The S&P500 and Nasdaq climbed to fresh record highs after closely watched employment data came in largely as expected, reinforcing investor confidence in the strength of the economy and expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again later this month - Dow eased -123-points or -0.28% UnitedHealth Group Inc fell -5.07% to be the worst performer in the 30-stock index on Friday (6 December) as the murder of the CEO of the US’s largest health insurer, Brian Thompson, continued to reverberate.  Nvidia Corp -1.81% Amazon.com Inc rallied +2.94% and hit a fresh record high (US$227.15).

Morgans AM: Monday, 9 December 2024

US equity markets advanced after the latest inflation data cemented expectations for a quarter-point interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week - Dow eased -99-points or -0.22% , with Johnson & Johnson (down -1.74%) and McDonald’s Corp (-1.53%) down over >1.5%. Apple Inc lost -0.52% after scaling a record intra-day high (US$250.80) earlier in the session. Nvidia Corp gained +3.14%, while Amazon.com Inc (up +2.32%) and Nike Inc (+2.75%) climbed over >2%.

Morgans AM: Thursday, 12 December 2024

Steam is used for a wide variety of critical processes across many industrial sectors. For example, pulp and paper facilities use steam to power paper machines, dry paper and wood products, and provide heat for chemical recovery processes. Steam is used by metal and mining companies, as well as in the food and beverage industry, petroleum refining, pharmaceutical manufacturing, textile production, and many other industrial processes.
“About 20% of global carbon emissions come from the industrial heat sector, and virtually all of that industrial heat today is produced by burning hydrocarbons—coal and natural gas—and emitting carbon into the atmosphere,” Clay Sell, CEO of X-energy, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “With our technology, we have the opportunity to replace hydrocarbons and use nuclear-generated carbon-free steam to dramatically decarbonize these so-called hard-to-decarbonize sectors.”
X-energy is a nuclear reactor and fuel design engineering company. It is developing Generation-IV high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors and what’s known as TRISO-X fuel to power them. 
The company’s Xe-100 small modular reactor (SMR) is an 80-MWe reactor that can be scaled into a four-pack (320-MWe power plant) that can grow even larger as needed. “The most significant advantages that we have over large-scale traditional nuclear power plants is the evolution of our technology, our safety case, and the smaller, more simplified designs that can be built with much less time and much less money,” Sell said. “We’re a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor using a TRISO fuel form—that’s ceramic, encapsulated fuel in a round pebble that flows through the reactor like gumballs through a gumball machine.”
The Xe-100 design’s intrinsic safety makes it especially unique. “This is a plant that cannot melt down under any scenario that one could imagine affecting the plant. So, that extraordinary safety case allows us to operate on a very small footprint,” said Sell. The simplified design has fewer subsystems and components, less concrete, less steel, and less equipment than traditional nuclear power plants. 
As noted previously, X-energy’s SMR is capable of producing high-quality steam, which is especially attractive for use in industrial processes. As such, Dow Inc., one of the world’s leading materials science companies, has agreed to deploy the first Xe-100 unit at its Union Carbide Corp. Seadrift Operations, a sprawling chemical materials manufacturing site in Seadrift, Calhoun County, Texas. “Our first project is going to be deployed in a public-private partnership with the U.S. government and Dow Inc., the large chemical manufacturer, at a site southwest of Houston, Texas, that will come online around the end of this decade,” Sell reported.
Currently, X-energy is in the final stages of its design effort. Once complete, the next step will be to submit a construction permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). If all goes according to plan, the application should be approved by the NRC in early 2027, which would allow construction to start around that time. “We anticipate construction on the plant to be about a three- to three-and-a-half-year process, which will then bring it online in the early 2030s,” Sell explained.
Beyond that, X-energy has an agreement to supply Amazon with 5 GW of new SMR projects (64 units) by 2039, starting with an initial four-unit 320-MWe Xe-100 plant with regional utility Energy Northwest in central Washington. Sell believes the deal positions X-energy to quickly apply lessons learned from its first-of-a-kind project with Dow, replicate and repeat the effort to achieve scale, and reach a favorable nth-of-a-kind cost structure faster than anyone else in the SMR market today.
Said Sell, “When we imagine a future of a decarbonized economy with reliable power supporting dramatic growth at a reasonable cost, I believe X-energy is going to be a central technology to that future.”

