Morning all,

Another quick maths problem…if you have 10 dollars and you  take 1 away ..what do you have?…an umbrella stuck in your leg!

Unsurprisingly the Zombieland markets were down last night and that was before the Cypriot Government voted down the proposal to steal bank depositors money. I expect they were frightened that if they voted yes they would have half the KGB after them. Umbrellas being stuck into legs everywhere. Gonna be interesting to see how quickly the Russian can get their money out once the banks do open, eventually. Probably a wakeup call all over Europe. Still the US rallied! Amazing really. Gold has been a big winner in all this, let’s hope it continues! The US steadied after the ECB said that it would provide liquidity to Cyprus. Of course the “whatever it takes” comments obviously don’t apply here..maybe it could be rephrased as “whatever we take!”

Our market yesterday was pathetic, no other words for it. After a big 105 point fall on Monday we backed it up with a 25 point down and today I would expect a little more weakness. Big houses downgrading Iron Ore prices and outlook not helping at all. RIO has been cut to sell from Goldman’s and a price target of $64…No corporate work for them then!. Plus word from the RBA yesterday that it was really happy actually that the Aussie Dollar had remained so high for so long as it killed inflation. Of course it has also killed a lot of other things as well but internet shopping is flourishing! And overseas holidays!!

 

Looks like we could see that 4950 level I talked about ad nauseum,I was beginning to doubt my call for a while but ‘patience grasshopper!!’..if it gets there time to start to accumulate I think…Not quite a get back in there and buy Mortimer moment but certainly one to start nibbling away at..Resource stocks could be under pressure today as Goldmans and others downgrade their forecasts for Iron Ore and the sector in general.

Idea of the Day:    BDR

Oldie but still a goldie..BDR…news from their latest presentation ..BUY around 86/87 for move back to mid 90’s

Gold production will be high with ~200,000 oz of gold forecast for CY 2013, including an allowance of production from Duckhead

Sale of high grade iron ore concentrate and mining iron ore from within Tucano’s gold pits via JOA will reduce gold cash costs by ~$100/oz once in production in May 2013

Co. says Tropicana East — early stage gold discovery in Australia continues to excite; large drilling campaign planned for 2Q

Things that make me go hmmmm.

1.Queensland copper play CuDeco is raising $39.25 million in placements to two strategic investors. CuDeco said it would place 5 milion shares to China Oceanwide International Investments and another 6.4 million shares to China state-owned Sinosteel Equipment and Engineering Co. Both placements were made at $3.45 a share, which was a 7¢ discount to CuDeco’s last closing price.

2.We talked last week about a junior PCL as potentially worth a look as Africa hots up. More deals being done….FAR: African-focused oil junior FAR has inked an $US80 million ($77m) farm-in deal with British-listed Cairn Energy for offshore oil exploration blocks in Senegal, in what is expected to be a forerunner to deals on the other side of the continent. The West African agreement, announced yesterday, comes as FAR progresses farm-in talks on the L6 and L9 blocks off the Kenyan coast in the heated East African gas space, where there have been huge offshore gas discoveries to the south in Mozambique and Tanzania.

3.Australia’s largest iron ore producer, expects the price of the key steel-making ingredient to fall this year, increasing the challenge for companies trying to build greenfields projects. Greg Lilleyman, president of Rio’s Pilbara iron ore operations, told an industry conference in Perth on Tuesday that additional exports from Australia and a slowing in steel demand growth would hurt the iron ore price in the second half of the year.

4.TPG Telecom: could emerge as a surprise bidder for the government’s multi-billion-dollar wireless spectrum auctions as the company continues to build its mobile offering and look to new modes of differentiation in an NBN world. The telco yesterday defied expectations of a slowdown in the saturated broadband and mobile markets, posting a strong half-year profit rise of 41 per cent to $78.3 million as it added 36,000 new fixed-line internet customers and 48,000 new mobile customers in the six months to January 31

5.Talk about parachuting money into an economy as the UK drops $1m euros into Cyprus for the troops. The UK Government is concerned that its troops will be hit with the deposit levy as well.

6.German investor confidence unexpectedly rose to a three-year high in March, suggesting Europe’s largest economy will return to growth. Well at least the German economy !And they have very kindly offered to take Cypriot deposits off them for a 0.95% handling fee…bless them!

7.And my old friend Nigel Farange from the UKIP is in the news again as he tells all Europeans to get their money out now, while you can. Lots of UK criminals on the Costa Brava will be shaking in their shoes if the same thing happened in Spain..looks like the boys are going to have to find a new bolt hole.

8.Good to see the French Government in trouble as well with a high level resignation of the Budget Minister due to having an unauthorised Swiss bank account..Who said politics doesn’t pay..it’s crime that doesn’t ..politics is great ask Eddie!

9. Copper futures dropped to the lowest in almost seven months on speculation that European debt turmoil will damp the region’s economy and erode metal demand.

10.And there’s no other store like David Jones… first half profit has fallen 14 per cent to $73.5 million due to fewer sales and spending to improve its business.

David Jones made sales of $1.003 billion in the six months to January 26, down from $1.011 billion in same period the previous year.

 

And finally…..

Two parrots sitting on a perch, one said to the other” Can you smell Fish?”.

On Sky TV Lunch Money today so tune in if you have Foxtel.

Have a good day

Clarence

XXX

 

And I am going to see Springsteen tonight!!!So excited!!!!