“Life is a roller coaster that we all ride”, so sang 10cc and today we continued the ride as we moved up 1% after US markets rose and commodities like Gold and Oil improved on the ‘coup’ in Egypt. So far we are down 8 points for the week despite the 2% moves we have seen. Love those computer traders. Usual suspects rallied with banks probably slightly lagging National Australia Bank (A$28.87, +0.5%), Westpac Banking (A$27.93, +0.9%) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (A$68.47, -0.1%) underperforming whereas RIO Tinto (A$52.17, +1.3%), Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.30, +6.8%) and BHP Billiton (A$31.22, +0.5%) all did well. Resources definitely outperforming on the lower dollar and better commodity prices and just being so oversold recently.

Big winner today was CSL (A$63.38, +3.5%) kicking higher with good shows from Cochlear (A$61.21, +1.1%), ResMed Inc. (A$4.93, +0.8%) and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (A$3.00, +2.7%) in the health care sector. Energy stocks also benefitted from 101 dollar oil and Woodside Petroleum (A$35.64, +2.9%) bounced after yesterday’s production issues,thought they might! Origin Energy (A$12.63, +2.7%), Santos (A$12.97, +0.9%), Drillsearch Energy (A$1.17, +8.8%), Senex Energy (A$0.635, +7.6%) and AWE (A$1.32, +4.3%) all did well. Golds were better with Sims Metal Management (A$8.42, +1.9%), Silver Lake Resources (A$0.715, +5.1%), Newcrest Mining (A$10.98, +1.2%) and Regis Resources (A$3.50, +7.0%).

Cloud-based accounting software firm Xero (A$14.91, +1.77%) has doubled its market capitalisation in just four months, rising above $NZ2 billion ($1.73 billion), despite having yet to turn a profit. In other consumer stocks new look News Corp News (A$32.84, +2.2%) stepped out in style with defensives Wesfarmers (A$38.86, +0.5%), Woolworths (A$32.45, +0.6%) and Coca-Cola Amatil (A$12.56, +1.0%) all doing ok. Other consumer stocks were mixed with Harvey Norman (A$2.41, +1.3%), David Jones (A$2.51, -0.8%), Myer (A$2.42, +3.0%) and The Reject Shop (A$17.68, +4.0%) looking especially firm. Our old friend Telstra (A$4.69, +0.6%) was slightly higher today and announced they were going to do some routine maintenance on their tunnels.

Amongst the grinners today were Karoon Gas Australia (A$5.73, +11.3%), Magellan Financial Group (A$10.60, +9.2%), Independence Group NL (A$2.73, +9.2%), Atlas Iron (A$0.835, +9.9%), Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (A$3.30, +6.8%) and Aquila Resources (A$1.84, +5.7%) whilst left out of the fun were Echo Entertainment Group (A$2.91, -4.3%) (Suspended), Computershare (A$9.77, -2.7%), G8 Education (A$2.42, -0.4%), Fairfax Media (A$0.51, -1.0%) and JB Hi-Fi (A$16.66, -1.2%).

Volume was holiday affected at around “not very much really”! Way below average!

Stocks in the News

Big news in the gaming world today as Jamie Packer’s Crown was placed firmly on the Barangaroo head and he was anointed by “Slim Barry” as the preferred provider of a new casino. The sun is shining and Jamie is in his rightful place.

Drillsearch Energy (A$1.17, +8.8%) had a great day today following a deal with Santos (A$12.97, +0.9%) on their West Cooper wet gas project. This was enough to kick some life into the sector and Buru Energy (A$1.34, +9.8%) announced an update on its Ungani project.

Santos (A$12.97, +0.9%) Their Gladstone liquefied natural gas project is to link with a project backed by British Gas. Under the proposal, the two projects will be able to swap gas which will lift the operating efficiencies of the two projects.

Magellan Financial Group (A$10.60, +9.2%) have had a stellar run this year and continued to push higher following a performance update.

Good to see some movement at the station for Cudeco (A$1.905, +3.3%) as they have joined producer status following today’s update on the box cut. Also others that have been walloped in resource land did well, Linc Energy Ltd (A$1.01, +14.8%) which was having a shocker recently was back.

And in rare news today Hills (A$1.165, +11.0%) announced a profit update…finally some good news coming on the heels of the upgrade from Flight Centre (A$41.55, +3.5%) yesterday. So at least that’s two companies doing well.

Approvals for the construction of new homes fell 1.1 per cent across Australia in May, official figures show. Slightly disappointing those that watch these things carefully. Local councils approved the construction of 13,781 new homes, including houses, townhouses and apartments in multi-unit buildings, in May.

The Australian Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries VFACTS report showed total vehicle sales in June were 118,758, a 22.7 per cent increase on May. After adjusting for seasonal factors, sales were up 5.8 per cent, said VFACTS. Crisis what crisis!

Tomorrows News Today

US markets closed tonight to celebrate their independence. Jobs numbers on Friday will be their focus and then its earnings next week. Alcoa kick things off first.

Now the dollar is hitting that 90 cents level the predictions for further falls are emerging with one big Investment house now talking 75c.And in a note to Glenn Stevens, not sure the comedy routine is working for you. Don’t give up your day job!

In a time when International cooperation is imperative it’s not a good look for the US to be spying on their Euro cousins. They seem a little peeved and it will take all Obama’s charm to ease this tension. On Zombie news expect more fun and games from the Southern members as Portugal implodes and Greece still looks worrisome. Nigeria issues 5 and 10 year binds with a lower yield than Portugal!

Youth unemployment is “perhaps the most pressing European problem”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, ahead of an EU meeting on the issue. Ministers are meeting in Berlin to discuss measures to tackle unemployment among Europe’s young people. EU leaders have agreed to spend 6bn euros ($7.8bn; £5.1bn) on the problem, but have not agreed on what measures the money will be spent. Statistics suggest 23% of people under 25 are unemployed in Europe. Good to see austerity working well.

US carmaker Chrysler has said that it will recall nearly 840,000 vehicles. This includes 490,000 vehicles which may have a potentially faulty component for head rests that are designed to move forward during rear-end crashes.

Back on Sky TV tomorrow afternoon at 5.30pm for those looking for some more insights!

Clarence.

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