Australian Uranium Industry and Rise of Nuclear Energy Generation

US Markets: Broader indices in the United States traded in green - particularly, the S&P 500 index traded 16.78 points or 0.54 per cent higher at 3,114.80, Dow Jones Industrial Average Index accelerated by 122.23 points or 0.47 per cent higher at 25,993.69, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite traded higher at 10,031.32, up by 85.20 points or 0.86 per cent against its previous day close (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close at 1:30 PM ET).

US News: The Wallstreet opened lower, but all the key market indices inched up later. As per the data released by the National Association of Realtors, the US existing homes sales fell by 9.7 per cent in May from April. Total housing inventory at the end of May was up 6.2% from April to a total 1.55 million units. The few shares which followed the market gains were Virgin Galactic, Bed Bath & Beyond, Microsoft and Alibaba. Virgin Galactic shares zoomed by around 14.8 per cent after it signed a space tourism venture agreement with NASA. The Bed Bath & Beyond shares were up by about 4.47 per cent after securing USD 850 million asset-based credit facility. The shares of Microsoft were up by about 1.4 per cent; it announced the acquisition of Israeli IoT company CyberX. Alibaba was up by around 0.4 per cent, Alibaba’s subsidiary Ant Financial Services Group got approval from the Chinese regulator to change its name to Ant Technology Group; the subsidiary will be rebranded as a tech company instead of finance. The stocks which trended downward were American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and TripAdvisor Inc. American Airlines shares plunged by close to 4.7 per cent as it wanted to raise USD 1.5 billion from the stock issue and convertible notes. Delta Air Lines Inc shares were down by about 1.3 per cent despite airline announced resuming its operation between Seattle and Shanghai from 25^th June 2020. The travel company, TripAdvisor Inc’s shares, were down by close to 4.2 per cent as it expects June revenue to be around 20 per cent of the same period last year revenue.

S&P 500 (SPX)

Top Performers*: Gap Inc (GPS), Fortinet Inc (FTNT), and Newmont Corporation (NEM) stocks jumped by 7.04 per cent, 4.49 per cent and 3.77 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH), American Airlines Group Inc (AAL) and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCL) shares decreased by 6.20 per cent, 5.35 per cent and 5.28 per cent, respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)

Top Performers*: SINTX Technologies Inc (SINT), Francesca's Holdings Corp (FRAN) and Evoke Pharma Inc (EVOK) shares expanded by 182.02 per cent, 69.15 per cent and 67.87 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: Urban One Inc Bats (UONE), Carver Bancorp Inc (CARV) and Urban One Inc Class D (UONEK) shares plunged by 36.13 per cent, 28.10 per cent and 27.16 per cent, respectively.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)

Top Performers*: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Visa Inc (V) and Nike Inc (NKE) shares zoomed up by around 1.52 per cent, 1.39 per cent and 1.38 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA), Boeing Co (BA) and Pfizer Inc (PFE) shares plunged by 2.13 per cent, 1.62 per cent and 1.27 per cent, respectively

European Markets: FTSE 100 index (London’s broader equity benchmark index) traded at 47.98 points or 0.76 per cent lower at 6,244.62, the FTSE 250 index snapped at 113.82 points or 0.64 per cent lower at 17,573.44, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 25.42 points or 0.73 per cent lower at 3,461.35, respectively. Another European index STOXX 600 ended down by 2.72 points or 0.74 per cent, at 362.74. Among additional major European indices, DAX index closed the session at 12,262.97, down by 67.79 points or 0.55 per cent; CAC 40 index decreased by 30.75 points or 0.62 per cent and ended the trading session at 4,948.70.

European News: London and European markets tumbled with a rise in COVID-19 cases. The World Health Organization reported a record daily surge in COVID-19 cases, sparking apprehensions of another period of lockdowns, and subsequent economic damage. Also, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to unveil further lockdown easing plan on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the household finance index rose to 40.7 in June 2020 from 37.8 in May, according to the IHS Markit's monthly report. Adjacently, industrial output in Britain recorded its sharpest fall on record in three months to June by plummeting to -57. Among the gaining stocks, Cineworld PLC rose around 0.5 per cent post securing USD 250 million in debt. Capita PLC soared around 9.5 per cent after unveiling plans to sell its product Eclipse Legal Systems to Access UK Ltd. On the flip side, Glencore dropped around 2.6 per cent post reporting an investigation from the Attorney General of Switzerland. Further, by following the decline in oil prices, BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC shed around 2.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively. Similarly, Carnival PLC plunged over 8.5 per cent after extending operational pause in North America until 30^th September 2020.

London Stock Exchange

Top Three Performers*: GOODWIN PLC (GDWN), CAPITA PLC (CPI) and MARSTON’S PLC (MARS) accelerated significantly by 15.64 per cent, 13.54 per cent and 11.90 per cent, respectively.

Worst Performers*: AMIGO HOLDINGS PLC (AMGO), EDISON PROPERTY INVESTMENT COMPANY PLC (EPIC) and CARNIVAL PLC (CCL) plunged by 13.88 per cent, 9.43 per cent and 7.34 per cent, respectively.

FTSE 100 Index Performance

3 months FTSE 100 Index Performance (June-22-2020), before the market closed (Source: Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters)

Best Gainers*: OCADO GROUP PLC (LON:OCDO), MORRISON (WM) SUPERMARKETS PLC (LON:MRW) & SAINSBURY (J) PLC (LON:SBRY) leapt up by 3.84 per cent, 3.57 per cent and 3.35 per cent, respectively.

Non Performers*: CARNIVAL PLC (LON:CCL), INTERNATIONAL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES GROUP S.A. (LON:IAG) and EVRAZ PLC (LON:EVR) traded in the red zone and decreased by 7.50 per cent, 4.53 per cent and 3.63 per cent, respectively.

Shares traded with decent volume*: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (CNA) CENTRICA PLC; (TSCO) TESCO PLC.

Crude Oil Future Prices*: WTI crude oil (future) price was hovering at $40.26 per barrel & Brent future crude oil (future) price was trading at $42.70 per barrel.

Forex Rates*: GBP to USD and EUR to GBP were hovering at 1.2460 and 0.9033, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasury yield was tilting at 0.704 per cent, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was hovering at 0.202 per cent, respectively.

*At the time of writing