Early morning call: BYD takes EV makers’ top spot

Hang Seng falls as Apple shares drop

Equity markets were mostly down in Asia-Pacific region overnight. The Hang Seng fell, led by its tech sector, in the wake of Apple's performance. Apple shares dropped 3.8% yesterday after Barclays downgraded the stock to underweight.

British business leaders have turned more pessimistic about the outlook for the country's economy. The Institute of Directors' confidence index - which maps the gap between business leaders who are optimistic about the economy and those who are pessimistic - fell to -28 in December from -21 in November. After plummeting in June, the index had been gradually rising. In the IoD statement, policy director Roger Barker said that "with inflationary pressures abating, business is in dire need of a boost if it is to help drive meaningful economic growth in 2024. The IoD called on the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates in early 2024.

What will the FOMC minutes reveal this evening? It seems rates will be lower at the end of 2024 than they are today. Some dovish economists are suggesting up to 7 cuts of 25bps in 2024, but the Fed has hinted at around half that. Those expectations have the potential to be readjusted as the result of the minutes out tonight from the Fed's announcement on 13 Dec.

Germany and US jobs data

Earlier, Germany's unemployment rate is expected to remain at 5.9% in December. That will be at 8.55am. The index has been slowly but steadily rising in 2023, from 5.5% in January. Analysts forecast unemployment rate to trend around 6.2% in 2024, and drop back to around 5.9% in 2025.

Over in the US, at 3pm, JOLTs job openings. The number of job openings should have marginally increased in November from the prior month, by around 120,000 to 8.85 million. October was the lowest level since March 2021. Also at 3pm, ISM manufacturing PMI. Activity in expected to forecast to contract for a sixteenth consecutive month. December estimate stands at 47.1, after 46.7 recorded the previous month.

BYD supercedes Tesla as best-selling EV maker

Tesla has been knocked off the top spot as the world's best-selling electric-vehicle maker for the first time by BYD after recording fewer deliveries than its Chinese rival in the past quarter. Tesla delivered 484,000 cars in the fourth quarter, beating estimates of 473,000 anticipated by analysts, despite this it's lost out to BYD as the world's biggest EV maker reported record sales of battery-only vehicles of 526,000 for the same period. It highlights the quiet progress BYD has made and justifies the Warren Buffett investment in the business, although that was slashed to 10% last May as Buffett took profits. The FT says BYD is now sharpening its focus on finding new foreign markets including in Europe. Meanwhile, Rivian, the so-called adventure electric vehicle manufacturer reported it had delivered 13,972 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023, falling short of the 14,000 forecasted by analysts.