Morning all,

Last week ended on a flourish as moves in ‘Zombieland’ by the Germans to seemingly agree to ECB bond buying helped their markets and this was followed up with better than expected jobs numbers from the US. The Dow finished up over 200 points whilst Zombies all rallied hard as well..There was even some good news out of Greece. They are now allowed to lodge Olives with the ECB as collateral for loans to ensure they stave off bankruptcy. That should last them a while.

In our markets expect a 45-50pt rally at the opening and then not much. It’s a Bank Holiday today so a number of players will be out of action and volumes will again be on the light side..but the positive tone is good. Provided we get no surprises and company results don’t disappoint then we should have a better week.

Friday’s announcement from BHP will soon be forgotten I suspect as the writedown in the big scheme of things is immaterial,however questions will now emerge about Kloppers.He is bound to come under fire for his ill timed acquisition and his aborted takeovers in the past..maybe it’s a good thing he missed out on Potash,Rio etc may have had to write off even more! Interestingly the write down related to their assets they bought from Chesapeakefor $4.5bn and NOT to the Petrohawk asstes…they paid $20 bn for those ..50% hit on Chesapeakes but nothing on Petrohawk..wierd!!Still this one is a Buy anywhere between 30/31 Bucks in my opinion..at least we know now..right?

Big rise in the Oil price Friday will help WPL which remains one of my favourites!

 

Things to make me go Bolt!

1.Great man wins 100m in style…simply the best!

2.The United States added 163,000 jobs in July and the jobless rate ticked up a tenth of one per cent to 8.3 per cent. They need 180,000 jobs a month to lower unemployment rate!

3.Earnings season kicks off in earnest this week.TLS and RIO the big ones…

4.Computer High Frequency Trader, Knight Capital, in  desperate weekend bid to raise money after their disaster last week.$450m vapourised in minutes..unlucky!

5.Today the Mars Rover will hopefully touch down at 3.30pm..after two years in transit..big moment..let’s hope it doesn’t find Eddie McGuire there..seems to be everywhere!

6.A year ago the US Sovereign rating was downgraded on its debt situation..Congress answered by agreeing with Obama to cut $1.2tn from the budget over ten years..One year on they have added that amount to the budget deficit! Sad but true…and these geniuses are getting us out of trouble.

 

 

Events in Australia this week.

  • Tuesday: RBA decides on official interest rates, AiG/Housing Industry Association performance of construction index for July
  • Wednesday: ABS housibng finance for June, Stockland and Harvey Norman full year results, Rio first half results
  • Thursday: ABS labour force data for July, Tabcorp, News Corp and Telstra full year results
  • Friday: RBA statement on monetary policy, Crown full year results.

 

And finally…An old man went to the social security office to sign up.
He had stood in the line for a very long time until it was finally his turn. The lady behind the counter ask him for identification. He went to get his wallet out of his back pocket and relized he had left it at home. The lady told him that was alright he could just show her his chest hairs and if they were grey she knew he was old enough for social security.

After everything was done there he went home and told his wife how his day went. He told her that he had forgotten his wallet at home and the lady at the social security office just ask him to pull down the front of his shirt and she could tell he was old enough.

After listening to his story his wife told him if he had dropped his pants he probably could have gotten disability too.

 

Have a good Monday.

 Clarence

XXX

 

Any financial product advice contained in this email is general financial product advice only and does not take into account any one person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore, before acting on any financial product advice in this email, you should consider, with or without the assistance of an independent adviser, the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.