US equity markets opened the new month and quarter with modest gains on Friday (1 April), with Wall Street looking to bounce back from its first negative quarter in two years - Dow up +140-points or +0.40%, recovering from an earlier session decline of ~100-points. The broader S&P500 added +0.34%, with the more defensive Real Estate (up +2.02%), Utilities (+1.45%) and Consumer Staples (+1.25%) sectors leading eight of the eleven primary sectors higher. Industrials (down -0.70%), Financials (-0.21%) and Information Technology (-0.17%) were the three primary sectors to close in the red. The Nasdaq +0.29%. Apple Inc (down -0.17%) was removed from JP Morgan’s Analyst Focus List, with the investment bank’s analysts citing concerns around a moderation in consumer spending. Apple climbed for 11-days from 14 March 14 until last Wednesday (30 March) - its longest winning streak since 2003. Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc (down -3.81%) was also removed from the focus list. Chip stocks more broadly were under fresh pressure, with Intel Corp down -2.93% and Advanced Micro Devices Inc -1.05%. Tesla Inc (up +0.65%) on Saturday (2 April) reported first quarter deliveries of ~310K vehicles, in-line with analysts’ expectations despite soaring gas prices, fresh COVID restrictions and supply chain challenges. It marked a quarterly record for the electric vehicle maker, up from ~309K vehicles delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021 and ~185K vehicles delivered in the first quarter of 2021. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +1.01%. U.S.-listed Chinese stocks rallied on Friday (1 April) following a report that authorities in Beijing were preparing to meet a key demand of U.S. regulators, a move that would remove a cloud of uncertainty from companies like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (up +1.29%), DiDI Global Inc (+12.80%), JD.com Inc (+2.11%) and NIO (+4.18%). The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission and other regulators are drafting a new framework that would allow most Chinese companies to keep their U.S. listings, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. Beijing is set to give U.S. regulators the auditing reports of most of the 200-plus Chinese companies listed in New York, the report said, but was preparing to accept that some state-owned firms will be delisted.
