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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Microchip Technology, DSV and Trane Technologies

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 4, 2023 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Microchip Technology (MCHP - Free Report) , DSV (DSDVY - Free Report) and Trane Technologies (TT - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

Rain Brings Wildflowers: Global Week Ahead

In the Global Week Ahead, a fresh April Spring is in the air, at least here in California.

Rains bring wildflower blooms.

In the major money centers of the world, any banking crisis appears contained -- for the time being.

With the turn of a month, and the end of Q1, it is time to look at how the real U.S. and global economy is faring.

The winter quarter is over.

On Monday, we get a March read on purchasing manager activity (PMIs) from the well-followed Institute of Supply Management (ISM).

On Friday, the all-important March U.S. Federal monthly jobs report lands.

In the Southern Hemisphere, policy rate decisions arrive via the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and their close counterpart, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).

If banking tension continues to recede?

There should be sentiment for long-term U.S. Treasury yields to rise, and the U.S. dollar to regain safe haven ground, after a surprising March disappears.

Next are Reuters’ five world market themes, reordered for equity traders—

(1) On Friday, traders inspect March nonfarm payrolls.

After weeks of worry about the banking sector, Friday’s U.S. employment data shifts the focus back to the macro picture.

Traders will be keen to learn whether the Federal Reserve’s barrage of rate increases is cooling the economy.

Views on the likely trajectory of rates have once again diverged. Fed officials project rates will remain around current levels for the rest of 2023 to help slow growth and fight inflation. A strong jobs number would support that view.

Economists polled by Reuters expect a rise of 240,000 in March, so anything short of that would suggest the Fed could cut rates this year as tighter monetary policy bites and growth softens.

That outlook — bolstered by the tumult in the banking sector — is one held by many investors.

Futures markets are pricing a roughly 50% chance of a 25-basis-point rate increase at the central banks next meeting, in May, followed by cuts throughout the rest of 2023.

(2) Will there be a recession in 2023, or 2024, or not?

Turmoil in the banking sector, following the collapse of U.S. lender Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse's rescue merger with UBS, risks global banks adopting more austere lending standards as they strive to prove they are well-capitalized.

Monthly purchasing managers indexes, the real-time indicators of business conditions, are due out in the first week of April. The early "flash" version of this survey for the U.S. showed manufacturers' new orders had fallen for the sixth straight month.

Conviction is now building among investors and central bankers that banking stress and a potential follow-on credit crunch make a hard landing for the world's largest economy more likely.

The optimistic take, for the equities market at least, is it brings central bank interest rate cuts into view, with stock-pickers focusing on high quality, defensive companies, in industries such as healthcare and consumer staples, that may weather a recession well.

(3) What about the bond markets, after a banking crisis emerges?

Two-year U.S. borrowing costs are about to post their sharpest drop since 2008 in March as banking turmoil wiped out bets on further central bank rate hikes.

They dropped over 60 basis points, but don't forget they rose by a similar amount in February, when all the focus was on sticky inflation and a red-hot labor market.

Bond markets were whipsawed this quarter and trading became so challenging that investors drew parallels with the market environment during Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, just as traders were settled to the idea that rate hikes would soon end, above-forecast German data on Thursday let the inflation genie back out of the bottle, sending bond yields sharply higher.

Until markets get a clear sense of whether financial stability or inflation will drive central banks going forward, expect more turbulence.

(4) What to make of the U.S. dollar?

Spring is finally here, and the dollar has posted its weakest performance for the first quarter since 2018, falling -1.3%, despite the swell of safe-haven demand the banking crisis unleashed.

Historically, Q1 is the strongest for the dollar. On average, over the last 50 years, the dollar has gained +1.1% between January and March, while Q4 is its weakest, with an average drop of -0.8%.

Fund managers slashed their bearish positions during February's 2.5% rally, but they're still sitting on a short position of $5.289 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

In theory, those bearish bets could be bought back and even flipped into bullish ones.

Traders are short, but not that short. With maybe one more rate hike priced in, inflation cooling and the banking crisis contained — for now — there don't seem to be too many reasons to spring for the dollar.

(5) On Tuesday, will the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) take up the policy rate?

A recent run of tepid Australian data — along with continued risks of a banking crisis — have seen markets price out pretty much any chance for a rate hike on Tuesday by the Reserve Bank.

In fact, there's even a sense that the 10-month tightening campaign may have run its course.

A report on March 28th provided more evidence of tighter purse strings. Consumer price figures a day later backed the case that inflation has peaked, rounding out the data points that RBA officials said they would watch closely ahead of their decision.

Across the Tasman, bets are still for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to hike by another quarter point on Wednesday, and traders place a good chance of the same again by July.

But markets don't expect the additional move needed to reach the central bank's own projected 5.5% peak.

Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stocks

I found three large cap stocks with long-term Zacks Growth scores of A or B.

(1) Microchip Technology: This is a $83 a share stock. The company works in Semiconductors – Analog and Mixed and is based in Arizona. It has a market cap of $44.3B. I see a Zacks Value score of D, a Zacks Growth score of B and a Zacks Momentum score of B.

(2) DSV: This is a $100 a share stock. The company provides Transportation and Logistics Services, and is headquartered in Denmark. It has a market cap of $42.7B too. I see a Zacks Value score of C, a Zacks Growth score of A and a Zacks Momentum score of C.

(3) Trane Technologies: This is a $183 a share stock. This company is a designer, manufacturer, seller and servicer of climate control products for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and transport solutions. It is headquartered in Swords, Ireland. It has a market cap of $42.4B. I see a Zacks Value score of D, a Zacks Growth score of B and a Zacks Momentum score of F.

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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