Category: Stock Market

ASX travel shares are back in the spotlight now that COVID-19 has stepped back into the shadows.

The industry got a vote of confidence today after Regional Express Holdings Ltd (ASX: REX) announced a 10-year agreement with Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT).

Additionally, Rex revealed it has also signed agreements with ASX travel shares Helloworld Travel Ltd (ASX: HLO), Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB), and Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD), plus Consolidated Travel.

ASX travel shares team up

Revealing its “multiple agreements with major travel agency groups”, Rex picked out one deal for special mention.

“In particular, Rex has signed a landmark 10-year agreement with Flight Centre which ensures that Rex will be Flight Centre’s partner of choice over the next decade,” it said.

Rex said all the agreements will be in effect at the start of the new financial year beginning July 2023.

The ASX travel share expects the deals to result in a “more than doubling of Rex’s annual domestic jet revenues in FY2023 compared to its current annualised domestic jet revenues with no increase in fleet size”.

It also expects its regional revenue to be improved.

Speaking on the announcement, Rex’s general manager of sales Ann Elliott said the new partnerships were “critical to success”.

“These new partnerships are a testament to our growing reputation as a safe, reliable and affordable full-service airline which is enjoying ever-increasing passenger support,” she added.

Share price snapshot

At the time of writing, the Rex share price is up 0.99% at $1.02. It is down almost 28% this year to date and 18% over the past year.

The Flight Centre share price is currently down 1.15% today at $17.24. It has fallen 7% since the start of the year but is up 15% over the past 12 months.

The post These 2 ASX travel shares are tying the knot for the next 10 years appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Flight Centre share price stumbles amid ‘big blow’ from new tax
• ASX 200 travel shares take off again on Tuesday. Here’s why
• Why are ASX 200 travel shares lifting off on Monday?
• These are the 10 most shorted ASX shares
• Flight Centre share price climbs amid $30m investment in staff

Motley Fool contributor Zach Bristow has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Helloworld Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Helloworld Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Corporate Travel Management Limited, Flight Centre Travel Group Limited, and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It’s certainly been a tough time for the Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) share price of late. Challenger shares are today down a painful 1.05% at $6.57 a share. That’s in stark contrast to the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is currently in the green, having recorded a 0.31% gain so far today.

But Challenger’s woes go further back than today. This annuities provider has now slid by a nasty 13.3% over the past month alone. It was only last month that we saw Challenger at a 52-week high of $7.72 a share.

The past month’s dreary performance comes despite there being a total lack of news or announcements out of the company. So does this mean we could be looking at a buying opportunity for Challenger shares here?

Is the Challenger share price a buy today after a 12% slide?

Well, one expert who thinks it might be is TMS Capital portfolio manager Ben Clark. Last month, we covered how Clark chose Challenger as his pick for a higher interest rate world. Here’s some of what he said:

[Challenger is] effectively Salesforce Inc (NYSE: CRM), with financial planners pushing their products, particularly bank-employed financial planners. But it was also impacted by the move in cash rates to zero. Annuities don’t sound particularly attractive when you’re locking in a 1% rate for the rest of your life…

[It’s now] much more closely aligned to institutional solutions for annuities, particularly things like inflation linked to annuities and more boutique solutions to problems in big LICs… there’s earnings momentum coming back.

But Clark is not the only one bullish on Challenger. Last month, we also covered ASX broker UBS’s take on the company. In May, UBS rerated challenger shares as a buy and upped its price target for the company as well. UBS also reckons the company will benefit from higher interest rates and is “on the cusp of a material rebound in life profitability”.

So given the Challenger share price has slid meaningfully since these bullish opinions were aired, it’s likely that UBS and TMS Captial are both still bullish on Challenger shares in June.

At the current Challenger share price, this ASX 200 financials share has a market capitalisation of $4.46 billion, with a dividend yield of 3.37%.

The post Is the Challenger share price cheap after sliding 13% in a month? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• The Challenger share price is sliding 4% today. Is it a buy?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Salesforce, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Challenger Limited and Salesforce, Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price is soaring today, up 13.6% in early afternoon trading.

Zip shares closed yesterday trading for 44 cents and are currently swapping hands for 50 cents.

Certainly, that’s welcome news for Zip shareholders, who’ve watched the stock crash since hitting all-time highs in February last year.

