Back to top

Image: Bigstock

The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights CRH, Ford Motor and JD.com

Read MoreHide Full Article

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 9, 2024 – 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: CRH (CRH - Free Report) , Ford Motor (F - Free Report) and JD.com (JD - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Monday’s Analyst Blog:

U.S. Earnings Season Begins: Global Week Ahead

In the Global Week Ahead, U.S. banks kick off Q1-24 earnings season.

Mainland China releases a deluge of its key macro data.

Across the Pond, stock and bond traders look for confirmation from the European Central Bank (ECB) that a June rate cut is really coming.

Oil prices appear to be on the rise again, clouding the consumer price inflation picture.

This gives monetary policy makers in Canada, New Zealand and Korea food for thought too.

These policy groups update us, as well.

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

(1) Big U.S. banks report, kicking off Q1-24 earnings season.

Market fixation on U.S. monetary policy will be somewhat diverted in the coming week, as quarterly reports from major banks kick off earnings season.

Following strong fourth-quarter results to end-2023, S&P500 companies are expected to post a +5% year-on-year rise in first-quarter earnings, according to LSEG IBES.

Investors are counting on robust corporate profit this year to support rising valuations as the stock market has rallied to record highs. The S&P500's price-to-earnings ratio is hovering at its highest in about two years.

JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all report results on April 12th. Delta Air Lines and BlackRock are among other notable companies set to provide quarterly updates in the days ahead.

(2) Geopolitics, including oil supply disruptions, put pressure on world oil prices.

Rising geopolitical turmoil and supply disruption in a number of production hot-spots are pushing oil prices back towards $90 a barrel for the first time in months.

Central banks tend to focus on so-called core measures of inflation that strip out energy and food prices. But for businesses on the ground, there's no taking the crude price out of the equation. And the assumption that the U.S. Fed might cut rates by less than its peers has pushed the dollar up almost across the board this year.

That in turn has undermined the purchasing power of big buyers in China, Japan, India and South Korea, raising their energy import bills.

All this complicates life for those countries' monetary authorities, which have either intervened, or threatened to intervene, to prop up their currencies to prevent a vicious-circle type of pickup in inflation.

(3) Mainland China's stock markets seem to stir, along with that economy.

Promising signs of a long-awaited turnaround in China's economy keep building, helping keep stocks close to multi-month highs into a two-day public holiday from Thursday.

The Shanghai Composite recently enjoyed its biggest rally in a month after data showed the fastest expansion in manufacturing for more than a year. That was followed by even more hopeful numbers showing an acceleration in services activity, hinting that consumer animal spirits might finally be stirring.

The coming days bring a parade of fresh indicators that could support or subvert that optimism: consumer and producer price indexes on Thursday and trade data on Friday.

These will be important litmus tests of consumer appetite. The consumer price index meanwhile will be key since the first rise for six months in the previous batch of data is what helped Chinese stocks scale post-November peaks, though figures were potentially skewed by Lunar New Year holidays.

(4) Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) meets. LaGarde presser is key.

The European Central Bank meets on Thursday in what is likely the final hurdle before it starts cutting interest rates.

Traders see a nearly 100% chance of a 25 basis-point cut in June, so a green light is crucial to uphold market sentiment. A flurry of policymakers have explicitly signaled June as the date of a first move. Even Austria's uber-hawk governor Robert Holzmann is not opposed.

Data showing inflation falling unexpectedly to +2.4% in March should give the ECB further confidence.

So, the ECB is very likely to signal rate cuts are coming.

The question is how explicit policymakers will be about June, given they want to review first-quarter wage growth figures that will be released in May.

(5) More central bank decisions arrive, along with the ECB's calls.

Rate setters elsewhere in the world are sandwiching the ECB: Canada and New Zealand meet on Wednesday, Singapore and South Korea on Friday.

No rate changes are anticipated, but traders want a sense of when rate cuts will come and how policymakers will navigate a delicate balancing act. Markets have trimmed bets for a June Canada rate cut after news the economy grew by 0.6% in January, its fastest growth rate in a year.

New Zealand is in a technical recession but with inflation still above 4.5%, easing is not expected until August.

Singapore is grappling with sticky inflation and the risk of elevated price pressures for longer as recent Taylor Swift concerts fueled service-sector price rises.

And Korea's central bank said in February it was too early to pivot with the path for inflation, at 3.1%, uncertain. Markets only bet on it cutting rates late this year.

Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY) Stocks

(1) CRH:This is an $85 stock in the Building Products-Miscellaneous industry, with a market cap of $58.3B. I see a Zacks Value score of C, a Zacks Growth score of D and a Zacks Momentum score of F.

CRH plc manufactures cement, concrete products, aggregates, roofing, insulation and other building materials.

Through its subsidiaries, the company operates in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

(2) Ford Motor:This is an $13 stock in the Domestic U.S. Auto industry, with a market cap of $52.5B. I see a Zacks Value score of A, a Zacks Growth score of F and a Zacks Momentum score of F.

Ford Motor Company designs, manufactures, markets and services cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles, electrified vehicles, and Lincoln luxury vehicles.

Apart from vehicles, the company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company LLC.

Ford has three reportable operating segments:

The Automotive segment is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, sale and service of Ford and Lincoln vehicles as well as service parts, and accessories.

The company's wholesales primarily consisted of vehicles sold to dealerships. It also sells parts and accessories to authorized parts distributors and offers extended service contracts.

The Mobility segment focuses on designing, building, growing and investing in mobility services, and autonomous technology businesses for the company. The segment works as a subsidiary of Ford under the name Ford Smart Mobility LLC.

The Ford Credit segment deals with vehicle-related financing and leasing activities.

(3) JD.com:This is a $26 stock in the Mainland China Internet Commerce industry, with a market cap of $41.2B. I see a Zacks Value score of A, a Zacks Growth score of A and a Zacks Momentum score of C.

JD.com, Inc. operates as an online direct sales company in China.

The company, through its website www.jd.com and mobile applications offers a selection of authentic products.

It offers computers; mobile handsets and other digital products, home appliances; automobile accessories; clothing and shoes; luxury goods including handbags, watches and jewelry, furniture and household products; cosmetics and other personal care items; food and nutritional supplements; books, e-books, music, movies and other media products; mother and childcare products; toys, sports and fitness equipment; and virtual goods.

JD.com, Inc. is based in Beijing, China.

Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?

Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.0 average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +44.9%, +48.4% and +55.2% per year.

Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.

See Stocks Free >>

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com                                      

https://www.zacks.com                                                   

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.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Ford Motor Company (F) - free report >>

JD.com, Inc. (JD) - free report >>

CRH PLC (CRH) - free report >>

Published in