taking a breather from the relentless rally,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and Forex.com. While many traders are afraid of standing on the way of the rally, we could see some downside action — with investors likely to “sit on their hands” in the run-up to employment data and earnings from giants Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
In late trading, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. gained after the company topped second-quarter estimates and said it was making further inroads in artificial-intelligence computing. Starbucks Corp. dropped as its quarterly sales fell short of analysts’ estimates, a sign that momentum may be slowing for the coffee giant amid higher prices and tighter pocketbooks.
Sell-side signals
Bank of America Corp. strategist Savita Subramanian noted there’s no reason to fret just yet about the equity market. BofA’s Sell Side Indicator — which tracks sell-side strategists’ recommended stock allocations — is still in neutral territory despite increased allocations and stands closer to a “buy” rather than a “sell” signal.
“Rising equity allocations and falling bond allocations mark a reversal from the bond love and equity hate that built during 2022,” Subramanian added.
Equities have come a long way in a short period of time, but looking at different time frames, the gains don’t look quite as impressive, according to Bespoke Investment Group. In the case of the S&P 500, over the last 12 months, it’s still up about 11%, but on a two-year basis, performance looks much less attractive at a little over 4%.
“That hardly looks like a market that has become unanchored from reality,” Bespoke strategists wrote.
Oppenheimer Asset Management’s John Stoltzfus lifted his target on the S&P 500 index to a Street high, a day after Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson, one of the market’s leading doomsayers, sounded less bearish than usual.
Stoltzfus now sees the S&P 500 index hitting 4,900 by the end of the year, leaving room for another 7% gain. The target would mark a new record for the gauge, and one that plays out against bearish predictions by prominent Wall Street names such as Wilson, JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic and Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett.
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5%
- The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0982
- The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2773
- The Japanese yen fell 0.8% to 143.40 per dollar
🍝 For the dinner table debate:
Donald Trump has been indicted in Washington on federal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, the third politically explosive criminal prosecution against the former president in his latest bid for the White House.
Trump, 77, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against the right to vote and have that vote counted, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in federal court.
The charges by special prosecutor John “Jack” Smith’s office can carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison, but Trump is likely to face far less than the maximum penalties if convicted, since he has no prior criminal record. Trump was instructed to appear in court on August 3.
Paola Villar S, a content producer at Bloomberg Línea, and Rita Nazareth of Bloomberg News, contributed to this report