177. How Nuclear Power Could Help Decarbonize Industrial Steam Needs

30-stock index, while Home Depot Inc (-1.65%), Nike Inc (-1.13%), Sherwin-Williams Co (-1.37%) and Nvidia Corp (-1.41%) all fell over >1%.

The broader S&P500 lost -0.54%. Consumer Discretionary (down -0.84%) and Health Care (-0.83%) both fell over >0.8% to lead ten of the elven primary sectors lower. Consumer Staples (up +0.18%)  Eight stocks in the S&P 500 hit fresh 52-week highs Adobe Inc -13.69% after the software giant  provided disappointing first quarter and full-year revenue guidance as part of its fourth quarter results release after the close of the previous session. Warner Bros Discovery jumped +15.43% after the group behind HBO and CNN said it would split its television networks and streaming and studios businesses into two “distinct operating divisions”, in a move that sets a path towards the company’s eventual break-up.

Morgans AM: Friday, 13 December 2024

US equity mostly firmer top open a week punctuated by major global central bank meetings and inflation data - Dow fell -111-points or -0.25%, recording an eight straight session decline to book its longest stretch of daily losses since 2018. Unitedhealth Group Inc (down -4.22%), Verizon Communication Inc (-3.31%) and Chevron Corp (-2.93%) logged the sharpest falls in the 30-stock index overnight.  Nvidia Corp lost -1.92% to US$131.46 and entered official correction territory (down over >10% from its 7 November all-time high of US$148.88). Honeywell International Inc (up +3.68%) was the leading Dow component overnight as the conglomerate issued an update on its portfolio review begun earlier this year, noting that it is considering spinning off its aerospace unit.  Amazon.com Inc (+2.4%) and Boeing Co (+2.07%) both climbed over >25.

Morgans AM: Tuesday, 17 December 2024

US equity markets retreated ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision and updated economic projections tomorrow morning AEST (19 December) - Dow fell -268-points or -0.61%, the 30-stock index’s ninth consecutive session decline and longest stretch of daily losses since 1978. Unitedhealth Group Inc (down -2.6%) was the worst performing Dow component for a second session running, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc (-1.99%) and Salesforce Inc (-1.75%) both fell over >1.5%. Nvidia Corp fell -1.22% to US$130.39 to push further into official correction territory (down -12.42% from their closing high of US$148.88 last month).

Morgans AM: Wednesday 18 December 2024

US equity markets fell sharply after the Federal Reserve cut rates as expected but pumped the brakes on future rate cuts - Dow dropped -1,123-points or -2.58%, logging its tenth consecutive session decline. Amazon.com Inc (down -4.6%), American Express Co (-4.5%) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (-4.25%) all fell over >4%, with all 30 index components settling in the red with the exception of Unitedhealth Group Inc (+2.92%). Nvidia Corp fell -1.14%, unwinding an earlier rally of ~4.8%% and falling deeper into official correction territory. The stock was buoyed earlier in the session by a report that gave an optimistic outlook about the chipmaker's production, especially of its Blackwell NVL / GB200 system.

Morgans AM: Thursday 19 December 2024

US equity markets little changed a day after the Federal Reserve that it will deliver fewer rate cuts in 2025 than policymakers had previously anticipated, and with investors eyeing key inflation figures and potential volatility tied to large options expiries tonight AEST  - Dow inched +15 or +0.04% higher, snapping a ten session losing streak – the 30-stock indice’s longest losing streak since 1974.

Morgans AM - Friday, 20 December 2024

US equity markets rebounded on Friday (20 December) following tame inflation figures, recouping some of the steep losses recorded earlier in the week after the Federal Reserve signalled a potentially smaller reduction in interest rates in 2025 than Fed officials previously projected - Dow rallied +498-points or +1.18%, with Nvidia Corp (up +3.08%) the leading performer in the 30-stock index.

