The uncertainty in the national labour market was again underlined by the December data issued by the ABS which showed a surprise dip in the jobless rate to a nine-month low of 5.1% from 5.2% in November and 5.3% in October.
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Shares in construction and contracting group, CIMIC (The old Leighton Holdings) took a hammering yesterday (like those of Downer EDI did) after it revealed a big clean up and review of its businesses that will see it take a $1.8 billion dollar post-tax impairment on a Middle Eastern company.
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Shares in Downer EDI joined the downgrade crunch club yesterday after directors slashed 2019-20 earnings forecasts by around 12%.
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Well, the naming of former ANZ CEO, John McFarlane as the incoming chair of Westpac did nothing for the embattled bank’s share price yesterday.
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Westpac is expected to name former ANZ CEO, John McFarlane as its new chair, to replace Lindsay Maxstead who is leaving the bank in the wake of the multi-billion dollar money-laundering scandal.
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Shares in copper and tin miner, Metals X have fallen to historical lows after appointing Canaccord Genuity and Hartleys to review the company’s copper mines including the Nifty and Maroochydore projects.
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Santos has boosted its 2025 production target 20% from the already ambitious target it set only in December.
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No wonder shares in Coles and Woolworths soared to record highs late yesterday – a major potential rival from Germany has quit before it got around to opening a store in this country.
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Despite smoke and dust from Australia’s bushfires hampering output at its coal operations, BHP has maintained its production and cost guidance across its portfolio for the year to June after an uneventful three months to December.
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AMCIL has revealed it has finished the revamp its investment portfolio in a way similar to that revealed on Monday by its larger listed investment company stablemate, Australian Foundation Investment Co.
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Struggling Melbourne packaging group, Pact is putting its contract manufacturing division up for sale to relieve the pressure on the company’s finances by raising enough cash to pay down debt.
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Shares in nickel miner, Western Areas (WSA) ended down 0.35% at $2.85 yesterday despite encouraging news of two major metal contracts.
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Australia’s largest LIC has revealed a significant switch in its investments which has seen it slash its involvement with the country’s banking, finance and resource sectors.
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Super Retail – which owns Supercheap Auto, Rebel Sport, Boating Camping Fishing (BCF) and Macpac – says first-half trading had been subdued, with sales in its outdoor goods divisions directly hit by bushfires and smoke haze concerns and it is looking at a fall in earnings before interest and tax of up to 9% for the six months to December.
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Shares in online electronics retailer Kogan plunged 22% on Monday after a trading update fell short of market forecasts.
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Like its stablemate, Mirrabooka Investments, the disappearance of the threat to dividend imputation from an ALP win in the 219 federal election saw Australian Foundation Investment Co, the country’s biggest listed investment co (LIC) slash returns to its investors for the six months to December 31.
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Nufarm shares steadied yesterday in the wake of Friday’s slide on a more definitive profit downgrade for the six months to January 31.
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The essential paradox at the heart of health insurance – younger, healthier customers subsidising older, more health challenged customers has again emerged to bite nib on the profit and loss account.
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As we forecast last month, China’s 2019 crude steel production hit a record of just under 1 billion tonnes and there’s every chance that will be topped this year.
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Oil prices ended with a modest gain on Friday but notched up a loss for a second week as traders continued to assess the outlook for energy demand in the wake of the China-US trade deal and final Senate approval of the US-Mexico-Canada trade pact.
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Gold futures rose on Friday but barely budged for the week as the strong gains in sharemarkets around the world undermined the appeal of safe havens such as gold and silver.
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A national holiday in the US tonight will see a quiet start to trading on sharemarkets today – despite the run of record highs last week which has pushed the Aussie market to the top of the pile globally early in 2020.
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Rio Tinto might be forecasting production growth for its key WA iron ore operations for 2020, but any increase will be marginal compared with 2019 and the mooted target still remains under the optimistic 350 million tonnes set a year ago for 2019.
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Australia’s labour force data dominates this week – but given the surge in the stockmarket, it’s an odds on bet that investors will ignore whatever message the data carries.
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Woodside Petroleum reckons it is looking to boost 2020 production of oil and gas by 10% or more after reporting a near 7% rise in the Q4 production.
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This could be bad news for US economic growth and the 4th quarter earnings season. After highflying for 2019, America’s second-biggest retailer, Target was supposed to cap a stellar year with a solid sales performance in the usually buoyant holiday season.
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The earlier timing (January 25) of the Lunar New Year week-long break has had a dramatic impact on Chinese imports volumes (which will be repaid with a sharp slide in volumes for January next month) – imports of iron ore, LNG, copper, coal, and soybeans all rose sharply in December, while oil shipments were just under the highs seen in November.
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For all the talk of the damage the US trade war would do to Chinese exports, the impact, while very noticeable, wasn’t as dramatic as many analysts had claimed.
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After a stellar 2019, where will gold prices go in 2020? Well, the metal’s biggest bulls, The World Gold Council reckons it’s up (as you’d expect), and it will be driven by what it calls “the interplay between market risk and economic growth.”
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Denim specialist, Jeanswest has joined the list of retail victims with KPMG appointed as voluntary administrators of the retailer’s Australian operations. The collapse takes the list of failures in Australian retailing in the past year to more than one a month.
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Melbourne-based listed investment company, Mirrabooka has effectively slashed the interim payout to its security holders for the six months to December 31, 2019, by holding the interim steady at 3.5 cents a security and not repeating last year’s 10 cents a security special payout.
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As we forecast a month ago, China’s iron ore imports hit their second-highest annual figure on record in 2019 as shipments continued a solid second half rebound from a slow start to the year.
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China ended 2019 with more signs that the pork-driven surge in consumer inflationary pressures is easing, while producer deflation again eased in December.
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The US economy continues to grow slowly but there are growing signs that conditions are weaker than many forecasters believe.
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Mosaic Brands, the ASX-listed parent of women’s clothing chains including the popular Noni B, Rivers, and Millers says sales across its brands have taken a “significant” hit from the country’s bushfire crisis.
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Apple shares have started 2020 with a bang and the giant’s first-quarter December 31 earnings report on January 28 will go a long way to determining if the record-setting start to the year by Wall Street continues.
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2020 is looking like being a year to forget for gold miner Evolution even as gold prices have started the year strongly and the Aussie dollar has again faded back well under 70 US cents.
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We know Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway will report one of its worst annual performances viz a viz the S&P 500 index when it reveals full-year figures in early February. But reported earnings, including massive capital gains, could reach a record $US100 billion.
Read MoreLooking for guidance about where the market will go in 2020? Will it rise, will it fall, will it mark time – judging by the performance since last July, the latter seems a good option, at least for the first quarter.
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