CBA Progresses With CommInsure Sale To AIA
The Commonwealth Bank says it has received another $450 million in progress payments from the sale of its insurance business, ComnInsure to AIA.
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ASX Set For Weaker Open As Wall Trades Nervously Ahead Of Debate
Gold bounced back to the $US1,900 an ounce level, US oil futures dropped under $US40 a barrel as other commodities fell while Wall Street eased, setting up a weak start for the ASX this morning.
Read MoreJP Morgan To Pay $920 Million For Market Manipulation
America’s biggest bank, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay more than $US920 million ($1.29 billion) to resolve US regulators’ authorities’ claims of market manipulation in the bank’s trading of metals futures and Treasury securities over an eight-year period.
Read MoreCorporate Travel Makes Post-Pandemic Plans With North American Buy
Corporate Travel Management has raised the $375 million needed to finance the purchase of US firm Travel & Transport Inc. CTM will acquire 100% of Omaha-based Travel & Transport for a cash and debt-free enterprise value of about $US200 million (around $A283 million).
Read MoreBoQ Dividend Under Threat As Loan Losses Mount
Bank of Queensland has revealed it will take loan impairment losses of $175 million. This is more than six times the figure tipped back in April and raises doubts about whether the Brisbane-based regional bank will be able to pay a final dividend.
Read MoreASX Set For Positive Open After Wall St Rebound
Unlike Monday when the ASX wandered too and fro – from green to red and back to finish down for the session, the local market should be up all day Tuesday after Wall Street ended with a solid start to the final days of September.
Read Morea2 Milk Outlook Sours On Daigou Disruption
Pop goes another ASX China consumer bubbler – Blackmore’s, Bellamy’s, and now a2 milk have all flown high on the China consumer (and the daigou or local buyer) boom.
Read MoreWeaker LNG, Iron Ore Set To Weigh On Resource Exports
Weaker prices for iron ore and LNG will be the major drivers of a sharp fall in the value of Australian resource exports in 20120-21. According to the forecasts from the chief economist of the Federal Department of Industry, the value of resource exports will be $34 billion down on the record $290.4 billion exported in 2019-20.
Read MoreArdent Leisure Fined $3.6m For Dreamworld Disaster
Dreamworld’s parent company Ardent Leisure has been fined $3.6 million by a Gold Coast court over the deaths of four people on the theme park’s Thunder River Rapids Ride in October 2016.
Read MoreSeven Group Cements Down Boral Stake With Two Board Seats
Perth-based Billionaire Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group has grabbed two board seats at embattled building materials group Boral to go with its now dominant minority shareholding of 20%.
Read MoreDow, S&P 500 Record Longest Losing Streak In Over A Year
Technology stocks again rescued Wall Street on Friday, lifting the main indexes by more than 1%, but that wasn’t enough to prevent the Dow and the S&P 500 from suffering their longest weekly losing streaks in a year.
Read MoreTrade Surplus Shrinks As Both Imports & Exports Drop
Another fall in the trade surplus in August as export and imports fell – but the reasons for the falls were very different. Exports fell because of a slide in the value of gold shipments (by Australian miners) while imports dipped because of lower shipments of capital goods.
Read MoreOil Under Pressure On Oversupply Fears
Oil dipped on Friday, falling more than 2% on the week as COVID-19 cases surged globally and all those thoughts about an improving oil supply position evaporated.
Read MoreLending Law Wind-Back Helps ASX Log 1.7% Gain Over The Week
The ASX is looking at a moderate start today after a 1.7% rise last week, most of which happened in Friday’s 1.51% gain as bank shares were boosted by the Government moving to relax the responsible lending laws.
Read MoreGold Slumps To Worst Week In Six-Months
Gold suffered its worst week in six months last week after futures ended with a loss on Friday, helped by a strong week for the US dollar.
Read MoreAir NZ Dips Into Government Reserves
Air New Zealand is moving towards a capital raising by the end of next June after it started drawing down from its $NZ 900 million government credit line.
Read MoreDiary: Presidential Debates, US Employment, Global Manufacturing
Highlights of the coming week include US jobless data for September, worldwide manufacturing activity surveys (especially China’s), and the first of the US presidential debates.
Read MoreWall St Closes Higher In Unconvincing Session
The ASX will start wobbly today after wall Street ended a volatile session in the green but in unconvincing style. After being up and down several times in the session, Wall Street’s major measures ended with small gains, which helped push the ASX 200 futures trade from an 11 point loss just before 5.30 am to a hesitant 8 point gain at the close.
Read MoreWarren Buffett Backs Old Media With $2.7bn Broadcast Deal
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has revealed its second big deal in a week with a $US600 million funding deal in a $US2.65 billion (A3.7 billion) media takeover that will see broadcasting company E.W. Scripps Co buying the privately-held entertainment firm ION Media.
Read MoreTPG Trick Helps Brickworks Boost Payout
A one-off change of accounting treatment for its indirect holding in telco, TPG saw Brickworks nearly doubled its full-year profit to $299 million and lifted its final payout. It was that boost only that helped Brickworks in a year when sluggish housing activity and the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on its normal operations.
