Morning sports fans,

Lest we forget the sacrifices made by these brave boys waking up to this 70 years ago!

 

Last night the ECB under Dr “Do Nothing’Draghi threw the kitchen sink at the problem and became the first major Central Bank to go all negative interest rates.In addition they also said they would accept Brie,Camembert,Feta,and Mozzarella as collateral for the banks.Irish Ten year bonds are now lower than the US!It has been nearly two years since Super Mario dropped the ‘Whatever it takes’ bomb and look where its got him.Only slightly better than nowhere in the real economy.Of course equities and bonds have rallied!So if he actually does something, things can only get better.Long shot I know but the 54% youth unemployed in Greece and Spain were dancing in the streets last night with Draghi news.They were beyond delirious with hope for a brighter future.The markets reacted immediately to the positive announcement with the Germans pushing through to 10,000 for the first time and then retreating.Negative interest rates have been tried before in some of the Scandinavian countries,I think Denmark gave it a go and maybe Sweden before throwing in the towel.Not sure it is the answer but it appears that the ECB is exasperated with the glacial pace of structural reform in Europe and has had to finally do something.They also held out the prospect of doing something else as well.Looks like they are about two year behind the US in the QE thinking.Still Janet is keen to extricate the Fed from their QEIII program whereas Mario seems to be following her in.

 

In the end the Euro markets fell back with the FTSE down for the night and the DAX falling back to 9947.Over in the US though news that David Tepper,hedge fund manager and talking head on CNBC, had changed his mind and ‘wasn’t scared anymore’ about the US market was enough to send it careering up to 16836!!Gold also bounded higher as maybe we will see some inflation..anyway Jobs number tonight so thats the biggy..well the next biggy until the biggy after that…and the World Cup!!

 

So to our market which has been under the pump recently as investors take some money off the table and put it into IPOS..nothing really has changed and despite a modest bounce today ,cos everyone will want to buy their shorts back before the Jobs number and the long weekend , I still expect to see wishy washy trading conditions.The smart money is playing the IPO game..

 

This is how it works..Pick an IPO any IPO..suck up like hell to the broker floating the thing..say all the right words about long term holder/believer and promise I give you shed loads of commission dollars if you give me a big allocation.

Get said big allocation..wait for it to come on ..dump it and move on..next!The ultimate buy and flip…seems like everyone is doing it…brokers feel a bit aggrieved when the dollars of comm don’t come rolling in but hey there’s another IPO to sell ,so why worry…rinse and repeat!!

Idea of the Day

“We Have Nothing To Fear But The Lack Of Fear Itself”

“Pride comes before a fall”

“Still cautious after all these years” Or is it crazy?

You know what sometimes I get exasperated with companies..LYC is a case in point..would be nice to know why they have changed horses so suddenly and to someone that knows even less than I do about Rare Earths…come on Al…really?You raise 40m bucks then the CEO suddenly resigns and a Non Executive director steps up…something you guys aren’t telling us?I will hang in there but some reasons would be good…testing my commitment, one lousy announcement at a time.

Anyway yesterday we held a lunch for new startups in the disruptive technology space..very interesting..the one that seemed the most impressive was Wattcost..can’t buy shares obviously but you can put your name down for the device..check out Wattcost in google…its a way to measure the amount of electricity and gas that your home is using real time.It evens tells you which appliances are using the power and how to get savings..this could be really big and it works with a sensor on your existing meter…you can even effectively crowdfund it by ordering a device for 99 bucks..could be a good way to cut your power bills…expect a big player to take up this product..whoever does will be a big winner..AGL or ORG?

 

Things to make me go mmmmmm!!!

 

It was revealed that volume on the Santiago Stock exchange drops by 99% when Chile are playing a World Cup Game!!

 

Good to see Phoney Toney backing Malcolm the Misunderstood up against his foes. Reminds me of a Shakespearean play.

 

So Zombieland has gone from ZIRP to NIRP-Zero to Negative Interest rate policy.What can go wrong?

 

BHP chief admits they expanded the Iron Ore production too fast..its not a demand issue hurting Iron Ore its the supply!

 

How smart is Rasputin..everyone is now on his back about Ukraine..have we forgotten that the devious bugger took over Crimea and no cares about that anymore…even Tony is happy to have him at the G20 meetings…and he was even invited to the D Day landings commemorations..now I have been to the battlefields..one of the most awesome, sad, tragic and moving experiences of my life and I don’t for the life of me remember the Russians landing in the beaches at Arromanches…they waited 60 years and then invaded London buying all the houses and of course other parts of Europe!On the to do list for everyone..Bayeux Tapestry is quite good too…Early French Porn!!

 

In the US fewer Americans filed applications for unemployment over the last month than any time in the last seven years.Thats a good thing right?

 

The Russell 2000 has rallied 5% since reaching a year low in May.NASDAQ 100 is at its highest level in 13 years.

 

Looks like not only do the US authorities look like fining BNP $10bn for sanction busting but they want to see some body bags out on the runway with French heads to roll…I say let them eat cake!Certainly wont encourage a Euro recovery if the US keeps fining their banks..also means that they will have to raise money to shore up their balance sheets!!Let’s face it if you are a Euro bank with 25% Unemployment in your country and 54% Youth unemployment who are you going to lend money to anyway!!!!

 

IPO watch today -hopeful 3P Learning is one of the few Australian companies that offers global growth. They just want to make sure it is worth the 30-plus times earnings being asked. 3P Learning, owner of the Mathletics program, is seeking to raise up to $315 million at 31 to 38.7 times forecast 2015 financial year profit.Big call..good luck with that!

 

IPO news –Gentrack: The Kiwi software developer is looking to list with an IPO priced at $2.40, which is towards the top of the range of $NZ2 to $NZ2.50 a share. Gentrack, which develops software for utilities companies worldwide, is seeking $NZ88.6 million ($80.4 million) to $NZ101.8 million to list in New Zealand and Australia on June 25.

 

Investors have jumped on the sharemarket listing of Australia’s dominant media monitoring company, iSentia Group. In its first day of trade, iSentia shares closed up 19 per cent, or 39¢, to $2.43 taking its market value to $486 million

And finally…Doc Neeson has arrived at the Pearly gates to be confronted by St Peter.And you know what he said.

No Way ! Get stuffed! Stuff off!

 

Or words pretty similar!

 

 

 

And bonus gag as its Friday and you won’t get one Monday!!

 

A man walked into the produce section of his local Coles supermarket in Brisbane and asked for half a head of lettuce.

The boy working in that department told him that they only sold    entire heads of lettuce.

The man was insistent that the boy ask the manager about the matter.

Walking into the back room, the boy said to the manager: “Some old bastard wants to buy a half a head of lettuce.”

As he finished his sentence, he turned around to find that the man was standing right behind him, so he quickly added: ” And this gentleman kindly offered to buy the other half.”

The manager approved the deal & the man went on his way.

Later, the manager said to the boy: “I was impressed with the way you got yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people who can think on their feet here, where are you from son?”

“Waikato in New Zealand, sir.” the boy replied.

“Why did you leave New Zealand? “the manager asked.

The boy said: “Well sir, there’s nothing but prostitutes & rugby players in New Zealand.”

“Is that right?” replied the manager, “My wife is from New Zealand!”

“Really?” replied the boy, ” Who’d she play for?”

Have a great long weekend

 

Clarence

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