Iron ore prices have topped $110 a tonne for 62% Fe ore delivered to Northern China as BHP, Fortescue and Rio ship as much product as possible to China to make up for the shortfall from Vale and to exploit the high prices.
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Australia’s jobless rate in May was steady in both trend terms (5.1%) and seasonally adjusted (5.2%), according to the latest labour Force report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics – a sign perhaps that the labour market is starting to fade.
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A day after consumer credit group, Afterpay Touch raised more than $300 million and the three founders sold shares worth more than $100 million to two US investment companies, the shares plunged 12% after the financial intelligence regulator, AUSTRAC revealed it believes the company had been involved in money laundering.
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Challenger shares were sold off yesterday on the second earnings downgrade in four months.
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Meanwhile, Coles, yesterday revealed swingeing cuts at its head office in Melbourne with a reported 450 people departing, including some senior managers.
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It was a tough day for retailers associated with Wesfarmers yesterday. The company revealed up to yet another downgrade for its Kmart-Target mid-level department store chain.
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Shares in Ruralco fell under the $4.40 a share cash offer price from Canadian-based rival, Nutrien after the competition regulator, the ACCC threw doubt on the $469 million bid.
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Star Entertainment Group shares recovered some of Tuesday’s big slide in the wake of the Sydney based gambling group surprise downgrade in its 2018-19 earnings forecasts.
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AGL shares at least steadied yesterday after the solid 7.7% sell-off on Tuesday in the wake of news of a firm but indicative approach to telco Vocus at $4.85 a share and the $100 million cut to expected 2019-20 earnings from a lengthy electricity generator outage at the Loy Yang station in Victoria.
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Wesfarmers has lifted the value of its current spending spree to more than $1 billion with the news yesterday that it was paying $230 million for the Australian online retailer Catch Group Holdings Limited.
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Iron ore prices bounced more than 5% on Tuesday as Chinese steelmaker stocks eased again and Rio Tinto revealed it would not be selling as much of its key high-grade Pilbara fines blend and lump ore over the next two months.
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Another exit from the Australian gold industry is underway with Mincor looking to get rid of its assets to concentrate on nickel after winning a big supply contract with BHP’s Nickel West.
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Star Entertainment Group shares fell more than 18% at one stage yesterday after the Sydney based gambling group surprised with a small downgrade in its 2018-19 earnings forecasts.
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Woodside has cut its 2019 production guidance by 3% after reporting problems at its Pluto LNG processing facility in WA.
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The National Australia Bank’s monthly business survey for May delivered some gloomy findings as business conditions weakened further and “are now well below average”.
Read MoreAnd its fund raisings all-around at buy now pay later service Afterpay Touch – the three founders are pocketing at least $100 million from selling some of their shares to two new US investors while the company itself is asking investors for $300 million to fund its expansion into the United States.
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Fourth time lucky for Vocus? The telco, Vocus will open its books exclusively to AGL Energy, less than a week after a Swedish private equity group, EQT withdrew its non-binding approach after doing due diligence.
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Friday saw the changing of the guard at the top of the list of most valuable US companies confirmed after shares in Microsoft surged into record territory Friday and pushed the veteran software giant’s market cap above the $US1 trillion mark.
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Gold and oil futures fell Monday in the wake of the ending – for now – of Donald Trump’s brief tariff attack on Mexico.
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Global sharemarkets did well on Monday with an easing in the tensions in Trump’s trade wars and growing expectations of a rate cut later this year in the US.
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China’s exports unexpectedly rose 1.1% in May from the same month in 2018, but imports also surprised with a larger than expected slide of 8.5%.
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While China’s iron ore and coal imports rose in May, shipments of other key commodities weakened despite world prices for all commodities (bar iron ore) falling towards the end of May.
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Despite the surprise 8.5% slide in Chinese imports in May the country’s imports of iron ore and coal rebounded in May.
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On Monday Japan reported economic growth of 0.6% for the March quarter from the December quarter (up from 0.5%). The annual rate was 2.2%, up from 2.1% in the first estimate and a 1.6% rate in the 4th quarter of 2018.
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Jobs dominate the local thinking in financial markets this week with the May Labour Force report to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday and expected to show more new jobs were created last month.
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AGL Energy has surprised the market with a late revelation on Friday evening that a fault and surprise shutdown of a key generating unit at its most important Victorian power station means next financial year’s profit will be lower than previously expected.
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Shares in Ausdrill, the mining services, and drilling contractor slid more than 7% yesterday after the company surprised with an impairment warning in an afternoon announcement.
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Rio Tinto’s seemingly huge Winu copper, gold silver strike in the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia is looking more interesting after the miner released more drill results to follow up on the first release of data in March.
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With US oil prices in a bear market (that’s a 20% plus fall from the most recent peak), you’d think it would not be a good time to be talking up an oil field, especially in Australia. However, that’s what Santos has done.
Read MoreAmerica is starting to wallow in unsold oil with Brent and WTI prices hitting their lowest levels since January while US inventories have reached their highest levels in almost two years.
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Despite reports early Thursday of a tentative deal with the French government, it seems Fiat Chrysler has in fact withdrawn its 33 billion euro takeover offer for the French carmaker, Renault.
Read MoreVocus shares dropped dramatically yesterday after the company revealed late on Tuesday evening that would be suitor, Swedish private equity group EQT, was no longer interested in making an offer.
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Dacian Gold has seen a 67% plunge in the value of its shares (to 51.5 cents) which emerged from a trading halt yesterday morning after a downgrade of production guidance for the current quarter.
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The reason why the Reserve Bank cut rates this week and why at least one, and possibly two more cuts are very likely was shown in the March quarter National Accounts with annual growth slowing to its most sluggish since the GFC a decade ago.
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Wall Street shares have surged after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signalled the central bank was open to possible rate cuts later this year.
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ANZ and Westpac failed to pass on the full 0.25% cut from the Reserve Bank to its mortgage customers and immediately faced pressure from the central bank.
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New Zealand building products and construction company Fletcher Building has cut its profit guidance for the 2018-19 financial year after selling its global Formica coatings business.
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There’s no way Coca Cola Amatil will make a profit, as it claimed yesterday, from the sale of the troubled fruit and vegetable processor, SPC Ardmona in northern Victoria to local interests.
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Fertiliser and explosives maker, Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) has finally found a deal to keep its Gibson Island in Brisbane open. The new gas supply deal will keep the fertiliser plant open until at least the end of 2022.
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