News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

25 June 2021 | Charlie Todd

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO

• In the UK, the Bank of England continued to seek to calm fears about inflation, which is expected to exceed 3% in coming months, saying the surge in prices was “transitory” and should not affect monetary policy
• In the US, Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, appeared to return to a more dovish stance at the House Select Subcommittee dismissing the idea of 1970s style inflation
• US PMI data showed manufacturing chalk up its fourth straight monthly increase as factories struggle to keep pace with demand due to supplier delays with record growth in input costs whilst hiring remains a difficulty

STATISTIC OF THE WEEK

Microsoft joins the $2 trillion club as it became only the third publicly traded company to reach a US$2trn market cap — after Apple and, briefly, Saudi Aramco — as shares in large-cap tech stocks recover from their short sell-off earlier in the year

COMPANY NEWS

• DS Smith results showed a pickup in volumes during the second half of the year offset by higher paper costs
• The Glaxo SmithKline investor day revealed that they will retain 20% of the consumer healthcare business post spin-off and cut the dividend by around a third
• Stellar results from Nike as US revenues were up 29% vs 4Q19 and China was up 14% vs 4Q19

SMALL-CAP NEWS

Accsys, a company that makes high performance sustainable wood products, reported impressive results, with revenue increasing 10%. They also highlighted trading has remained robust at the start of the new financial year, with Accoya demand continuing to outstrip supply. Accsys have focused on two products, Accoya is a modified wood that is found in doors/windows/decking/cladding and Tricoya is Accsys version of an MDF panel (through an acetylation process). As building work becomes more sustainable it will be interesting to see the future demand for this company’s technology and intellectual property.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

1775: US congress authorizes the issuance of continental currency, the first official paper currency of the United States

1998: As the financial institutions in Japan continue to report record losses due to the "property price bubble burst". The Long-Term Credit Bank (LTCB) is the latest casualty as share value drops 45% in one day’s trading taking the banks shares to just 3% of the value they were in 1987. The Japanese Government has promised to support the bank "if necessary" and protect depositors "at any cost."

 RE-OPENING TIMES

The New York Times has revealed that Morgan Stanley will demand that employees be vaccinated in order to return to its New York offices next month. That goes further than many other big companies, and what’s more, the bank will also require contingent workers, clients and visitors entering Morgan Stanley’s buildings in New York City and Westchester to be vaccinated

MARKET DATA

 As at 25^th June 2021. Source: Financial Express

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