News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

29 April 2022 | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO

• The S&P 500 fell 8.8% in April, its worst month since March 2020
• Another bad week for the pound which is now at 1.26 against the US dollar

COMPANY NEWS

• Amazon shares fell after giving lighter than expected revenue guidance for the current quarter and announcing a loss for the previous quarter
• Glaxo SmithKline pointed to good momentum as sales rose 32% year on year as it prepares to spin off its consumer health division to be named Haleon
• Paypal lowered its 2022 guidance and withdrew its medium-term outlook given a worsening macro environment and complexities forecasting eCommerce spending
• Coca Cola shares finished up after reporting better than expected results, with organic sales growth expected to be 7% to 8% for 2022

SMALL CAP NEWS

A bullish update from aggregates business, Breedon, this week on the day of their AGM with CEO Rob Wood stating, "our business offers a natural hedge against inflation and we remain confident in the resilience of our local operational model. Normal seasonal patterns of activity are evident with orders and enquiries increasing throughout the quarter and we continue to trade in line with management expectations."

A WEEK IN POLITICS

Emmanuel Macron was re-elected President of France with 59% of the vote, staving off a repeat challenge from far-right anti-immigration populist Marine Le Pen. Le Pen’s share of the vote marked the far-right’s best ever result in a French national election with 13.2m people voting for her.

Germany's power utility Uniper—one of Germany's largest gas importers—will pay for Russian gas deliveries in rubles in accordance with the new payment procedure announced by Russia last month.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

1901: the first “short squeeze” as Edward Henry Harriman initiated a raid on Northern Pacific railway buying all but 40,000 shares, a portion of which were still owned by JP Morgan. With many traders short, the stock price exploded starting the week at $95 and touching $1,000 at one point

1948: the last day for Americans to turn in their gold after Executive Order 6102 outlawed the ownership of gold. Citizens were forced to exchange their gold for $20.67 per ounce

THE ART OF INVESTMENT Vermeer Podcast

38 years of stock picking, why invest in equities and Bruce Springsteen, with David Malpas – Investment Director at Vermeer Partners

IN OTHER NEWS

The ETF, $SARK, created solely to bet against Cathie Wood’s renowned Innovation Fund, is up 107% over the last six months compared to Wood’s $ARKK, which is up 84% over five years, on the back of terrible results from her third largest holding, Teladoc, which fell by 50%

MARKET DATA

 As at 29^th April 2022. Source: Financial Express

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