ASX BNPL shares lifting off

It’s not just the Zip share price surging today. The wider ASX buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector is enjoying a strong showing.

The Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) share price is up 11.3% at the time of writing. And industry giant Block Inc (ASX: SQ2), which acquired Afterpay in January, is up 10.4%.

This as the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is up a more modest 0.7%.

As the best performing of the BNPL shares today, the Zip share price could be getting a boost from its release earlier this week reporting that the company is “well placed to respond to and offset” rising interest rates.

The company also reported on its relatively strong financial position, with CEO Larry Diamond adding, “We have been clear that in response to current market conditions our strategic priorities are to focus on our core business, both products and regions, and accelerate the group’s path to profitability.”

Another factor that’s lifting the Zip share price and the wider ASX BNPL sector is the strong performance of the dual-listed Block on US markets yesterday (overnight Aussie time). Block closed up 10.9% on the NYSE.

The catalyst for that lift looks to be news breaking that Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation fund acquired some 82,000 Block shares this week for almost $5 million.

Zip share price snapshot

Despite today’s big lift, the Zip share price remains down 88% in 2022. That compares to a year-to-date loss of 15% posted by the All Ordinaries.

Zip shares are also down 94% since this time last year and 43% over the past month.

The post The Zip share price is rocketing 14% today. What’s going on? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why ASX 200 tech shares are outperforming the market on Friday
• ASX 200 midday update: Qantas’ market update, lithium shares rebound
• Block share price jumps 9% following Cathie Wood investment
• Why Cooper Energy, Lake Resources, Leo Lithium, and Zip shares are sinking
• Why ANZ, Block, Bubs, and PayGroup shares are pushing higher

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc. and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) share price is on the move during early afternoon trading on Friday.

This comes after the talent and direct sourcing solutions company announced it has teamed up with ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions.

At the time of writing, LiveHire shares are soaring 33.33% to 36 cents.

LiveHire seals milestone deal

Investors are pushing up the LiveHire share price on news the company’s strategic partnership will see it penetrate new markets.

In its release, LiveHire advised it has signed a strategic master services agreement with ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions on behalf of its TAPFIN division (TAPFIN).

The latter makes up part of the US$4.8 billion United States-listed ManpowerGroup Inc (NYSE: MAN).

TAPFIN is recognised as one of the four largest managed service providers (MSPs) in the world, per the release. The business manages more than US$20 billion in contingent spend through 103 countries.

Under the deal, LiveHire will serve as primary partner in offering direct sourcing solutions to TAPFIN’s North American clients. This will be on a non-exclusive basis.

LiveHire noted that there is further scope for the agreement to extend beyond North America. This includes access into other countries across Europe, the UK, and the Asia Pacific region.

The contract is based on LiveHire’s standard commercial terms. However, management is not able to put a value on the agreement because TAPFIN has not yet signed the first client to use the platform.

Nonetheless, LiveHire believes that due to the size of TAPFIN and its client base, the deal will be significant.

Commenting on the news driving the LiveHire share price today, CEO Christy Forest said:

We’re thrilled to have completed a competitive process conducted by TAPFIN, and to work with the TAPFIN team to bring our joint direct sourcing solution to TAPFIN’s clients.

About the LiveHire share price

Despite today’s astronomical gains, the LiveHire share price is trading relatively flat when looking over the last 12 months.

The company’s shares reached a 52-week low of 23.5 cents earlier this month before bouncing back to April 2022 levels.

LiveHire has a market capitalisation of roughly $80.28 million.

The post This small-cap ASX share is soaring 33% on strategic partnership news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Should you sell biotech stocks if there’s a recession?
• 2 fantastic international ETFs for ASX investors to buy
• Down 9% in a week, what’s going on with the Chalice Mining share price?
• Why are ASX 200 mining shares having such a dire week?
• Why is the Kogan share price jumping 12%?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

Commentators everywhere are professing that a recession is nigh, and there’s reason to believe they’re right. The market is down, inflation is up, and inventories are starting to bulge with unsold goods. If you’re feeling a mounting sense of doom, you’re definitely not alone. 

But none of the above are good reasons to sell your biotech stocks. In fact, there’s a compelling argument that recessions are exactly when you should be buying them. Let’s go through a few of the paradigms that explain why.

