Before the bell: record rally continues on the stock market

While US markets closed at record levels on Friday, we are also seeing new records in Asia on Monday morning. Attention now turns to the quarterly results of the Magnificent 7 this week.

On financial markets, equities continue to push their record highs. The Nasdaq gained 1.6% on Friday and the S&P 500 rose 0.7%. AI-related news continues to drive markets higher. Alphabet (+1.6%) will invest 40 billion dollar in Anthropic, the owner of the Claude language model. Meta Platforms (+2.4%) and Amazon (+3.5%) are set to deepen their collaboration, with Meta renting Graviton chips from Amazon to train its AI models. This is a multi-billion-dollar deal. The news comes as US indices are trading at all-time highs, ahead of results from Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta on Wednesday. Apple will report on Thursday. Chipmaker Intel (+23.6%) joined the rally and, following strong quarterly results, saw its share price reach its highest level since the dotcom bubble of 2000.

In Asia, the positive sentiment continues on Monday morning. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (+6%) reached a new record, along with several other technology companies. According to news agency Axios, Iran may have proposed ending the war, further supporting the positive sentiment. Companies such as Domino’s Pizza, Verizon and steel producer Nucor are also reporting quarterly results today.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain

I am currently preparing for a one-month trip to Thailand. What stands out? Since the war in Iran began, my purchasing power in the country has increased by 5.7%. Thailand is highly dependent on oil, which is why its currency—along with the Philippine peso—has been among the hardest hit since the conflict started. According to the Thai central bank, economic growth is expected to slow from 1.9% of GDP to 1.3% due to the war in Iran. The central bank, according to its governor, will do everything possible to avoid raising interest rates for as long as possible to support households. However, that puts further pressure on the currency. I have personally had Thailand on my radar for some time as a potential destination for future real estate investments. The Thai stock market is also performing well, with gains of more than 20% over the past year. If you want to invest in the Thailand theme yourself, the Xtrackers MSCI Thailand UCITS ETF 1C is worth considering.

Invest in certainty

One of the common misconceptions among investors is that you need to take significant risks to generate returns. Anyone who thinks that should take a look at Australia today. IFM Global Infrastructure Fund has offered 4.75 Australian dollar per share to acquire Atlas Arteria, valuing the company at 4.92 billion dollar. Toll roads are attractive assets for investors. Transport is essential, and goods and people must always move from point A to point B. Even with the rise of autonomous vehicles, that principle will remain unchanged. Meanwhile, such assets generate predictable income streams that can also be adjusted for inflation. The challenge? Pure toll road operators are rare. In France, you have Vinci with around 4,400 kilometres of toll roads and the smaller Eiffage. But both also have construction divisions, and Vinci operates airports as well. A pure-play like Atlas Arteria is therefore particularly attractive—and IFM has recognised that.

Did you know…

that the war in Iran has already resulted in the loss of around 500 million barrels of oil production? To visualise this: if you stacked all those barrels on top of each other, they would be enough to reach the moon.

This article was translated from Dutch and was originally published on Spaarvarkens.be.