Anirudh's Blogs

Asian markets opened the week on a mixed note after Wall Street hit new highs. Tokyo and Shanghai were up, but the Hang Seng and Taiwan’s Taiex were down, reflecting the global uncertainty despite a brief bout of optimism. Much of the bullishness in the US was triggered by Canada’s about-face on taxing US tech companies, which got trade talks back on track. According to the  Associated Press , Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said talks were back on, and markets were calm. Result? The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 6,173.07, the Nasdaq 20,273.46 and the Dow 1% to 43,819.27. It wasn’t just tech that was driving the rally. Almost every sector in the S&P 500 was up, including  Nike , which rose 15.2% despite warning of a tariff hit to earnings. That’s kind of the theme of the week. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.6% and China’s Shanghai Composite 0.5%, possibly helped by a slight improvement in factory activity after US-China tariffs were postponed in May. But Chinese manuf...

 Gold prices are drawing renewed attention as they approach a possible breakout. Recent analysis shows that if gold closes above its 50-day moving average, it would rally to the $3,245 level. A technical analyst, James Hyerczyk, for FX Empire said that "the gold price forecast indicates a potential break above the 50-day moving average," which "could open the door for a much bigger move higher" to the upside. Hence, it remains just a forecast, but a trade setup that has the market's attention. Economic factors are now aligning themselves in gold's favor. Inflation is retreating by inches but not swiftly enough to make investors less worried. The Wall Street Journal further states that "the Fed is expected to keep rates on hold with cuts likely pushed off till year-end," which keeps the opportunity cost for holding the non-yielding gold down. On the support side are central banks working to strengthen the price of gold. A report from the World Gold ...

Markets always remain uncertain, inflation being the theme, rate policy is the other, with geopolitical tension thrown in between. Double wondering, long-term investors prefer to refuse to hear any temporal noise. Instead, there are companies with structural tailwinds, margin expansion stories, and consistent execution on their radar. Here is a list of six names that have really been shining as of today. Chewy (CHWY) Doug Anmuth from JPMorgan remains bullish with an upward target revision to $47 for Chewy. The market punishment was too harsh for free cash flow going down, especially since customer count was up and Autoship engagement was stronger. This is an underestimated name in my opinion. Pet care is sticky spending, and Chewy's building recurring revenue through Autoship should have some resilience against investor thoughts. Execution has gotten better, and if the company can maintain its margin trajectory, it can have real upside. Pinterest (PINS) Bank of America sees very st...

The U.S. market this decade has solidified its global dominance, primarily through a few large technology companies, such as Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Magnificent Seven, now with Broadcom replacing Tesla, redefined what innovation and returns meant. But in 2025, investors may be reconsidering their relationship with U.S. equities, as international markets, especially in Europe, now show some promise. Non-U.S. stocks, by some accounts, have so far witnessed gains of about 14% in the current year, whereas those of the S&P 500 have managed only a 2% rise reported by James Mackintosh on  Wall Street Journal . Half of these international returns would lie in a weakening U.S. dollar, whereas this, along with some other factors, perhaps signals a much deeper questioning of where value and opportunities reside. Emerging technology has very much established the recent success of the United States. According to UBS HOLT research, R&D expenditure of the seven largest U.S. corp...

 Trade talks between the US and China are once again trending in the markets, this time pushing the markets upward. Now, Goldman Sachs Research confidence suggests that the  S&P 500 Index , which tracks 500 of the largest US companies, will go up  11% over the next year  to 6,500, mainly on the back of better trade relations and the chances of lower tariffs. Tariffs are taxes that governments put on imported goods. If the United States levies tariffs on Chinese products, American companies would have to pay higher prices when importing from China. Those companies could turn around and pass on the increased prices to the end consumers, absorb them themselves and hit their profits, or communicate these costs to suppliers. Investors are watching to see which companies will be hammered the hardest. Recent earnings did look good; US companies saw profits grow by 12% year over year last quarter, but that was before the effect was being felt from the new tariffs was fel...