Japan Grows, But Will The Figures Stand?
Japan remains ahead of China as the world’s number two economy after a solid 1.1% rise in 4th quarter GDP.
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BlueScope Confident Of Second Half Profit
BlueScope Steel Ltd expects to recover to a small full-year profit after reporting a small first-half loss.
Read MoreBendigo Bank’s Profit Rise
Shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank ended higher yesterday after the bank produced a reasonably strong first half profit.
Read MoreMarkets End Mixed- China’s Gain
All eyes in this region will be on markets today after news of the second lift in China’s reserve asset ratio for banks came after trading ended Friday.
Read MoreOil, Gold, Copper Down, Aussie Dollar Up Against Euro
Gold dropped on Friday as the US dollar rose to new recent highs on worries about Greece, a slowing European economy and the surprise move by China to tighten bank lending.
Read MoreAussie Profits Better Than Expected
The Australian profit reporting season has so far proven to be very strong.
Read MoreResults: Leighton, Newcrest
Shares in Leighton Holdings sank on Friday, despite doing better than expected, lifting guidance and dividend.
Read MoreTelstra Interim Fails To Impress
Telstra shares were sold off yesterday by more than 5% on a disappointing interim earnings release.
Read MoreChina’s Economy Solid, But Lending A Worry
Consumer inflation stable, producer inflation still rising, but bank lending exploding.
Read MoreJobs Surge Surprises
Enjoy the sub-4% official interest rates while you can, they won’t be around much longer, nor will home loan rates at present levels.
Read MoreRio Bounces Back
Rio Tinto’s 33% rise in 2009 earnings was well anticipated by the market.
Read MoreBHP Does Well
It might have been the weakest first half profit in four years, but BHP Billiton did better than analysts had forecast, nudged its US dollar denominated dividend a touch higher and made the right cautious noises about the chances of a sustained global recovery.
Read MoreCBA Disappoints Analysts
Commonwealth Bank shares weakened yesterday after the bank refused to give analysts an upbeat outlook on dividend hikes or capital management issues.
Read MoreCorporates: BLD, CPU, SUN
Shares in building products supplier Boral bounced more than 4% yesterday, despite it trimming dividend after reporting a 9.2% fall in first half profit.
Read MoreMore Good News From Property
Tuesday we saw a hint of an improvement for property in the results from Australand and AV Jennings.
Read MoreStats: Housing, Confidence Down
Today we get the Labour force figures for January and these could tell us a lot about the chances for a rate rise next month, or a bit later in the year.
Read MoreConfident Bradken Ups Dividend
Shares in metal basher, Bradken Ltd jumped by more than 11% yesterday after the company boosted interim dividend 30% and told the market it saw better times ahead.
Read MoreMacquarie Sold Off On Market Disappointment
The greedy analysts had talked Macquarie Group prospective earnings up in recent weeks, and then down, when yesterday’s update fell short of their estimates.
Read MoreDJs Ups Profit Forecast
David Jones shares finished up 13 cents, or 2.8% yesterday after the company upgraded 2010 earnings following a solid first half sales performance.
Read MoreMixed News From ALZ, AVJ
Two very different results from the still tough property sector.
Read MoreCochlear Ups Payout
Bionic-ear implant company Cochlear has reported record first-half earnings of $75.25 million for the December half and lifted dividend to 95c a share from the previous 80 cents a share.
Read MoreAlumina Restores Dividends, Promises More
Alcoa associate, Alumina, has reported a net loss for 2009, missing market expectations for a profit, thanks to a deeper impact from the global slump in aluminium demand last year.
Read MoreJBH Shares Down After CEO Walks
What a way to ruin an upbeat sales and earnings story.
Read MoreBanks Survive, Macquarie, CBA To Lead
Macquarie Group is due to update the market today on its first half performance.
Read MoreCorporates: Gold, Nickel, Gas
Some more good news from the resources sector.
Read MoreVBA Upgraded
Virgin Blue’s earnings upgrade last week won upgrades yesterday from two leading investment banks and brokers.
Read MoreAMP Alone On AXA Bid
So that’s about it for the AMP and its ambitions to take over rival, AXA Asia Pacific Holdings, with Axa’s French parent, AXA SA.
Read MoreGlobal Markets Down Again
Are things economic a bit better than markets now think?
Read MoreCommodities Targeted By The Bears
Commodities are taking the brunt of the selling.
Read MoreCorporates: HVN, VBA, RMD
Shares in retailer Harvey Norman fell as much as 3% on Friday after the company reported a 4% increase in first-half sales and reaffirmed first half profit guidance for a rise of more than 40%.
Read MoreRBA’s Confidence On The Economy
So what are we to make of the sell down in global markets?
Read MoreDebts A Problem? Not In Australia
Shares fell 2% and more in some cases, commodities were sold off and currencies fell as the US dollar jumped as worries about the YUS economy and European sovereign debt hit markets overnight.
Read MoreMyer Sales Up, Shares Down
No joy for holders of Myer shares (especially those who have held from last year’s float, or who bought in soon after).
Read MoreStats: Retail Sales Down, Building Approvals Up In December
Retail sales fell, but building approvals remained strong in December, especially for private houses, a sign the building and home owning boom still has some way to run.
Read MoreBHP-Rio Big Profit Week
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto produce results next week that will once again confirm that they are riding the China boom for all they can get.
Read MoreTabcorp Profit Underwhelms
The market was undecided about Tabcorp’s interim profit.
Read MoreIAG’s Strong Upgrade
You will no doubt read a lot of guff about how QBE should have really moved last year to snap up Insurance Australia Group when the latter was vulnerable and changing CEOs and strategy.
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