Morgans AM: Tuesday, 21 November 2023

US equity markets advanced, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq extending gains into a fifth consecutive session - Dow rose +204-points or +0.58%, with Boeing Co (up +4.65% to US$217.71) the leading performer in the 30-stock index, buoyed by an upgrade at Deutsche Bank (who raised their target price to US$270 from US$204). Microsoft Corp climbed +2.05% to a record closing high of US$377.44 after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella said former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will be joining the technology giant to lead a new artificial intelligence (AI) research team. The news of Mr Altman’s hiring at Microsoft came after fraught efforts to restore him at OpenAI faltered late Sunday (19 November), with the ChatGPT developer’s board refusing to agree to the proposed terms of his reinstatement. Microsoft has a 49% stake in OpenAI but couldn’t overcome resistance to Altman’s return from the board that fired him last week.