Mark Lister, investment director with Craigs Investment Partners, said the December quarter has typically been the strongest for markets.<\/p>\n
He said since 1930 in the US, the December quarter has delivered an average 3.1% gain for the S&P 500, well above the other major indices with 1.7%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US third-quarter reporting season, starting with the financial heavyweights next week, will be a key for the markets. They have shaken off all the concerns because corporate earnings growth has been strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully markets remain resilient and push higher, and New Zealand will follow along \u2013 that\u2019s the way it seems to operate nowadays,\u201d Lister said.<\/p>\n
Analysts are expecting 30% year-on-year growth in the third quarter for the S&P 500, up from 26.7% at the end of June. That would be the third straight quarter of growth better than 25%.<\/p>\n
Wall Street eased as bond yields hovered around 24-year highs and industrial stocks had a sharp sell-off.<\/p>\n
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.66% to 51,179.87 points; and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite came off their highs, both declining 0.22% to 7801.77 and 27,538.69 points respectively.<\/p>\n
The US 10 Year Treasury Note yield increased to 5.31% and the 30 Year to 5.699%.<\/p>\n
Brent Crude oil remained stuck at US$102.3 (NZ$182.55) a barrel.<\/p>\n
Across the Tasman, the S&P\/ASX 200 Index was down 0.74% to 8662.9 points at 6pm NZ time. The Japanese Nikkei 225 had declined 0.93%; Hong Kong Hang Seng had decreased 0.69%; and South Korean Kospi index had fallen 1.6%.<\/p>\n
US Federal Reserve minutes said officials expected they would raise interest rates again before the end of the year to head off inflation that had run above target for more than five years.<\/p>\n
However, recent inflation data and comments from leading Fed officials indicate that at least for October, another increase is unlikely. There are two Fed meetings concluding on October 28 and December 9.<\/p>\n
In NZ<\/p>\n
The Fed\u2019s preferred gauge \u2013 the personal consumption expenditures price index \u2013 showed lower-than-expected core inflation at 3% for August and headline inflation at 3.4%.<\/p>\n
At home, Infratil declined 32c or 2.34% to $13.38; Napier Port was down 7c or 1.85% to $3.72; Turners Automotive shed 15c or 2.03% to $7.25; and Sanford decreased 25c or 4% to $6.<\/p>\n
The beaten-up retirement village stocks were again weaker. Ryman Healthcare fell 7c or 4% to $1.68; Summerset was down 14c or 2.01% to $6.83; and Oceania Healthcare dropped 3c or 4.29% to 67c.<\/p>\n
Vulcan Steel decreased 16c or 2.25% to $6.94; NZME was down 3c or 2.79% to $1.045; and PGG Wrightson decreased 5c or 2.44% to $2.Skellerup shed 12c to $7.80; Hallenstein Glasson eased 12c to $14.77; Delegat Group decreased 8c or 1.95% to $4.02; and Metro Performance Glass declined 2.5c or 2.78% to 87.5c.<\/p>\n
Mainfreight increased $1.20 or 1.87% to $65.50; Contact Energy gained 11c to $8.69; Stride Property added 2c or 1.89% to $1.08; and Foley Wines was up 2c or 3.42% to 60.5c.<\/p>\n
Miners Rua Gold increased 4.5c or 2.61% to $1.77, and Santana Minerals was down 2.5c or 4% to 60c.<\/p>\n
Cinema software management firm Vista Group, down 1c to $2.80, said in a presentation to the NZX Tech Investor Day that over the next five years, it expected to double annual recurring revenue (to more than $315m) and operating earnings (ebitda) margin (33-37%), and quadruple underlying free cash flow.<\/p>\n
Vista, which has a 48% global market share covering more than 80 countries, said more than a quarter of contracted sites were expected to be fully cloud-enabled by the end of the 2026 financial year.<\/p>\n
Vista provided full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $179 million-$184 million and ebitda margin of 18-20%.<\/p>\n
Green Cross Health, down 2.5c to $1.935, has appointed group operating officer Alison van Wyk<\/a> to the newly created role of Chief Executive of Pharmacy. She takes up the new role on March 31 next year.<\/p>\n Customer communications marketer Solution Dynamics, unchanged at 61.5c, has appointed Susie Watts<\/a>, the former chief financial officer, as the chief executive after holding the interim role since the start of the year.<\/p>\n