Lunar Holiday Blurs China Trade Picture
On the face of it China’s January trade performance was better than expected but once again it has been the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays in February that has distorted the figures.
Read MoreOn the face of it China’s January trade performance was better than expected but once again it has been the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays in February that has distorted the figures.
Read MoreAMP has slashed its final dividend to 4 cents a share in the wake of the worst year in its financial history for more than a decade as the toll of the disclosures from the Hayne Royal Commission hit home.
Read MoreInvestors have been left cold despite CSL reporting an interim net profit of $US1.2 billion ($A1.7 billion), a higher dividend and a lift in full-year guidance.
Read MoreChallenger did it, Super Retail Group did and so has Melbourne based packing operator, Pact Group has done – separating bad news about trading issues from actual results.
Read MoreTwo contrasting results from two of the country’s major medium level gold miners – Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining.
Read MoreKerry Stokes’ 25% owned oil and gas arm, Beach Energy’s profits and revenues surged in the six months to December as it continued to benefit from the purchase of Lattice Energy from Origin Energy in late 2017 and the brief surge in prices in the last quarter.
Read MoreVirgin Australia CEO, John Borghetti is leaving the airline in style – its best six months financial performance in over a decade.
Read MoreThe Reserve Bank of NZ has left its key Official Cash Rate (OCR) steady at 1.75% and says it expects to maintain this level for at least the next two years.
Read MoreGlobal iron ore prices took a breather on Tuesday with the Metal Bulletin 62% index price falling back to around $US87.
Read MoreAs expected home lending fell sharply in December to be down sharply for 2018 as a whole as loans for apartments and units fell steeply followed loans for owner-occupiers.
Read MoreA very different market reaction today to Challenger’s confirmation of a weak net profit of just $6.1 million in the December half, compared to the January 23 downgrade and reworked guidance when they plunged 17%.
Read MoreWell, that sort of went over like a lead balloon. What looks like to have been an attempt by Super Retail group to spin the bad news of a $34 million underpayment with staff with most of the interim financial results yesterday flopped, judging by the way the shares traded through the session.
Read MoreMacquarie Group sees annual profit jumping 15% to record levels when the books are ruled off for the 2018-19 year on March 31.
Read MoreSecurities in toll road giant, Transurban were uneasy yesterday after it reported a lower interim profit on higher revenues, a higher distribution and reaffirmed full-year guidance.
Read MoreDespite a small improvement in business conditions in January after December’s sharp fall and a small improvement in business confidence, the National Australia Bank has had significant change of heart and is now forecasting that the Reserve Bank will leave rates on hold for a long time – well into next decade – but with a rate cut not out of the question.
Read MoreShares in BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue Metals group should continue running higher today with global iron ore prices hitting two-year highs in Asian trading yesterday after Chinese buyers returned to the market after last week’s holiday break.
Read MoreBendigo and Adelaide Bank disappointed the market yesterday with a softer than expected first-half profit, thanks to weak revenues and higher costs.
Read MoreAre the good times over for JB Hi-Fi, Australasia’s biggest electronics and whitegoods group? Investors may be starting to think so judging by the performance of the shares in the wake of yesterday’s interim profit release.
Read MoreThe weaker Aussie dollar against the greenback has come to the aid of shareholders in packaging giant, Amcor and softened the blow from what was a weakish first-half performance.
Read MoreAs it suggested in a warning in December, developer and home builder, AV Jennings has reported a sharp slide in first-half earnings, cut its interim dividend in half, but expressed confidence it will do better in the second half of the 2018-19 financial year,
Read MoreProperty investor and manager, GPT Group has lifted its forecast returns a touch for the 2019 financial year (ending December 31) after reporting a solid set of results for the year to last December.
Read MoreExcluding iron ore, a stronger US dollar is putting downward pressures on commodity prices led by oil prices which were 4.6% lower for the week, the largest weekly loss since the week ended December 21.
Read MoreThe Australian December half earnings reports season hits top gear this week with more than 40 companies reporting. In the US 65, S&P 500 companies are down to release quarterly figures as the earnings season there slows.
Read MoreWith stocks of iron ore at ports and mills low after the holidays, Chinese buyers will chase spot ore cargoes from today and could push the already high price of standard 62% ore past $US100 a tonne.
Read MoreUS shares rose 0.1%, Eurozone shares fell 1.2% and Japanese shares lost 2.2% last week. Australian shares jumped 3.6% thanks to the rally in bank stocks after the royal commission report and rising chances for a rate cut later this year.
Read MoreThe four major banks led the market last week as they escaped the worst feared by investors from the banking and finance royal commission, but iron remains in focus with Fortescue shares now up a massive 44% so far in 2019.
Read MoreThe threat of another US government shutdown, with temporary funding expiring on this Friday, February 15 and intensifying concerns surrounding Brexit will dominate the week ahead.
Read MoreThe National Australia Bank released its first quarter trading update last night instead of Friday morning and after the release of the departures of the chairman and CEO. In it the bank said cash earnings dipped 3% to $1.65 billion from the first quarter of 2017-18. Statutory profit was an unaudited $1.70 billion.
Read MoreThe global iron ore market has been thrown into confusion by the move by Brazilian Vale to declare force majeure on some iron ore and iron pellets contracts.
Read MoreThe banking and finance royal commission has scored another couple of high profile scalps at the National Australia bank to go with casualties at the AMP, Freedom Insurance and IOOF.
Read MoreDiversified contractor Downer EDI was another major industrial (AGL was another yesterday) to disappoint investors with its December half-year figures, despite a one cent a share lift in interim dividend to 14 cents a share.
Read MoreNew York Times Co’s quarterly report details its continuing success in boosting subscriber revenues, which now are more than 60% of total company revenues.
Read MoreShares in energy group fell nearly 5% yesterday after the group released a less than stellar half year profit. While the headlines said AGL’s profit climbed to more than half a billion dollars in the December half, the reality was a bottom line that slumped 52.9%.
Read MoreThe seasonally adjusted trade surplus for December of more than $3.6 billion was the second largest ever and moreover, Australia notched up a trade surplus in every month of 2018 – the first time every that has been achieved.
Read MoreShareholders in Insurance Australia Group, Australia’s biggest general insurer will feel the pain of the weaker half-year result (courtesy of Sydney’s December hail storm) with a 2 cents a share cut to the interim dividend.
Read MoreThe Reserve Bank of Australia has revealed it has made a major change in its monetary policy stance, with a cut in the cash rate now even money bet.
Read MoreShares in the world’s biggest iron ore miner, Vale remain under pressure as it moves to close dams at mines producing 40 million tonnes of ore a year in a move that seems certain to boost global iron ore prices even further than the $US85 or a tonne they reached this week.
Read MoreMore than $20 billion was added to the value of listed financials – lead by the big four banks yesterday after investors concluded the outcome from the Hayne banking and finance royal commission would not damage their business models our futures.
Read MoreThe Commonwealth Bank will pay an unchanged interim dividend of $2 a share after reporting a small improvement in net earnings for the half year to the end of December.
Read MoreShares in James Hardie jumped more than 7% yesterday after the company revealed the tiniest of upgrades to its full-year earnings and despite a 10% drop in December quarter earnings.
Read More