Here’s why selling might be ill-advised

The first reason to refrain from selling your biotech stocks during a recession is that the drug-development cycle is typically much longer than the duration of most recessions, and it can often take upwards of 12 years to move a candidate from early research through the entire clinical trials process. On average, recessions last 17.5 months, but the latest recession in early 2020 only lasted two months. Remember, most biotech companies can’t generate much in the way of revenue until they have a medicine that’s approved for sale. So if they don’t have any drugs on the market and a recession occurs, nothing changes about their sales. 

Nor does much of anything change about their chance of earning future sales as a result of successfully commercializing a medicine. Only around 20.9% of drug candidates manage to make it through the entire clinical trials process and reach the market, and failures along the way are almost always due to an unacceptable safety profile or weak efficacy. Economic factors can’t detract from or make up for a drug’s clinical performance, though they could negatively impact sales — but it’s not a given that sales will fall. 

Even for companies that already have products on the market, recessions aren’t a deal breaker because revenue can still grow when the economy is shrinking. Take Seagen‘s (NASDAQ: SGEN) performance during the Great Recession as an example. Its quarterly revenue grew by 62.9% from the middle of June in 2007 through the same time in 2009.

While its shares did still lose value during that period, their decline of around 6.5% was far less than the market’s collapse of more than 39.7%. And if you held your shares from right before the recession officially started until a year later, you’d be sitting on significant gains compared to the market’s performance — and that was true for more than just Seagen, as shown below:

^SPX data by YCharts.

That’s right: The industry-tracking SPDR S&P Biotech ETF beat the market both during and immediately after the recession. Especially for biotech investors who love to diversify within the industry, that’s a strong confirmation that selling your shares in the face of economic turmoil could be a big mistake.

It might even make sense to buy

For risk-tolerant investors, recessions are actually a great time to load up on shares of attractive biotechs when they’re cheaper than normal. The trick is to understand which companies have declining share prices because of events beyond their control and which are likely to struggle in a recessionary environment.  

Consider CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) as an example; it has more than $2.2 billion in the bank but trailing 12-month operating expenses of only around $592 million. Its pipeline has a handful of mid-stage gene-editing therapies, and its share price bounced back promptly to smash the market’s return after the coronavirus crash and recession. Take a look:

^SPX data by YCharts.

As you can see, if you find biotechs that fit the bill, recessions can be an appealing time to invest. Biotechs with plenty of cash, minimal expenses, and pipelines packed with late-stage programs are positioned to withstand recessions better than others. Falling share prices make issuing new stock an unattractive way to raise funds, and having a lot of cash relative to research and development (R&D) expenses and operating expenses means that management can afford to wait for better conditions before doing an offering.

At the same time, companies with a lot of late-stage programs are closer to realizing revenue than others, which means they’ll also have an easier time getting debt financing if it’s necessary. If you already hold shares of the sturdier contenders, know that selling might well help you avoid some short-term losses — but there’s also a good chance it’ll preclude you from realizing long-term gains once the economy recovers.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post Should you sell biotech stocks if there’s a recession? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• This small-cap ASX share is soaring 33% on strategic partnership news
• 2 fantastic international ETFs for ASX investors to buy
• Down 9% in a week, what’s going on with the Chalice Mining share price?
• Why are ASX 200 mining shares having such a dire week?
• Why is the Kogan share price jumping 12%?

Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CRISPR Therapeutics and Seagen Inc. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

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Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are very popular with investors and it isn’t hard to see why. Never has it been so easy for investors to gain access to groups of shares from all corners of the world.

But given how many ETFs there are to choose from, it can be hard to decide which ones to add to a portfolio. To narrow things down for readers, I have picked out two highly rated and popular ETFs to get better acquainted with today. They are as follows:

iShares S&P 500 ETF (ASX: IVV)

The first ASX ETF for investors to look at is the iShares S&P 500 ETF. This ETF aims to provide investors with the performance of Wall Street’s famous S&P 500 Index, before fees and expenses.

BlackRock, the operator of iShares, highlights that the ETF gives investors exposure to the top 500 U.S. stocks through a single investment. This allows Australian investors to use the fund to diversify internationally and seek long-term growth opportunities for a portfolio.

Among its largest holdings are Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, JP Morgan, Johnson & Johnson, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.

VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (ASX: MOAT)

Another ETF for investors to look at is the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF. This ETF gives investors access to a diversified portfolio of ~50 fairly priced US companies with sustainable competitive advantages or moats (hence the ETF’s name).

Companies with moats have historically generated strong returns for investors. As a result, it is for this reason that Warren Buffett looks for companies with this quality when picking investments. And given the strong returns the legendary investor has generated over the long term, it is hard to argue against this strategy.

If you buy this ETF you’ll be owning a slice of companies such as Alphabet, Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Walt Disney.

The post 2 fantastic international ETFs for ASX investors to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Why I think better buying opportunities could still be ahead for ASX shares
• Here are 3 top ETFs for ASX investors to buy now
• Waiting to start investing in ASX shares? Today could be a brilliant time to do it
• 2 ASX growth shares I’d buy right away with $2,000
• 3 high quality ETFs for ASX investors to buy this month

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF and iShares Trust – iShares Core S&P 500 ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX: CHN) share price has had a week to forget. But at least it’s not alone in its tumble. It’s been joined by many of its S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) resource peers.

At the time of writing, the Chalice Mining share price is picking up to trade at $3.75, 7.45% higher than its previous close. Though, that’s still 8.53% lower than it was at the end of last week.

For context, the ASX 200 is also up 0.28% today while the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has gained 0.5%.

Let’s take a closer look at what might have gone wrong for the ASX 200 mineral explorer and developer’s stock this week.

What’s weighing on the Chalice Mining share price?

The Chalice Mining share price is regaining some of its previous tumble today. It’s suffered lately amid a sell-off among resource shares and sliding commodity prices.

Many of the company’s projects house on copper, nickel, gold, and platinum group elements.

Unfortunately, the prices of both copper and nickel have slipped more than 5% over the last week on the London Metal Exchange. The fall has left the price of nickel at its lowest point since February while copper is trading at 16-month lows.

Meanwhile, gold futures have slipped 1% over the course of this week, according to CommSec.

The commodities’ downturn might have weighed on the Chalice Mining share price this week despite Goldman Sachs increasing its voting power in the company by around 1% to reach 9.2% on Monday after selling a similar amount earlier this month.

It’s likely also dragging on the S&P/ASX 200 Resources Index (ASX: XJR). The sector has fallen 5.3% since last Friday’s close.

The last time the market heard news from Chalice Mining was nearly a month ago. Then, the company announced it had successfully completed a $100 million institutional placement.

The placement saw the company offering news shares for $6 apiece. That marked a 10% discount to the Chalice Mining share price.

Since then, the stock has plunged 39%. It has also fallen 58% since the start of 2022 and 47% since this time last year.

The post Down 9% in a week, what’s going on with the Chalice Mining share price? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Chalice Mining share price spikes 6%, reversing series of losses
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• Here’s why the Chalice Mining share price sank almost 7% today
• Why BHP, BrainChip, Chalice Mining, and Fisher & Paykel shares are dropping

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) mining shares have broadly underperformed the benchmark index this week.

The ASX 200 is up 1% since the opening bell on Monday.

The S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index (ASX: XMM), which includes some companies outside of ASX 200 mining shares, is down 4%.

And the pain has been felt across the sector, regardless of the metals the miners are most focused on.

Here’s how some of the biggest ASX 200 mining shares by market cap have performed so far this week:

• Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is down 2.9%
• BHP Group Limited (ASX: BHP) share price is down 4.7%
• Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) share price is down 4.9%
• Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) share price is down 6.6%
• Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) share price is down 5.0%

ASX 200 mining shares pressured by economic growth outlooks

Whether they’re predominantly after iron ore, gold, copper, lithium or a range of other metals, ASX 200 mining shares have seen the price of those metals drop this week.

There are a number of factors at work here.

First, despite promises of more economic stimulus from the Chinese government, investors are concerned the Middle Kingdom won’t achieve its growth targets this year. As the world’s top importer of iron ore, and chief market for Aussie exports, this has seen the price of the industrial metal slide this week, despite an overnight bump.

Recession fears

Increasing jitters about the likelihood of a recession in the United States is also putting pressure on base metal prices and by extension ASX 200 mining shares. Should the world’s largest economy slip into a recession, the effects will likely be felt across much of the globe.

Copper prices this week were indicative of those recessionary fears.

