A roundup of Friday’s stock market results from across the region
🗽 On Wall Street:
The main U.S. stock indices closed the week with losses after Friday’s jobs data cleared the way for the Federal Reserve to continue pushing ahead with an aggressive campaign in its fight against inflation.
The Fed is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points at its next two meetings.
The U.S. economy added 390,000 jobs in May, a figure that beat expectations of 320,000, but came in below the 436,000 jobs created in April.
“Softer hiring data and cooling wages suggest that economic growth is moderating, but not fast enough to signal a change of course by the Fed,” explained Edward Moya, an analyst at Oanda.
The S&P 500 fell more than 1% to accumulate its eighth weekly loss in the past nine weeks.
Tech stocks were dragged down by losses of about 9% in electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA) after news broke that Elon Musk’s company plans to reduce its employee headcount.
“The suspension of hiring worldwide was expected, but the forecast of a 10% headcount cut, which amounts to about 10,000 workers, suggests Tesla will struggle to meet its year-end targets,” Moya said.
The Nasdaq Composite (CCMPDL) ended the day with a 2.47% drop, while the Dow Jones Industrials closed down 1.05%.
🔑 The Day’s Key Movements:
Crude oil achieved its sixth weekly advance on Friday after the expected OPEC+ meeting achieved only a modest production increase accounting for 0.4% of global demand in July and August, which failed to assuage concerns over the growing supply deficit.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose to settle above $120 per barrel with a weekly gain of 3.3%. For experts, the expansion of U.S. employment in May indicates continued economic growth that will bolster demand for crude oil and refined products.
“Crude oil prices remain supported by the OPEC+ hangover,” said the Oanda analyst. The cartel’s decision “will keep the oil market tense throughout the summer”, he said.
🥇 Latin America’s Leader:
Argentina’s Merval (MERVAL) had the best performance among its Latin American peers, closing with a a gain of 0.35% as shares such as Loma Negra Cia Industrial Argentina (LOMA), Banco de Valores (VALO) and Transener (TRAN) were among the day’s best performers.
Colombia’s Colcap (COLCAP) also ended Friday with gains, up 0.24%, thanks to the good performance of the consumer staples, energy and raw materials sectors. The shares of Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana (GRUPOSUR), Banco de Bogotá (BOGOTA) and Cementos Argos (CEMARGOS) had the strongest performance on Friday.
📉 A Bad Day:
Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV had the sharpest losses in Latin America on Friday, falling 1.15% during the day.
The performance of the health, non-basic consumer products and communication services sectors weighed on the index’s performance. The shares of Meliuz SA (CASH3), Americanas SA (AMER3) and YDUQS Participacoes SA (YDUQ3) had the sharpest losses.
The S&P BVL/Peru (SPBLPGPT), which closed down 0.96%, was the second worst performing index in the region on Friday, dragged down by the real estate, finance and materials sectors.
🍝 For the Dinner Table Debate:
In the midst of the crisis, early stage financing continues to arrive in Latin America. This week, at least nine startups raised equity rounds in the region: Speedbird Aero, Lingopass, Food To Save, Clubbi, Koban, Talently, Yummy, Incognia and Modak.
Innovative business models continue to attract the attention of venture capitalists and this is one of the weeks with the highest number of transactions in terms of seed and Series A rounds.
In fact, some of these rounds were the largest in their countries or in their early stage industries, such is the case of Peru’s Talenty, Venezuela’s Yummy and Bolivia’s Koban.
There is also a common denominator in these startups: three of them belong to the edtech industry: Lingopass, Modak and Talenty.
