Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 down 12 points to 5946 as banks weigh.
• High 5954 Low 5923.
• Early selling sees bargain hunters emerge.
• Banks under pressure on Royal Commission fears.
• Healthcare and miners fight back.
• Energy stocks gain on higher oil price.
• AUD falls to 75.54c to a five-month low.
• Bitcoin US$7982 after touching $8000.
• US futures down 57.
• Asian markets weaker with China CSI 300 down 0.69% and Japan down 0.67%.

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• New IPO NWL +43.78% on strong volume.
• TLS +0.58% finding some support.
• APT +4.76% AGM Presentation.
• PPH +4.78% on good fintech sentiment.
• BIG +1.97% AGM address.
• MYO -3.54% equity overhang.
• DHG -3.80% not a happy start to life.
• AAC -4.06% selling continues.
• MSB -3.40% negative sentiment remains.
• PMP -30.07% trading downgrade and CEO succession.
• CAN -24.93% fails to fire. Massive volatility.
• GSW -4.91% resignation of non-exec director.
• NOX +31.78% promising interim drug trial results.
• Speculative stock of the day: Draig Resources (DRG) +75.00% after high grade results from the Bellevue Gold project with 5m@37.5g/t gold from 92m.
• Biggest risers – NWL, SVW, PPH, APT, SXL and VAH.
• Biggest fallers – CEN, MSB, AAC, NHC, MYO, AST and JBH.

TODAY

• Wattle Health (WHA) -6.52% lodged a CFDA application for its WHA Infant formula. The accreditation application has been accepted and is currently under review.
• AuMake Limited (AU8) +15.15% The company has announced a strategic alliance with Australian made campaign giving it access to a database of 2700 Australian Suppliers. The company also gave a performance update with YoY sales increase of 109% and gross margin of 133.8%. The George Street store opens 27th November. The company is also looking at more store locations in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne.
• Creso Pharma (CPH) +20.73% has entered a strategic partnership with Zhejiang Kingdom Creative and Hong Kong listed hemp producer. The agreement provides CPH with a foothold in China. The Health food market is valued at around $39.62bn and is projected to grow by 10% pa to 2025.
• Baby Bunting (BBN) –5.69% FY18 EBITDA is now expected to be around $23m with sales growth of 4%. This is a downgrade on expectations and will be taken as a negative for the company.
• Sydney Airport (SYD) –0.55% Growth remains strong at 5.8%. 43m passengers through the three terminals in the last 12 months. Once again International passengers dominated the numbers.
• Macquarie Atlas Roads (MQA) +0.51% The company has announced that it will internalise the management from the current agreement with Macquarie Group. The independent directors will now try to devise the best way to transition in the best interests of shareholders. A positive move for MQA and one which the market will like. This has been a long time coming and there have been question marks over the relationship and fees that MQG has been able to extract from MQA. This is a godo step and will give institutional investors another reason to buy.
• The Hydroponics Company (THC) +11.76% Another positive deal announced with an Israeli cannabis pioneer Bolpharma to supply cannaboid related products into Australia.
• com (CAR) -0.37% has signed a memorandum of understanding with SK Holdings to buy the remaining 50.1% stake in South Korean JV Encar.com for about $244m.
• Perpetual (PPT) -1.09% CEO Geoff Lloyd has announced he is is departing after five years in the top role. Mr Lloyd will finish up in June 2018. A successor is yet to be named.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• The RBA head of financial stability, Jonathan Kearns, said foreign buyers accounted for about 10 to 15% of new construction, or about 5%of total housing sales and around one-quarter of newly built apartments.

BOND MARKET

ASIAN MARKETS

• Alibaba has agreed to buy a stake in China’s largest operator of Wal-Mart-style hypermarkets for about US$2.9 billion, making its latest bet on the evolution of brick-and-mortar retail. Alibaba has spent billions buying into grocers, shopping malls and even department stores long before Amazon announced its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods. Interesting that digital retailers are buying bricks and mortar exposure.
• The digital currency is gaining the acceptance of professional investors, with CME Group, the world’s biggest exchange, poised to start offering futures trading on bitcoin next month.

• The good times are back in Hong Kong with tech related IPOs soaring in popularity. Retail stock buyers placed orders for US$163 billion worth of equity in this year’s major deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The most popular was China Literature Ltd., a local take on Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Store that’s risen 77% since it started trading this month.

• It is different this time after all.

• Japanese exports in October rose 14% from a year earlier.
• Imports increase 18.9%(forecast +20.2%).
• The trade surplus was 285.4 billion yen (US$2.6 billion), less than the forecast of 330 billion yen.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• Talks fail. Euro drops. Angela Merkel is still yet to seal negotiations to form the four-party government as immigration issues remain. DAX may come under some pressure and see Euro markets fade.
• In the UK it looks like the cabinet are keen to back Theresa May with the increased Brexit offer.
• European lenders are set to settle fines with Brussels over a FX fixing probe.
• Late cycle liquidity is evident in spades at the moment following art auctions in New York. Asian buyers bought US$1.5bn of Monets and Bitcoin is up 1200% over the last year. Couple the IPO frenzy in HK and we have all the makings of a canary singing in a coal mine.

And finally………………….

 

A woman goes into the local newspaper office to see that the obituary for her recently deceased husband is published.

The obit editor informs her that there is a charge of 50 cents per word. She pauses, reflects, and then says well, then, let it read “Fred Brown died.”

Amused at the woman’s thrift, the editor tells her that there is a seven word minimum for all obituaries.

She thinks it over and in a few seconds says, “In that case, let it read, ‘Fred Brown died. Golf clubs for sale.’”

 

Not very politically correct I’m afraid…

Those with prior radio procedure and/or phonetic alphabet knowledge will appreciate this one.

A Glasgow policeman spots a huge black guy dancing on the roof of a Ford car. He radios for backup.

“What’s the situation?”

“A big fat black guy is dancing on the roof of an old Ford car.”

“You can’t say that over the radio!”, replies the operator, “you have to  use politically correct terminology.”

“OK”, he says:

“Zulu….Tango….Sierra”

Clarence

XXXX