Morgans AM: Tuesday, 7 March 2023

US equity markets mixed, relinquishing earlier session gains as investors eyed a busy week on the economic calendar - Dow added +40-points or +0.12%, paring an earlier gain of as much as +181-points. Merck & Co Inc rallied +3.95% after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the addition of the intramuscular (IM) route of administration for the company’s MMRV (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Virus) family of vaccines. Merck also announced results from multiple studies The broader S&P500 settled +0.07% higher, having been up as much as 1% earlier in the session. Materials (down -1.65%) led six of the eleven primary sectors lower. Information Technology (up +0.53%) was the leading primary sector performer overnight. Apple Inc – which accounts for ~7% of the S&P500 - rose +1.85% to US$153.83, with a new analyst at Goldman Sachs initiating coverage on the technology giant with a ‘Buy’ rating and US$199 target price. The investment bank believes the market should be paying more attention to the company’s installed user base and recurring revenue growth from services, or as Goldman analysts put it, the “Apple-as-a-Service” opportunity. The Nasdaq slipped -0.11%, unwinding an earlier rally of as much as +1.2%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 fell -1.48%.