Wednesday 6th September – Australia Market Rap! | Beeks Downunder-Because not all financial news is boring!

Is Bond the Answer to the North Korean problem?

Colonel Moon: You will not live to see the day all Korea is ruled by the North.
James Bond: Then you and I have something in common.

ASX 200 falls 16.5 points to 5690.
Small closing rally saves some blushes.
High 5698 Low 5663.
Miners hold the line as banks/insurers weigh.
Gold miners at five-month high as bullion hits yearly high.
TLS slips again. CSL bounces.
GDP numbers disappoints with 1.8% growth. AUD slips below 80c.
US Futures down 9 points.
Asian markets slip on growing regional tensions Japan down 0.13% and China down 0.42%.

STOCK STUFF

Ex Dividends today

Movers and Shakers

CSL +1.07% on broker upgrade.
CAT -9.69% broker downgrade.
SUN -2.11% broker downgrade.
MQG -2.27% as US Investment Banks sell off.
QBE -2.04% insurers under pressure.
AGL +0.25% statement on Liddell power station closure.
S32 +1.99% positive commodity moves.
LYC +5.41% rally continues.
NCK +3.81% on index changes.
IRI -6.40% as chairman sells 6.64m shares to concentrate on philanthropy.
GXY +7.39% positive sentiment for lithium stocks.
WSA +3.65% nickel price rises driving shares.
Speculative stocks of the day: Senex (SXY) +24.07% after winning a competitive tender for new QLD gas acreage. A big positive as acquisition costs were nil.
Biggest risers – SKT, GXY, ALQ, IGO, NEC, WEB and SYR
Biggest fallers –IRI, PTM, GWA, JHG, ASL, BTT and AAD.

TODAY

AGL Energy (AGL) +0.25% Reaffirms its commitment to shut down the Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley in 2022. Delta Electricity has become the first energy player to put up its hand to buy AGL Energy’s Liddell coal-fired power plant.

ECONOMIC NEWS

2Q GDP has come in below consensus at 0.8%, a step up from 0.3% in the March quarter. That brings year on year GDP growth to 1.8%. 26 years of growth sets a new record.

Household savings ratio slumps to 4.6% from revised 5.3%.
Household spending climbed 0.7% to add 0.4 point; government spending advanced 1.2%, including cash going into infrastructure, contributing 0.2 point to growth.
Non-residential construction slumped 7.7%, subtracting 0.4 point; inventories detracted 0.6 point from growth.
Bankwest, part of CBA, is cutting rates for new interest-only property investors but will next month increase interest-only rates for existing investors. Rates are falling by up to 30 bps for new investors in September and rising 35 bps for current interest-only occupier borrowers in October.

BOND MARKET UPDATE

ASIAN NEWS

Bitcoin falls as PBOC declares ICO (Initial Coin Offerings) illegal. All ICO’s must be stopped and refunds provided. It also said digital token financing and trading platforms are prohibited from doing conversions of coins with fiat currencies ie real paper money.

Shenzen is soon going to be a bigger economy than Hong Kong. Though the financial hub will remain in HK.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

Harvey has hit and now its Irma’s turn as a budget crisis looms for FEMA and the US.
Orange Juice futures and cotton rose sharply in anticipation of the storm hitting production. Orange juice for November delivery rose 6.2% to $1.45 a pound on ICE Futures US yesterday. Cotton jumped by the 3c exchange limit, or 4.2%, to 74.88c a pound.
Trump ends ‘Dreamers’ Backs down on KORUS, the South Korean trade deal.
Canadian rates decision tonight. Any rate rise will see the narrative firm for other central banks.
Lego has first drop in revenues in a decade, sacks 1400 workers and will rebuild operations.
Aveva’s 2 -year US$3bn merger with Schneider Electric now has some a stand still clause now to compensate if the French walk away.