Markets push higher | Calamatta Cuschieri

US markets climbed higher on Wednesday ahead of corporate results from Tesla and Microsoft as investors turned to defensive stocks on rising U.S.-China trade tensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 165.44 points, or 0.6 percent, to 27,005.84, while the S&P 500 added 18.72 points, or 0.6 percent, to 3,276.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index recovered from earlier losses and gained 25.76 points, or 0.2 percent, to close the session at 10,706.13.

European markets meanwhile ended a three-day winning streak and slid lower with the pan-European STOXX 600 index closing down 0.9 percent with energy stocks taking the biggest hit as escalating U.S.-China tensions and a surge in coronavirus cases dented sentiment. U.S. President Donald Trump warned the pandemic would get worse before it got better, while a recent tally showed global COVID-19 infections surged past 15 million on Wednesday.

Maltese markets also sank for the sixth consecutive day as the MSE Equity Total Return Index closed down lost 0.077 percent to 8,067.786 points. BMIT Technologies Plc led the losses with shares down 2.06 percent at €0.476, followed by HSBC Bank Malta Plc which lost 1.04 percent to €0.95. GlobalCapital Plc meanwhile led the gains with shares up 8.33 percent at €0.39.

Tesla needs more nickel

Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk urged miners to produce more nickel, a key ingredient in the batteries that power the company’s electric cars, warning the current cost of batteries remained a big hurdle to the company’s growth. Nickel makes batteries energy dense so cars can run further on a single charge, and Tesla needs the metal more than ever as it looks to ramp up production of trucks and solar projects that use a lot of nickel.

“Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way,” Musk said on a post-earnings call on Wednesday. Tesla currently sources nickel-cobalt-manganese batteries from South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd and nickel-cobalt-aluminium batteries from Japan’s Panasonic Corp which indirectly buy the materials themselves from mining companies in a long auto-supply chain.
 

This article was issued by Peter Petrov, Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.