Stocks edge higher with more tech earnings due and BoJ holds steady
Apple => The stock falls toward $150
Twitter => The stock falls below $50
USD/JPY => The pair rises to 130.00
Apple Q2 earnings preview
Apple is due to report Q2 earnings after the US close today.
The earnings come as the share price trades down 14% from its all-time high, reached in January, and expectations are for the growth outlook to moderate on supply chain disruption and slowing iPhone demand.
China is set to be a central focus as the cause of the supply chain bottleneck and the centre of the slowdown in demand as COVID cases continue to rise, and lockdowns could be extended.
Wall Street expects a 4.9% YoY rise in revenue to $94 billion, while EPS is forecast to tick higher to $1.42, up 1.6% compared to the same period a year earlier.
Where next for Apple’s share price?
Apple has experienced fairly choppy trades across 2022 falling to a low of $150 in early March, before rebounding and running into resistance at $180 at the end of the same month.
The stock has since rebounded lower falling below its 50 & 100 SMA in a bearish move. The RSI is also supportive of further downside whilst it remains out of oversold territory. Support can be seen at $152 the February low, ahead of $150 the 2022 low and a breakthrough here could open the door to $147 the November ’21 low.
On the upside, buyers will need to recapture the 50 sma at $166 to the 100 sma at $170 to bring $179 back into focus.
Twitter earnings preview
Twitter remains in focus as the social media platform is due to report Q1 earnings today.
The report is expected to be a mixed bag; on the one hand, Twitter is forecast to report its faster quarter-on-quarter user growth in 18 months. On the other hand, earnings are expected to suffer.
It’s nothing new that Twitter has struggled with successfully monetizing its popularity. Even so, the spotlight will be firmly on Elon Musk’s recent $44 billion takeovers, which the board agreed to this week. The agreed price was $54.20.
Shares are still trading below this level, suggesting doubts over whether the deal will go through.
USD/JPY jumps after BoJ leaves policy unchanged
USD/JPY is rising towards 130.00, a fresh 20-year high, following the BoJ monetary policy announcement.
The central bank prompted a steep selloff in the yen versus the US dollar by sticking to its very loose monetary policy and reiterating that it would buy unlimited amounts of bonds every business day as part of its stimulus measures. The BoJ meeting highlighted BoJ-Fed central bank divergence.
The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points in May and possibly add two more outsized rate hikes by the end of the summer. Looking ahead, US data will be in focus with the release of US GDP data, which is expected to show that the US experienced growth in Q1, albeit slower than previous quarters.
| U.S. GDP YoY Q1 annualized | Expected: 1.1% (5.8%) | Previous: 6.9% |
Support can be found at 127.20 (yesterday’s low) and 126.00 (round number).
Resistance for the pair can be seen at 130.00 (psychological number) and 135.00 (2002 high).
