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(30 April 2019, AFR, p31, Larry Schlesinger, Reporter) ‘One in four new home buyers in Sydney and Melbourne is defaulting on their housing lot purchases due mainly to financing and valuation shortfalls, forcing developers to resell these lots in a market where monthly sales rates have hit seven-year lows, new figures show.’ Read more at … Continue reading
(30 April 2019, AFR, p29, Vesna Poljak, Markets Editor) ‘The Australian sharemarket arrives at the flagship equities conference of the year fresh off an 11-year high, and with a select group of highly desired stocks – Pro Medicus, Magellan Financial Group, Breville, Technology One, ASX and A2 Milk – trading at record levels. That can … Continue reading
(29 April 2019, AFR, p16, Jonathan Shapiro) ‘The threat of class actions brought against trustees of failed corporate debt offerings could further derail efforts to grow a retail corporate bond market, as two looming defaults weigh on the sector. Individual investors that subscribed to bond offers by Mackay Sugar and ASX-listed Axsesstoday are facing the … Continue reading
(29 April 2019, AFR, p1, Jacob Greber) ‘Washington | A fresh surge in business “animal spirits” is driving Donald Trump’s economy to 2020 election winning heights – but only if consumers counting on a long-awaited wage rise growth get relief. The US economy has kicked off 2019 with the strongest first-quarter growth in four years, … Continue reading
(27 April 2019, AFR online, Sinéad Carew) ‘New York | A surprisingly strong report card on the US economy helped power the benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes to record high closes, capping a week of gains for stocks that came largely on the back of resilient corporate profits. While Intel was the biggest … Continue reading
(27 April 2019, AFR, p33, William McInnes) ‘Australian shares closed higher for the week, as the benchmark index climbed to its highest level since December 2007 on Friday after finishing every session in the green this week. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed the shortened trading week 125.8 points, or 2 per cent, higher at 6385.6 … Continue reading
(27 April 2019, AFR, p26, Vesna Poljak) ‘The US earnings season has delivered plenty for investors to like, countering the low-growth narrative that led the US Federal Reserve to put its tightening plans on ice. In the same week that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advanced to fresh record highs, the digital giants triumphed with … Continue reading
(26 April 2019, AFR, p34, Michael Bleby) ‘Falling prices of house-and-land packages – which have prompted property giant Frasers to invite buyers to negotiate prices on unsold projects – are one of the biggest drags on Australia’s weak inflation figures. Melbourne new dwelling prices dropped 1.2 per cent in the March quarter, official inflation figures … Continue reading
(26 April 2019, AFR, p31, Henning Gloystein) ‘Singapore | Brent crude oil on Thursday rose above $US75 per barrel for the first time in 2019 in the wake of tightening sanctions on Iran, while gains in US prices were crimped by a surge in US supply. Brent crude futures rose to a 2019 high of … Continue reading
(26 April 2019, AFR, p30, Matt Turner) ‘Japan’s market was headed for its lowest volume of trading since 2017 as it prepared to shut down for an extended Golden Week holiday from Friday. Daily volumes were less than 1 billion shares from last Friday to Tuesday – the longest such stretch of low volumes since … Continue reading
(26 April 2019, AFR, p15, Joori Roh and Cynthia Kim) ‘Seoul | South Korea’s economy unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter, marking its worst performance since the global financial crisis, as companies slashed investment and exports slumped in response to Sino-US trade tensions and cooling Chinese demand. The shock contraction boosted money market bets that the … Continue reading
(25 April 2019, The Age, Business, p22, By Lucy Battersby) ‘Australia’s stock market reached a significant milestone on Wednesday when top 200 stocks reached 6390 points, a value not seen since December 2007. The stock market has been enjoying a rally since the start of this year as it followed the lead from a surging … Continue reading
(25 April 2019, The Age, Business, p20, By Stephen Miles) ‘Shares may have hit their highest level in 11 years but analysts say the rally, which has seen the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rocket 16 per cent from its December lows, may have more legs. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 62.7 points, or 1 per cent, … Continue reading
(25 April 2019, The Age, Business, p20, By Stephen Bartholomeusz) ‘Having wiped out the gut-wrenching trough in the closing months of 2018 with a 17 per cent bounce since the start of 2019, investors in the US sharemarket appear to be really excited about the outlook for the US economy and corporate earnings. Except they … Continue reading
(25 April 2019, The Age, p1, By Shane Wright) ‘The Reserve Bank of Australia is under growing pressure to deliver an interest rate cut 11 days out from the federal election after a shock inflation reading sounded fresh warnings that the economy is weakening. Financial markets now believe there is a 60 per cent chance … Continue reading