Read MoreKeating’s RBA Criticisms Miss The Mark
It’s clear Paul Keating has failed to understand what the Reserve Bank has done to support the economy – not the federal government and its budget, as he wrongfully claimed it should be doing – but the economy as a whole – business, consumers, farmers, elderly, young – everyone.
Read MoreWestpac Shares Unmoved Despite Record-Breaking Fine
As reported yesterday Westpac has confirmed a massive $1.3 billion in penalties relating to more than 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering rules.
Read MoreASX To Slip As Selling Returns To Wall St
So much for Wednesday’s enthusiasm on the ASX – it’s turned out to be a one day bounce as Wall Street slid, taking the ASX 200 futures market with it.
Read MoreWestpac Readies Settlement With AUSTRAC Over AML Breaches
A massive fine and other penalties are reportedly due to be levied again Westpac shortly in connection with its millions of breaches of money laundering laws.
Read MoreRBNZ Edges Closer To Negative Rates
The Reserve Bank of NZ continues towards the announcement of a negative interest rate regime later this year. The bank said in its post-meeting monetary policy statement on Wednesday that it had made progress on what it calls a Funding for Lending program with the country’s banks that will be a part of the negative rates regime.
Read MoreRip Curl Deal Not Enough Save Kathmandu From COVID Wipeout
No dividends for the 2019-20 financial year for shareholders in retailer Kathmandu. The pandemic and lockdowns also meant the company got no real benefits from its expensive purchase of Rip Curl in 2019 though that did help boost revenues for the year to July 31.
Read MoreDrought Broken But Dividends Still Dry At Nufarm
Agri-chemicals group, Nufarm will again skip paying a dividend to shareholders for 2019-20 after revealing a massive $456 million full-year loss. That means the company has not paid shareholders a dividend for two years – since the final of 6 cents a share paid for the 2017-18 financial year.
Read MoreVictoria Drags But Retail Sales Slow Across The Nation
Yes, as forecast Victoria’s lockdowns hit retail sales in August, knocking them lower, but what did surprise was the fall in the month outside that state as the retail boom seemingly slowed. And you can be certain the lockdowns will have a similar impact in September, but will sales outside Victoria also fall for another month?
Read MoreAmazon Helps Wall St Steady After Four Days Of Losses
Wall Street bounced back on Tuesday thanks to a single stock – Amazon – and the ASX will follow suit on Wednesday with a 60 plus point gain penciled in for the start. Amazon shares rose 5.7% and Microsoft shares ended up 2.4% to drag the market higher in an unconvincing rebound from the sell-off on Friday and Monday.
Read MoreRates Lower For Longer After RBA Warns On “Gradual” Recovery
RBA Governor, Guy Debelle made it clear interest rates will remain at current ultra-low levels for the next three years and possibly more. In an online speech he said further rate cuts could happen as the economy struggles to break free of the impact of the pandemic and sluggish demand.
Read MoreRBNZ Mulls Negative Rates As RBA Rules Them Out
With the Reserve Bank of NZ tipped to start heading down the road towards a negative interest rate regime either in today’s monetary policy decision or later in the year, the Reserve Bank of Australia has ruled out a similar move.
Read MoreNo Dividend As Coal Weakness Weighs On New Hope
No final dividend from thermal coal miner and exporter, New Hope after the company incurred second-half losses for 2010-20 from the slump in demand for power energy type coals due to the COVID-19 pandemic hitting economic activity across the globe, especially in Asia.
Read MoreASX Set To Slip As Lockdown Fears Sweep Across Global Markets
A sell-off all major markets on Monday looks set to continue today with the ASX looking at a 1% slide off the back of Wall Street’s deeply red session.
Read MoreCOVID Spending Catapults Harvey Norman Sales Higher
Another very strong sales and profit update from retailer Harvey Norman with the company revealing double-digit growth through the first quarter of 2020-21 as consumers continue to spend heavily.
Read MoreIAG Looks Inside To Find New CEO
Insurance Australia Group has looked inside in finding a replacement for retiring CEO, Peter Harmer. The insurer announced on Monday that it had chosen its chief financial officer, Nick Hawkins as managing director and CEO of Insurance Australia Group.
Read More“Limited Valuation Support”: Analysts Downgrade Dexus
Dexus Property Group share price fell yesterday as investors bailed out in the wake of analysts at Morgan Stanley downgrading the securities to an underweight rating from overweight.
Read MoreASX Crawls Higher Over The Week
The Australian sharemarket will start sharply lower today, wiping out last week’s small 5.1 point gain for the week.
Read MoreApple Shares Enter Correction Territory As Gloss Comes Off Big Tech
Quietly, there’s no longer a $US2 trillion company listed on Wall Street, and all that chatter about Apple and the mega techs has gone silent as the evolving sell-off in tech stocks crunches the top end of the market.
Read MoreOil Rises After OPEC Warns On Production Cuts
Oil bounced back strongly from the previous week’s losses. Both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes saw gains around 10% for their biggest weekly gains since June. Driving the rise was the confident talk from OPEC about compliance with its 7.7 million barrels a day production cut.
Read MoreCopper Hits Highest Price In Two Years
Iron ore steadied, gold rose slightly, silver was up, oil jumped and copper ended up being the star commodity last week. Copper futures quietly grabbed the limelight with Comex futures hitting levels not seen since June 2018.
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