Morgans AM: Monday, 23 December 2024

US equity markets advanced amid light trading volume to conclude a holiday-shortened week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snaping five-session losing streaks - Dow rose +340-points or +0.80%, ending a run of four consecutive session declines. Nvidia Corp rallied +4.45% to be the leading performer in the 30-stock index ahead of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang delivering a keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas tonight AEST which is expected to highlight how Nvidia's semiconductors are powering some of the most advanced products being shown off at the conference. Microsoft Corp (up +1.14%) announced that it would spend US$80B on artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled data centres in fiscal 2025. Apple Inc (down -0.20%) retreated for a fifth straight session, on the cusp of becoming the first company ever to surpass US$4 trillion in market capitalization a week earlier. Apple has kicked off the new year by offering iPhone discounts from 4 January to 7 January in China, according to the company’s website in the country.

Morgans AM - Monday, 6 January 2025

US equity markets advanced albeit the major indices settled well off their session highs, with chipmakers trading particularly strongly - Dow slipped -26-points or -0.06% Nvidia Corp rallied +3.43% to be the leading performer in the 30-stock index for a second straight session ahead of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang delivering a keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Chip-related stocks more broadly traded strongly after Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology Co Ltd - whose customers include Apple Inc (+0.67%) and Nvidia Corp – reported record fourth-quarter revenue (up +15% year-on-year to 2.132 trillion New Taiwan dollars or ~US$65.09B). Amazon.com Inc (+1.53%) and Microsoft Corp (+1.06%) both gained over >1%. Procter & Gamble Co (down -2.43%) was the worst performing Dow component overnight. 



Morgans AM: Tuesday, 7 January 2025

US equity markets retreated and bond yields climbed following the release of economic data that raised fresh inflation concerns - Dow fell -178-points or -0.42%. Nvidia Corp dropped -6.22% after hitting an all-time high (US$153.13) in early trading after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang delivered a keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and provided several noteworthy technology updates.  Amazon.com Inc fell -2.42% 

Morgans AM: Wednesday 8 January 2025

US equity markets mixed  ahead of the release of the latest non-farm payrolls report on Friday night AEST (10 December) - Dow rose +107-points or +0.25% CNN reported that President-elect Donald Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency to provide legal justification for a series of universal tariffs on allies and adversaries, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Morgans AM: Thursday, 9 January 2025

US equity markets were CLOSED overnight in observance of a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter, who passed away aged 100 late last year.

Morgans AM: Friday, 10 January 2025

US equity markets down on Friday, with a surge in bond yields after a much hotter-than-expected December jobs report putting prospects for further rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in doubt, The 10-year yield finished up 9.2 basis points to 4.772%, its highest since Nov. 1, 2023. Conversely, the Dow bled -697 points or -1.63%. 

Morgans AM - Monday, 13 January 2025

US equity markets mixed on Monday, The Dow Jones climbing higher, outperforming, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped as traders continued to sell off major tech stocks that have powered the recent bull market. The 30-stock Dow rose 358 points, or 0.86%, as investors rotated into non-tech shares like Caterpillar, JP Morgan, and United Health (up 3.28%, 1.81%, and 3.93% respectively). Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped -0.38%, and the S&P500 inched up 0.16%. All three benchmarks are down for the last two weeks, with tech shares causing most of the damage. 

Morgans AM: Tuesday, 14 January 2025

•	US equity markets seesawed between gains and losses on Tuesday as investors digested a surprisingly soft wholesale inflation report and awaited more inflation data on Wednesday. Every number in the PPI report, both headline and core gauge for the monthly and yearly time frame came in softer than expected. This weak appetiser should ease expectations a touch for the main course – the upcoming CPI data for December – released tonight. The Dow up 221 points or 0.52%, the 30-stock index again being led by for a second straight session by non-tech shares, Caterpillar (up 2.5%), and 3M (up 1.94%) leading the charge. 

Morgans AM: Wednesday 15 January 2025

Major US indexes were little changed at midday on Thursday but closed slightly down, as investors reacted to quarterly reports, while major tech companies gave back some of the previous session’s gains. Dow slipped -68 points or -0.16%, the 30-stock index dragged down by United Health (down -6.04%) and Apple (down -4.04%).

Morgans AM: Friday, 17 January 2025

Morgans is Australia's largest national full-service retail stockbroking and wealth management network with more than 240,000 client accounts, 500 authorised representatives and 950 employees operating from offices across all states and territories in Australia.

The POWER Podcast provides listeners with insight into the latest news and technology that is poised to affect the power industry. POWER’s Executive Editor Aaron Larson conducts interviews with leading industry experts and gets updates from insiders at power-related conferences and events held around the world.

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