(19 April 2019, The Age, p12, By Swati Pandey) ‘A bumper run in jobs extended to March and more people went looking for work, official data on Thursday showed, a sign the labour market remains strong despite a small uptick in the unemployment rate. The local dollar jumped about a quarter of a US cent … Continue reading
(19 April 2019, The Age, Business, p27, By Heather Long) ‘A noticeable shift has taken place on Wall Street and among many economists and business leaders in recent weeks: Fears of an imminent recession have faded and been replaced with cautious optimism, especially about 2020, a trend that bodes well for US President Donald Trump … Continue reading
(18 April 2019, AFR, p58, Mark Draper) ‘Investors should pay attention to the next few months of leading economic indicators, and position their investments accordingly. With the graphs of leading Australian economic indicators taking on the shape of a waterfall, investors would be wise to dust off the play book about how to invest in … Continue reading
(18 April 2019, AFR, p49, Larry Schlesinger) ‘New home buyers who purchased Melbourne housing lots at the peak of the market are scrambling for cash to settle their contracts or risk defaulting due to valuations coming in tens of thousands of dollars below what they agreed to pay 12 to 18 months ago. The valuation … Continue reading
(18 April 2019, AFR, p14, Michael Smith) ‘Shanghai | China’s growth stabilised at 6.4 per cent in the first quarter, helped by improved factory output in March and stimulus from Beijing aimed at arresting a broad slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy. The growth in gross domestic product (GDP) matched the fourth quarter of last … Continue reading
(18 April 2019, AFR, online, William McInnes) ‘Australian shares closed slightly higher on Thursday as broad market optimism outweighed heavy losses in the healthcare sector. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 3.4 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 6259 while the broader All Ordinaries slid by 0.4 points to 6349.9.’ Read more at AFR.com (might need … Continue reading
(18 April 2019, AFR, p46, Patrick Commins) ‘After the best start to Aussie shares since 1991, investors are wondering whether this heralds a new beginning or the restart of an old, unwelcome trend. It might not feel like it, but the start of 2019 has witnessed a boom of historical proportions on the ASX. A … Continue reading
(17 April 2019, AFR, p29, Vesna Poljak) ‘The futures market has elevated the chance of an October interest rate cut to a done deal, and bumped up the probability of an August cut to 76 per cent, after the Reserve Bank revealed worsening unemployment and below-target inflation would trigger policy easing. In outlining its thinking … Continue reading
(17 April 2019, AFR, p29, Sarah Turner) ‘The Australian mining sector is now worth more than the banking sector but, even with a strong performance from the country’s top resource companies, Morgan Stanley’s Chris Nicol doubts the ASX can extend a strong first-quarter into the end of the year. Morgan Stanley expects the S&P/ASX200 Index … Continue reading
(17 April 2019, AFR, p30, William McInnes) ‘Australian shares closed higher on Tuesday, as a slew of positive quarterly earnings offset losses from the energy sector. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 26 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 6277.4 while the broader All Ordinaries advanced 24.4 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 6372.3.’ Read more … Continue reading
(16 April 2019, AFR, p38, Michael Bleby) ‘Australia’s decline in housing new investment is likely to be twice as deep as the Reserve Bank expects, with a dip close to 20 per cent over the next two years, National Australia Bank says. While the decline will still leave home-building – which has surged in capacity … Continue reading
(16 April 2019, AFR, p29, Divya Balji) ‘The wall of worry surrounding Asia’s double-digit stock market growth this year just got another impetus: equity ETFs inflows have dwindled. Despite a 9 per cent increase to $US502 billion ($700 billion) in assets under management for Asia equity exchange-traded funds so far this year, net inflows have … Continue reading
(16 April 2019, AFR, p12, Tian Ying) ‘Beijing | An iPhone assembler, e-commerce emporium and real-estate developer typically don’t compete in the same business – except when it comes to electric vehicles in China. That’s because of a seismic shift toward EVs, which has spurred billions of dollars in investments by traditional carmakers, startups and … Continue reading
(15 April 2019, AFR, p22, Vesna Poljak) ‘A rally in Wall Street banks on Friday following JPMorgan’s better than feared quarterly earnings lifted market confidence as Jamie Dimon declared that US growth “could go on for years” and there will be no recession before 2022. Mr Dimon, who presides over the largest bank in the … Continue reading
(15 April 2019, AFR, p19, James Fernyhough) ‘A worldwide increase in natural catastrophes is already hitting global supply chains and causing a spike in business interruption insurance claims, a senior executive with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty has warned. AGCS chief regions and markets officer Sinead Browne said this trend, which she directly linked to … Continue reading
Aussie Sharemarket Barometer 