Global Fears Overshadow Local Earnings
The ASX 200 Index fell 178.9 points, or 2.7%, to 6,405.5 last week while the wider All Ordinaries shed 177.5 points, or 2.7% to close at 6485.9, its worst week since November last year.
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Wall St Recovers Following Turbulent Week
A sense of relief settled over markets on Friday and investors will be hoping that feeling becomes something more positive from today.
Read MoreBHP Headlines Huge Week Of Earnings
The big week for the Australian June 30 earnings season with around 115 ASX 200 companies due to release results which will tell us just how well corporate Australia performed in 2018-19.
Read MoreEarnings Catchup: Newcrest, Cochlear, Domain, oOh! Media
Cochlear’s 2018-19 results topped market expectations, Newcrest has ridden the rising gold price higher, Domain has cut its full-year dividend while investors have given oOh! Media’s 2019 profit downgrade a big thumbs down.
Read MoreGold Posts Third Straight Weekly Gain
Gold futures prices fell on Friday but still ended well above the $US1,500 mark in New York.
Read MoreDiary: Oz Earnings, Jackson Hole, Recession Fears
Global recession fears, events in Hong Kong, Donald Trump’s trade wars, the US Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole seminar plus a host of corporate earnings from the ASX. It’s a huge week ahead.
Read MoreOil Price Shakes Off Gloomy OPEC Outlook
Oil futures finished higher Friday and for the week, despite another forecast from OPEC about weakening demand this year and next.
Read MoreSuper Retail Rides Through “Subdued” Retail Conditions
One of the best performers in yesterday’s market-wide slide was the Super Retail Group which rode out the sluggish retail sector in the year to June and seems to have managed to overcome a wage underpayment scandal, even though there will be an added cost from it in 2019-20.
Read MoreASX Sheds $60bn In Global Market Rout
Australian 10-year bond yields fell further under the Reserve Bank’s cash rate to a new all-time low of just 0.88% yesterday as the ASX suffered a 2.9% slide in what was its worst one day’s performance since February with $A60 billion in value wiped from the market’s value.
Read MoreTreasury Wines Toasts Another Solid Year
Despite the attack from a short-selling group during the year, Treasury Wine Estates has reported a solid rise in earnings and dividend for the year to June.
Read MoreTelstra Confirms NBN Pain, Dividend Cut
Telstra has slashed its final dividend after a sharp slide in profit for the year to June 30 and shareholders have been warned to brace for an even bigger impact on its bottom line next year as a result of the NBN.
Read MoreBlackmores Profit Slumps On China Changes
Vitamins group, Blackmores saw its shares slump more than 15% at one stage on a sharp fall in profit, weaker sales in China and a big cut to its dividend.
Read More“Positive Momentum” Continues At Insurer QBE
Another result from QBE, the global insurer that hasn’t been impacted by problems somewhere in its far-flung operations.
Read MoreWoodside Cuts Dividend As Lower Energy Prices Bite
Shares in Woodside Petroleum have slumped more than 6% on a slide in world oil prices and a slashing of its interim dividend in the wake of a weak June half-year profit.
Read MoreYield Curve Panic: Bond Signals Send Shares Into Tailspin
Wall St has suffered its worst day of trading this year after global bond markets spooked investors signalling that a recession is near for the US and UK economies.
Read MorePublic Sector Adds Gloss To Lacklustre Wages
Australian Bureau of Statistics data yesterday confirmed that we are in the midst of a period of wage stagnation, with no sign of any improvement.
Read MoreJulian Segal Closes The Door On Caltex Tenure
Caltex Australia’s says its long-serving CEO, Julian Segal is to retire after ten years in the top job.
Read MoreAveo Agrees To Canadian Private Equity Buyout
Aveo Group has finally ended the dance and signed a deal with Brookfield Asset Management under which the Canadian firm will buy the retirement home operator for $1.27 billion.
Read MoreBullish CSL Hits Record High On Bumper FY19 Profit
CSL’s shares hit an all-time high yesterday after the company issued a bullish outlook statement on top of a very solid 2018-19 result and higher dividend (which was made a lot fatter by the slide in the value of the Aussie dollar in recent weeks).
Read More“Challenging”: Vicinity Centres Confirm Retail Recession
The decision by shopping centre operator, Vicinity to flog off more of its malls isn’t surprising given the sale late last year of 11 malls had no real impact on its weak returns which plunged more than 70% in the year to June and saw it cut its final distribution.
