Quarterly Outlook
Macro Outlook: The US rate cut cycle has begun
Peter Garnry
Chief Investment Strategist
Chief Investment Strategist
Summary: As the corporate earnings season approaches its final lap, Saxo's Peter Garnry takes a closer look at three key bluechips – Home Depot, Tencent and NVIDIA
The Q3 earnings season is losing steam with only 126 companies reporting earnings next week out of the 2,000 companies we track during the period. 90% of the companies in the S&P 500 Index have already reported earnings with positive earnings surprise across all sectors. In our previous Earnings Watch publications we have highlighted the earnings weakness in Europe, but the recent string of earnings releases have helped improving there. Revenue growth y/y is slightly higher in Q3, following dismal growth in the two previous quarters.
Today’s Earnings Watch publication focuses on Home Depot, Tencent and NVIDIA. The US housing market has been soft in the past year as mortgage rates have climbed on the back of tighter monetary policy. Home Depot’s earnings may be a first warning shot on housing cooling in the US as home improvement is partly driven by housing sentiment and the ability to take home equity loans.
Tencent is the worst performing large technology stock globally this year as China’s gaming addiction curb has hit sentiment hard with shares down 33% year-to-date. Tencent’s Q3 earnings are important for investor sentiment in China and Asian equity indices due to its index weight.
NVIDIA has been riding the boom in the semiconductor industry for years and last year saw a big boost from crypto mining operations. The big question is whether the comparables are getting too tough to beat and whether the semiconductor industry is hitting an intermediate peak here. Our view is that the US-China trade war will not see a deal anytime soon and the semiconductor industry is a strategic industry for both countries so the global supply chain in this industry could come under severe pressure in 2019.