Fletcher Building Foundations On Shaky Ground
Is the financial health of troubled Kiwi building products and construction company Fletcher Building worse than understood by the market?
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Bendelaide Lifts Cash Earnings, NIM
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has joined the larger Commonwealth Bank in boosting its net interest margin for the first time in years for the six months to December.
Read MoreSmall Gains At Restructured Ansell
It was another six months of small gains for Ansell, the protective gloves and clothing group and the odd bigger step.
Read MoreSolid Amcor Ups Dividend
Global packaging company Amcor has played down the strength of its second half outlook after lifting first half-year net profit 15% to $US329.7 million ($A461.6 million).
Read MoreMargin Pressures Turn Down JB Hi-Fi
Shares in home electronics and entertainment and whitegoods retailer JB Hi-Fi took a pounding yesterday after the company fell short of market estimates on earnings, profit margins and the outlook for the rest of 2017-18.
Read MoreTelstra Highlights Big Week Of Earnings
The Australian December half 2017 earnings reporting season ramps up this week, while the US 4th quarter season slows.
Read MoreMarket Recap: Wild Week Sees Volumes Soar
Given the bounce in US shares on Friday night, the local market this morning may end up starting with a loss smaller than the 28 point drop indicated by the overnight futures market.
Read MoreDiary: Earnings, Volatility, Jobs
First up it will be markets that will hold the attention of investors this week after last week’s big losses amid chaotic trading.
Read MoreOil In Retreat On Renewed US Supply Fears
Sharemarkets weren’t the only thing hitting the skids last week, oil is now on the edge of a major slide thanks to surging American production through a series of new record highs.
Read MoreIron Ore Bucks Metals Sell-Off
Apart from iron ore, we saw a nasty sell off in metals prices last week as the fear in equities spread to other markets.
Read MoreWild Wall St Plummets Toward Correction
The Dow is inching closer to correction territory after another large (and surprising) 800 drop in the final half hour of trading. In fact the selling surged in the last 10 minutes, taking the loss flashing past the 1,000 point mark and the index into correction territory.
Read More‘Unsatisfactory’ UK Arm Weighs On Tabcorp
Tabcorp shares fell nearly 7% yesterday after releasing a less than stellar first half result.
Read MoreChina Trade Jumps Ahead Of Lunar Break
China’s January trade account wore the impact of the late Lunar New Year holiday break which starts late next week and the country’s trade surplus fell to its lowest level in 11 months.
Read MoreOrigin Takes Hit On Gas Assets
The impairments continue at Origin Energy with another half a billion dollars plus of red ink revealed yesterday.
Read MoreAMP Swings Back Into The Black
AMP has come back from the brink of 2016 losses by revealing a 11% rise in full-year underlying profit for the 12 months to the end of December 2017.
Read MoreAGL Cool On Outlook Despite Bumper Profit
While energy producer and retailer AGL Energy says it is on track to deliver a full-year underlying profit of close to $1 billion after revealing a surge in first half earnings and a 32% boost to interim dividend, investors were spooked by the company’s less than enthusiastic outlook for the rest of the financial year.
Read MoreExpenses Bite NAB Earnings
National Australia Bank said its first-quarter cash profit rose 3% from a year ago to $1.65 billion.
Read MoreHanes Adds Bras N Things To Pac Brands Portfolio
HanesBrands, the US clothing and sportswear group which bought Bonds owner, Pacific Brands in 2016, is to buy another major Australian clothing business the privately-owned Bras N Things.
Read MoreFox Film Flounders Ahead Of Disney Deal
Had the Disney deal not been done, analysts on seeing 21st Century Fox’s 4th quarter report would have been questioning whether the Murdochs family could afford to keep their underperforming film and TV assets and still survive the growing competition in the media, especially video.
Read MoreFletcher Building Investors Brace For More Bad News
Standby for more bad news from Fletcher Building as losses from at least two dodgy projects blow past previous estimates.
Read MoreNZ Rates On Hold
If you had been reading the comments of economists and other ‘experts’ there was a good chance the Reserve Bank of NZ may have 1) lifted rates today, or 2) moved closer to a rate rise later in the year. The RBNZ sat pat (like the Reserve Bank in Australia) and issued a statement which at times read like the one issued by RBA Governor Phil Lowe.
