US equity markets advanced as investors’ attention turned to tonight’s AEST January inflation figures - Dow rose +377-points or +1.11%, underpinned by solid gains for Microsoft Corp (up +3.12%), Nike Inc (+2.39%), Salesforce (+2.42%) and Intel Corp (+2.70%). The broader S&P500 climbed +1.14%, with Information Technology (up +1.77%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.46%), Consumer Staples (+1.17%), Financials (+1.10%) and Communication Services (+1.10%) all rising over >1% and leading ten of the eleven primary sectors higher. Energy (down -0.61%) was the only primary sector not to advance overnight. Tesla Inc lost -1.14%. Even those losses combined with those from shorting Coinbase Global Inc (down -1.21%), Microsoft Corp and Lucid Group Inc (up +1.69%) still don’t reach the losses incurred by Tesla shorts. Data compiled by S3 partners shows hedge funds have lost US$7.56B shorting the electric vehicle manufacturer on a mark-to-market basis over the last 30 days. That’s more than double the losses incurred by the second-least profitable short on the list, Apple Inc (up +1.88%), at US$2.6B. The Nasdaq rallied +1.48%. Meta Platforms Inc rose +3.03% following a Financial Times report saying further job cuts could be in the pipeline. In November, the Facebook parent announced it was laying off around 11K employees, which equates to 13% of its staff. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rose +1.07%.
