Glenn Dyer, Author at ShareCafe

Low interest rates not only help banks sell more loans, say for housing, but they also mean (if credit screening procedures are right) lower bad debts because fewer customers are under pressure.

RBA’s Words To Overshadow Its Actions

Interest rates alone will not be the most important part of today’s statement from Reserve Bank Governor, Phil Lowe after the central bank’s May board meeting.

Mayne Pharma Faces Trump Headwinds

Mayne Pharma Group’s (MYX) share price fell more than 10% to $1.20 yesterday and for that you can partly blame President Donald Trump and his erratic talk about controlling drug prices.

Investors Boot RCG After Second Downgrade

Shares in footwear retailer RCG Corp (RCG) tumbled 27% yesterday after the company surprised the market with its second earnings downgrade in three months.

ASX Underperforms In April

April was another solid month for many markets, but not iron ore which fell around 16%, ending the month just under $US69 a tonne.

‘Trumpflation’ Drives Wall St Higher In April

More records in April for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq as the rally keeps going from the Trump election on November 8. Some investors believe it is the Trump factor, or Trumpflation, tax cuts and the like that is responsible for the solid rise.

Apple, Facebook Highlight US Earnings

It will be another strong week for the US March quarter corporate earnings season, which will be joined at an increasing rate by companies from Europe and Asia reporting quarterly or half year figures.

Diary: Bank Earnings, RBA & Fed Meets

Banks central and private and the usual monthly statistics will dominate the coming week in the lead up to the May 9 Federal Budget in Australia and globally where all attention will be on the two day meeting of the US Federal Reserve, and then the April jobs report on Friday night.

US Oil Rig Count Up For 15th Straight Week

Oil futures had a small gain in Friday’s session, despite another rise in US oil rig numbers for the 15th week in a row.

Gannett Earnings Confirm Bleak Newspaper Outlook

No sign of any improvement in the fading US newspaper business as Gannett, the country’s biggest group confirms that being cast adrift from the rest of the business in 2014 was in effect a slow death sentence. In fact the latest quarterly results for Gannett shows the path awaiting Fairfax Media (FXJ) should it listen to greedy shareholders and sell off all its Domain real estate business.

Tatts Rejects Sweetened Private Equity Bid

Baring a higher price or better structured bid, the board of Tatts (TTS) seems to have opened for the way for the cash and shares offer from rival Tabcorp (TAH) to go forward after rejecting a private offer equity on Friday morning.

Blackmores Down, But Not Out

A more confident tone in yesterday’s quarterly sales report from vitamins group, Blackmores (BKL) which suggests the company could be over the damage caused by uncertainty in its key markets in China.

Coles Sales Slow As Woolies Fights Back

Wesfarmers (WES) has some headaches in its retail portfolio according to its third quarter sales report released on Thursday.

Ten Battles To Stay On Air

Growing uncertainty about the future of the Ten Network (TEN) say the TV group’s shares plunge 19% yesterday to 36 cents, a record low.

Spotless Confirms Downer Rejection

As expected Spotless Group (SPO) says its shareholders should reject Downer EDI’s (DOW) $1.3 billion takeover offer because it does not reflect the company’s earnings expectations.

Newcrest Cadia Mine Costs To Double

Newcrest (NCM) made investors sit up and take notice with its March quarterly production report yesterday with an unusual focus on its most important asset, the huge Cadia mine in NSW’s midwest.

South32 Cash Pile Grows

South32 (S32) has reported third-quarter coking coal (for steelmaking) production in Australia fell more than analysts estimated as mine work was undertaken as the company continues to accumulate hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.

Wall St Unmoved On Trump Tax Plan

For a claimed once in a lifetime event, the Trump tax plan fell on Wall Street like a damp squib – the Dow rising 30 or so points at best – a fraction of the previous day’s 200 plus point surge in anticipation of the announcement.

Macquarie: Sell Spotless ‘Into The Bid’

All over bar the shouting at Spotless (SPO) which is due to release its target statement later today, with hopefully a set of profit and revenue forecasts for this year and next.

Inflation Ticks Into The RBA’s Target Band

‘Move along, nothing much of importance to see’ in yesterday’s March quarter Consumer Price Inflation data except that the annual rate of 2.1% is back at the bottom end of the Reserve Bank’s headline range of 2% to 3% ‘over time’.

Strikes, Weather Hit BHP In March Quarter

As expected (especially after Rio Tinto’s ((RIO)) first quarter production report a week ago), BHP Billiton (BHP) has reported a 20% drop in copper production for the quarter and the nine months to the end of March and cut its full-year production guidance by around 18% due to industrial action at its Escondida mine in northern Chile.

China Lifts a2 Milk Outlook

Sunshine over China for Australasia’s embattled dairy companies?

Buffett Rescues Wells Fargo Board

It looks like Warren Buffett has saved the board of embattled US banking giant, Wells Fargo from ignominy at a heated and noisy annual meeting overnight in Florida.

Village Shares Rollercoaster On Theme Park Woes

Less than a week after unwinding its loss making adventures in Hollywood, Village Roadshow (VRL) saw its shares drop to new four year lows on Monday after it warned that already weak visitor numbers to its theme parks, especially on the Gold Coast, had been further hit by Tropical Cyclone Debbie.

Ten Wrestles With Uncertain Future

Tomorrow is L for Loss day for the embattled Ten Network (TEN) with the struggling third commercial TV network expected to reveal weak revenue, losses and a possible asset write down for the six months to February 28.

Spotless Spurns Downer Bid

Shock, horror, the board of Spotless Group (SPO) has recommended investors knock back the $1.2 billion bid from Downer EDI (DOW) labelling it as “opportunistic, hostile, highly conditional’ and unlikely to proceed.

Coca-Cola Turnaround Stalls Again

The sell off in Coca-Cola Amatil (CCL) shares slowed on Monday after the 10% plus slump last Friday off the back of yet another profit downgrade. The shares fell 1.5% on Monday, closing at $9.465, taking the loss since Friday morning to 12% after it blamed weak trading at its Australian beverages business for the earnings downgrade.

Gold Gains, Oil Leaks Losses

Commodity prices will be impacted by the French Presidential election first round results today.

ASX Slips 0.6% Over The Week

Financial markets in Asia will be the first to react to the results of Sunday’s first round of voting in the French Presidential poll. Because it was inconclusive, there will be a second run off in two weeks on Sunday May 7 between the two top finishers, Emmanuel Macron, an independent, and Marine Le Pen, the National Front.

Diary: US Debt Ceiling, French Polls, Local Inflation

It’s going to be a week – no two weeks that will be dominated by the results of yesterday’s first round of the French presidential poll, the looming deadline to lift the US government debt ceiling, a possible tax package from President Trump, the high point of the current US quarterly earnings season.

US Earnings Hit Top Speed

The second quarter US reporting season peaks this week with one of the largest number of S&P 500 companies releasing their results and by the close of business Friday we will have a very good idea how corporate America has performed in what is expected to be another weak quarter of economic growth.

Fireworks Loom Ahead Of Wells Fargo AGM