You may have heard of copper referred to as ‘doctor copper’. That’s because copper is widely used in a range of construction and manufacturing activities. When the global economy is growing, demand for copper follows suit and prices rise. The same works in reverse.

And the copper price has slipped 7% since Monday, trading at its lowest level since February 2021.

The post Why are ASX 200 mining shares having such a dire week? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Own BHP shares? ‘Almost unbelievable’ breakthrough could be key to miner’s climate strategy
• Here’s the BHP dividend forecast through to 2024
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• Why did the Mineral Resources share price tumble on Thursday?
• Here’s why the BHP share price is in the red today

Motley Fool contributor Bernd Struben has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) share price is having a long-awaited positive day.

After reaching another multi-year low this week, the ecommerce company’s shares are rebounding strongly on Friday.

At the time of writing, the Kogan share price is up almost 12% to $3.15.

Why is the Kogan share price storming higher?

The driver of today’s gain has been a bit of a mystery. However, it is worth noting that Kogan is not alone in recording strong gains.

In fact, most beaten down ecommerce and tech shares are rising equally strongly at the time of writing. Here’s a quick summary of some of the highlights:

• The Life360 Inc (ASX: 360) share price is up 15%.
• The Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL) share price has jumped 8%.
• The Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) share price is up 9%.
• The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price has stormed 13% higher.

This has led to the S&P ASX All Technology index rising 4.5% this afternoon, which is significantly better than the ASX 200 index and its 0.4% gain.

It appears as though investors believe that the tech sector has been oversold and has created a buying opportunity.

Time will tell if the sector has bottomed or if this is a dead cat bounce.

The post Why is the Kogan share price jumping 12%? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Life360, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Kogan.com ltd, Life360, Inc., REDBUBBLE FPO, Temple & Webster Group Ltd, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has had a rather topsy-turvy start to the final trading day of the week. The ASX 200 plunged soon after open but has since rebounded. It currently remains up by around 0.26% at just over 6,540 points. But it’s a different story when it comes to ASX tech shares today.

ASX tech shares are among some of the ASX’s best performers today. Not only is tech currently the best-performing ASX sector on the markets, but some individual tech shares are topping the best-performing shares so far today.

Take Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) shares. They are currently up a healthy 9.63% at $97.34 each. Or Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP), up 13.64% at 50 cents a share. Life360 Inc (ASX: 360) is leading the sector with its gain of 14.11% to $2.75 a share. Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) is up 5.69%, while WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) has risen 4.68%.

So what’s behind this breakaway performance from ASX tech shares today?

Well, a significant factor could be the performance of the US markets last night (our time).

Overall, US shares had a day of mild gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) rising by 0.64%. But US tech shares led the gains. Even though the Dow only rose by 0.64%, the tech-heavy NASDAQ-100 (NASDAQ: NDX) was up a far healthier 1.47%.

Are US tech shares leading ASX tech shares higher?

Many US tech shares rocketed in last night’s session. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose by 2.16%. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) was up 2.26%, while Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) was up by 3.2%. Block’s US listing – Block Inc (NYSE: SQ) – was up almost 11%.

These moves followed some new comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Powell was speaking in front of the US Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Here’s some of what he said:

Making appropriate monetary policy in this uncertain environment requires a recognition that the economy often evolves in unexpected ways. Inflation has obviously surprised to the upside over the past year, and further surprises could be in store.

We therefore will need to be nimble in responding to incoming data and the evolving outlook. And we will strive to avoid adding uncertainty in what is already an extraordinarily challenging and uncertain time.

We are highly attentive to inflation risks and determined to take the measures necessary to restore price stability. The American economy is very strong and well positioned to handle tighter monetary policy.

This statement may have spurred the rises we saw in US tech shares last night. It certainly did nothing to harm investors’ mood anyway.

So ASX tech shares seem to be following the leads of their US counterparts on the markets today. This is not unusual – we often see a tight correlation between the two markets’ tech sectors.

No doubt these moves in ASX tech shares today will be met with some relief from investors, given the painful week or two we have just witnessed.

The post Why ASX 200 tech shares are outperforming the market on Friday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Amazon, Apple, Block, Inc., and Microsoft. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Amazon, Appen Ltd, Apple, Block, Inc., Life360, Inc., Microsoft, WiseTech Global, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended the following options: long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc. and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Amazon and Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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