Read MoreChina Steel Output Drops Again In July
China’s steel industry cut output for a second successive month in July, helping in part explain the shock weakening in industrial output across the entire economy last month.
Read MoreChina’s Industrial Output Slumps To 17-Year Low
A 17-year low for industrial production was the lowlight from unexpectedly weak data from China yesterday in the final release of July economic figures.
Read MoreCaution Reigns At Argo After Cash Splash
Argo, like its LIC rivals, is now very cautious about the coming year and in reality is not really optimistic about another cash shower like the one enjoyed in the year to June.
Read MoreMagellan Bucks Shift To Passive Investment
Argo Investments 2018-19 results were similar to many of its rivals in the Listed Investment Company (LIC) space, or those more traditional with big holdings in old-line stocks like the big miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto and the spin-off of Coles from Wesfarmers late in 2018.
Read MoreRate Cuts Yet To Feed Into Business Conditions, Confidence
No good news for the Reserve Bank or the Federal Government from the July survey of business conditions and confidence from the National Australia Bank.
Read MoreChina Car Sales Hit The Skids In July
China’s passenger car fell for the 13th month in a row in July and in a worrying development, sales of new energy vehicles (such as electric-powered cars) fell for the first time in two years.
Read More“Lower-For-Longer” Rates Weigh On Challenger
Investors in Challenger Ltd slowly cooled to the company’s 2018-19 result yesterday which while meeting revised guidance in June (the second downgrade in five months) saw no change in what looks like a slow outlook.
Read More“Significant..Adverse”: Fonterra Faces Record Loss
Dud investments, political instability in South America, overvalued assets in NZ and the drought in Australia have made a mess of the accounts of giant New Zealand dairy group Fonterra.
Read MoreAnsell Profit, Dividend Edge Higher
Ansell shares were up more than 7% at one stage yesterday as investors gave what appeared to be a modest result (which included a small nudge up to the final dividend) for 2018-19 a big thumbs up.
Read MoreDividend Steady Despite Profit Slip At Bendigo Bank
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will pay a steady final dividend of 35 cents a share (for a steady full-year payout of 70 cents) after revealing a weak 6.6% slide in cash earnings to $415.7 million for the year to June.
Read MoreJB Hi-Fi Silences The Doubters
Shares in JB Hi-Fi hit an all-time high yesterday after the company revealed a solid 2018-19 result and outlook for 2019-20.
Read MoreIs This Warren Buffett’s Worst Investment?
Warren Buffett’s problems with Berkshire Hathaway’s loss-making investment in ailing food giant, Kraft Heinz, shows no sign of improving.
Read MoreTrump Triggers More Volatility With Comments On China Trade
President Donald Trump has again opened his mouth to inject more uncertainty into the trade war with China, unsettling markets.
Read MoreASX Gives Up 2.7% Over Volatile Week
Despite finishing the week with three positive sessions on the back of an aggressive 0.5% rate cut from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday, the market still closed lower by the end of the week.
Read MoreDiary: Reporting Season, US Inflation, Trade Tensions
The focus is on Australia this week for local markets, although all will have a weather eye on China with more data and, more importantly, the daily setting of the value of the Yuan to the US dollar.
Read More“Fragile” Demand Keeps Oil Under Pressure
Oil futures rose sharply on Friday, making back-to-back gains after slumping into a bear market earlier in the week on growing concerns about the impact Trump’s trade war is having on global economic activity and demand.
Read MoreGold Rally Rolls On
Comex gold futures settled virtually all but steady on Friday but enjoyed the best weekly return in more than a month.
Read MoreChina’s Producer Prices Prices Drop Into Deflation
Keep a close eye on more data on the health of the Chinese economy this week after deflation reappeared in the country’s huge industrial sector for the first time in three years.
Read MoreUS Markets To Put Retail Earnings Under The Microscope
While some important economic reports are coming in the US this week, it will be the health of the under-pressure retailing sector that will be examined in a series of quarterly reports.
Read MoreChina Trade: Imports Slump, Exports In Surprise Turnaround
Mixed messages from China’s July trade data. As imports fell 5.6%, exports staged their best monthly performance since March despite the intensifying Trump trade war.
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