Read MoreNick Scali Defies Retail Gloom
Sydney-based furniture retailer, Nick Scali has lifted interim divided by 2 cents to 16 cents (fully franked) after boosted earnings by 15% in the December half year.
Read MoreRio’s Cascade Of Cash From Its 2017 Outperformance
So much for all the hype about the resources boom from 2011 to 2014. The current boomlet is producing super returns for some companies, as the 2017 full year results for Rio Tinto confirmed yesterday.
Read MoreSlater & Gordon Starts Restructure
The job cuts have started in earnest at troubled listed law firm Slater and Gordon.
Read MoreLew Moves To Spill Myer Board
Investors have ignored the news that Myer’s largest shareholder, Premier Investments, is planning to call a hostile extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to try and roll the department store’s board.
Read MoreUS Shares See-Saw Higher
Another day of wild trading swings saw Wall Street closer higher for the first time in four days – the Dow jumped 567 points or 2.3% at the end in its biggest one day rise since President Trump was elected in November 2016.
Read MoreCBA Lifts Interim Dividend
We have the perfect example of the resilience of our big banks, especially the biggest, the Commonwealth.
Read MoreCommodities Dodge Equities Rout
While commodity prices were mostly weaker overnight Tuesday, that was more due to usual trading issues rather than a contagion of fear spreading from volatile share markets.
Read MoreWall St Swings, ASX Eyes Better Open
The Aussie market is heading for a 100 point rebound on the ASX 200 after a night of wild trading swings on global markets, culminating in the big rebound in the last hours of trading on Wall Street (see separate story).
Read MoreRBA Restarts 2018 On Repeat
Weak wages and weak household consumption (as we saw with the December monthly retail sales figures yesterday which showed a fall of half a percent, after two strong months in a row) are now front of centre of thinking for the Reserve Bank which left its key cash rate on hold for yet another month.
Read MoreMacquarie Upgrade Lost In Sea Of Red
Investors ignored everything in yesterday’s sell-off, including Macquarie Group’s forecast of a higher than expected 2017-18 profit for the year to March 31.
Read MoreBrutal Plunge On Wall St, Dow Wipes Out 2018 Gains
Nowhere to hide as Wall Street took a bath overnight in one of the worst days in its history. Our market is poised to follow. After its 95 slide on Monday, the futures market has another 131 points in losses pencilled in for the start of trading on the ASX at 10 am. It will be a bloody day for investors of all sizes.
Read MoreDowner Takes Hit On Mining Arm
Downer EDI joined the impairments yesterday a $77 million pre-tax write-down in the value of its mining operations in its forthcoming interim results after what it called material contracts were not renewed.
Read MoreCautious Argo Ups Dividend
Argo Investments, Australia’s second largest Listed Investment Company (LIC) remains cautious about current market conditions, despite the surge in most global markets in recent months (but not so much Australia).
Read MoreBunnings UK Woes Deepen
Wesfarmers has joined the long list of Australian companies to lose heavily in offshore moves, especially into the UK with the evaporation of over $1 billion dollars in value spent on its Homebase purchase in 2016 and attempt to turn it into a British version of Bunnings.
Read MoreDiary: RBA, Local Earnings, RBNZ, BoE
For some, the Super Bowl later today will be the biggest event this week, for many others it will be ‘what is going to happen now after the market fell out of bed on Friday night?’ Then there’s those interested in the decisions of central banks in Australia, the UK and NZ this week.
Read MoreWall St Falls Out Of Bed
Wall Street suffered its biggest one day fall Friday of The Donald Trump Presidency so far, and the biggest two day fall of well over 1,050 points. It was an achievement the President will not quickly recall in his next State of the Union Speech.
Read MoreCBA, Rio Highlight Earnings Week
Banks will dominate the Australian half year reporting as the interim season steps up this week.
Read MoreGold Leads Metals Lower
Gold futures ended lower on Friday, despite a small kick upwards in the value of the greenback.
Read MoreOil Succumbs To Supply Pressures
Like metals, oil prices finished lower Friday on the day and the week as rising interest rates and the strong US jobs report, plus the sell off in equities, took their toll.
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