Happy Friday

Clarence survived life threatening surgery and is back

Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 rallies 14 points to as US tax reform helps equities
• High 5979Low 5949. Tight range. Below average volume.
• Weekly performance ASX 200 down 1.2%
• Banks and Healthcare lead.
• Miners still under pressure.
• WES AGM fails to enthuse. UK a focus.
• AUD falls to 75.88c on disappointing wage data.
• Bitcoin US$7919 rallying hard.
• US futures down 3.
• Asian markets

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• STO +1.21% on bid speculation.
• Cannabis stocks have huge day.
• CAN +5.31% THC +30.77%
• MSB +7.72% broker BUY recommendation.
• TAH+4.84% TTS +2.33% on ACT authorisation.
• BIG +6.26% rally continues.
• VAH +15.22% on privatisation expectations and fundie comments.
• PPH +3.63% rally resumes.
• CGC -3.39% agri stocks weaken on weather worries.
• AAC -3.21% downgrade weighs.
• DHG -0.27% slight celebration on decree nisi.
• FXJ -2.74% separation anxieties.
• PGH -1.86% after insto entitlement update at 528c
• Speculative stock of the day: ZYB +% after a ASX query and the company response on opportunities in the cyber sector it is pursuing.
• Biggest risers – VAH, MSB, IFT, BIG, NHC and PPH.
• Biggest fallers – IRI, AAC, SIQ, VRL, CEN and PGH.

TODAY

• Tabcorp Holdings (TAH) +4.84% The $11bn merger with Tats Group (TTS) +2.33% has been approved by the Australian Competition Tribunal. The merger was initially approved by the tribunal in June but the ACCC appealed the decision to the Federal Court only to go back to the Tribunal to be given the final green light. A condition of the merger is for Tabcorp to divest the Queensland Odyssey Gaming Services business. The tribunal has said they considered the detriments outlines by the Anti-trust regulator unlikely to arise and the merger to bring about substantial public benefit.
• Kogan (KGN) +12.60% in a trading update announced that from July to October revenue grew of 36.2%, gross margins improved 18.4% and EBITDA grew 58.3% against the prior year’s pro-forma EBITDA.
• Pact Group Holdings (PGH) –1.86 Completed the institutional component of its 1 for 9 entitlement offer raising $151m at 528 cents per share. The funds will be used in acquisitions in Asia and for financial flexibility.
• Afterpay Touch (APT) –0.73% Established a NZ$20m revolving cash facility for an 18 month period with ASB Bank. It has also gained approval to increase its NAB warehouse funding facility from $200m to $350m with a new term of 24 months after the bank reviewed its financial position.
• Pro Medicus (PME) +3.76% announced an $18m, 7-year contract with Yale New Haven Health, an affiliate of Yale University in the US. The contract is for the use of PME’s Visage 7 technology in Yale’s radiology departments.
• Noni B (NBL) +3.76% chairman Richard Facioni told shareholders at the annual meeting today it will continue to pay regular dividends now that the group has returned to profitability, while at the same time announcing up to a $5m on-market share buyback.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Nothing significant today

BOND MARKET

ASIAN MARKETS

• Toyota will sell electric cars in China from 2020. Selling electric vehicles in China from 2020 will mark the return of Toyota into the battery-powered vehicles market after halting production of the RAV4 EV in 2014.
• Moody’s has upgraded India’s sovereign rating on expectations of continued progress for economic and institutional reforms.
• Not all dairy companies are created equally it seems. China Huishan Dairy which fell 85% in March this year, is preparing for provisional liquidation after it found net liabilities in China may have totalled Rmb10.5bn (US$1.6bn) at that time.
• China has flooded the market with a US$47bn cash injection and sends Chinese bonds down off three-year highs.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications have both expressed interest in acquiring a significant part of Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc’s assets. Meanwhile the U.S. Justice Department is preparing a lawsuit to block AT&T Inc, the largest Pay-TV provider in the United States, from buying Time Warner Inc for US$85.4 billion.
• Fox assets that buyers have expressed interest in have included the movie and TV production studios, cable networks FX and National Geographic, and international assets such as the Star network in India, and the European pay TV provider Sky Plc. These units have also been the subject of recent talks between Fox and Walt Disney
• Bitcoin hits record. One of the reasons may be the cancellation of SegWit2X earlier this week. Whatever that is. Ripple apparently is the one.

• Meanwhile in Norway, the state owned sovereign wealth fund, Norges, is talking about getting out of oil completely in an attempt to cut its exposure to what it thinks may be a permanent decline in commodity prices. It is also talking about getting out of coal assets too. Fair to say Norges has a fair exposure to global oil and gas companies. Now it is a seller of $44bn of oil assets. Perhaps.

• In the UK Theresa May, who may not make it to Xmas, has had to back down on a fixed Brexit date after a party revolt. Now pencilling in the 12^th of never for Brexit.

And finally…………..

Clarence

XXX