Beeks is back from his overseas jolly with a good time had by all…did you miss me?

Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 up 7 to 6077
• High 6104 Low 6074. Low volume start to the week.

• Optimism fades ahead of US holiday.
• Banks becalmed. Rising bond yields taking their toll on bond proxies.
• Gold miners enjoying bullion rise. Resources still in focus.
• AUD knocks on door of 80c at 79.48c
• Bitcoin $13,628.
• US futures closed for Martin Luther King Jnr holiday.

• Asian markets follow US higher with China CSI 300 up 0.52% and Nikkei up 0.34%. MSCI Asian Equities at record high (+0.25%).

MT STUFF:

• MARCUS CALL – A round up of everything we’ve missed since Christmas Eve.
• ALL ORDS UPDATE – Spreadsheet has been updated.
• TRADING PORTFOLIO – We were stopped out of three trades. We have added one new trade.
• SMALL STOCK PORTFOLIO – Henry recaps themes and how the portfolio has fared over the break.
• BROKER STUFF – A downgrade on NXT.
• CONNECT WITH US – We invite you to send us your own stock ideas. We also have the facility for you to email us any questions. Click on the “Ask Marcus Today” button in the newsletter or below – Ask us anything:

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• MLX -2.48% high grade cobalt confirmation at Wingellina.
• MQA -2.23% bond proxy stocks turn negative.
• SYD -1.33%, TCL -1.02% rising bond rates.
• EVN +6.64% gold miners in demand on falling USD.

• YAL +10.34% broker recommendation
• AD8 +8.46% fund manager buying recommendation.
• AC8 +8.43% cannabis stocks continue to rise.
• NXT -4.03% profit taking on broker downgrade.
• ORG -1.78% STO -1.27% broker downgrades.
• PPT +1.17% FUM increased to $32.8bn up $1.8bn due to asset growth and 0.2bn of net outflows.
• MYQ +9.63% following a bullish investor presentation.
• Speculative stock of the day: King River Copper (KRC) +33.33% after a placement of 40m shares at 3c to professional and sophisticated investors.
• Biggest risers – YAL, CLQ, AVZ, OMH, MYX and EVN
• Biggest fallers – NXT, PPH, GSC, FXJ and BGA.

TODAY

• The ACCC has launched a formal inquiry into MYOB’s (MYO) +0.85% $180m acquisition of accounting software products from Reckon (RKN) -0.63%.
• Experience Co (EXP) +3.95% has resumed operations after the incident last week at its Queenstown Sky Diving operation where a tourist drowned.
• Wattle Health (WHA) +8.83% The company has secured a brand slot for CFDA accreditation. It is one of the first Australian companies to have 2 brand slots with a CNCA licensed manufacturer. The slots are for Goat Infant Formula. The market for Goat Infant Formula is expected to be around $1.9bn in 2018 up 43% from 2017. The company hopes that formal accreditation will occur in the second half of 2018. The company has also updated the Cow Formula accreditation process with the process still continuing.
• Woolworths (WOW) unchanged -Steve Donohue has been appointed the new MD of Endeavour Drinks effective from April. Donohue is currently Director of Buying and Merchandising of Woolworths Supermarkets.
• Vocus Communications (VOC) +0.93% The company is undergoing a restructure with a separation of its Enterprise and Wholesale segment into two operating segments resulting into four reportable operating segments. These are Enterprise and Government, Wholesale and International, Consumer and NZ. Interim results will be released February 20th.
• Perseus Mining (PRU) +11.39% announced initial gold production from its Ivory Coast Sissingue operation ahead of schedule. It expects first gold this month, and commercial production by end-March, an announcement that comes after a timeline of over-promising and under-delivering thanks to disruptions at its Edikan mine in Ghana which previously had led to regular downgrades to annual production guidance.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Residential property values fell an average of 0.1% across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide in the seven days to January 14, but lifted 3.9% in the 12 months to Sunday. Values in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth each dropped 0.1%, while Melbourne’s prices were steady, according to property research group CoreLogic.

BOND MARKET

ASIAN NEWS

• No bubble here, right? Hong Kong eye clinic operator C-Mer Eye Care soared as much as 101% in its Hong Kong debut on Monday after its retail offering was more than 1,500 times oversubscribed.
• The PBoC loaned out nearly Rmb400bn ($62.2bn) in response to what it described as a “relatively large” decrease in the banking system’s liquidity.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• Ford will double spending on Electric Vehicles (EVs) to $11bn by 2022, Jim Farley, president of global markets, said during a presentation at the Detroit auto show. That’s up from the $4.5bn that Ford said in late 2015 it would invest through the end of the decade. Ford plans to field 40 electrified models in total, including 16 battery-only vehicles, executives said at the show.
• No good news for London house prices with asking prices dropping to the lowest since August 2015.New sellers cut prices 1.4% in January to an average of GBP600,926. Asking prices in London are down 3.5% from a year ago.

• UK Construction company, Carillion, looks to be on the verge of failure as the UK Government held last-ditch talks on whether to bail-out some of its most troubled contracts.. It is the UK’s second-largest construction company, employing 43,000 people globally. Carillion is working on some of the UK’s largest building projects. The contractor is also sinking under the weight of more than £1.5bn of debt and a huge pension deficit of nearly £600m. The company share price has collapsed to 14p valuing the business at £61m.

And finally……………….thanks Hans!

Professor travels to Africa to live with a primitive tribe and spends years with them, teaching them all about the wonders of science and mathematics. He makes friends with the tribes Chief’s and his wife and they all live happily for some time. One day, the Chief’s wife gives birth to… a white baby.

The word spreads and the entire tribe is in shock.

The chief pulls the professor aside and says, “Look, you only white man we ever see around village, and wife give birth to white child. Not take genius to figure what happen!”

The professor replied, “No, Chief. You’re mistaken. What you have here is a natural occurrence, what we in the civilized world call an albino! Look at that field over there. All of the sheep are white except for one black one. Nature does this on occasion.”

The chief was silent for a moment, then said, “We have bargain. You say nothing about sheep and I say nothing about white baby.”

 

Have a great evening

Clarence

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