Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 loses 30 points to 5790 as trade war spooks buyers.
• High 5812 Low 5773.
• Banks and financials slip again. Narrow daily range.
• Miners try to steady. BHP slips.
• Gold miners shine.
• CSL a casualty
• AUD steady at 77.28c
• Bitcoin steady at US$8430
• US futures rally slightly up 80
• Asian markets resume sell-off with Japan down 0.49% and China CSI down 1.64%

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• ATS +1.35% broker report and upgraded valuation.
• HVN -0.27% Dairy JV in administration.
• CIM +1.08% secures a $185m Mt Arthur coal contract.
• APT -6.03% AFR commentary on pros and cons.
• DMP +1.82% has ditched its new EBA after union pressure.
• WGX +5.11% reopens Tuckabianna plant.
• KMD -8.84% change in substantial shareholding.
• AX1 +5.35% brokers upgrading.
• SDA – unchanged – broker upgrades.
• GEM -2.58% change in substantial shareholding.
• TLS -0.62% ACCC pursues TLS over third party billing issues
• WES -0.50% completes Curragh coal asset sale. Invites banks to pitch for Coles sale.
• AMP -2.87% closes The Basement. CEO retires.
• BYE +12.50% OEL +5.26% first production from SM71.
• Speculative stock of the day: Australian Dairy Farms Group (AHF) +68.18% after announcing it would be entering the infant formula market together with converting all its six Victorian dairy farms to organic production
• Biggest risers – WGX, AX1, OGC, RSG, APX and BVS.
• Biggest fallers – KMD, AMA, APT, GXY, KDR and GMA.

TODAY

• AMP (AMP) -2.87% CEO Craig Meller announced his plan to retire at the end of 2018. The company is in search for a successor.
• Sky Network Television (SKT) -0.93% CEO John Fellet announced his intention to retire by the end of the year. Fellet said he would remain CEO until a successor can be found and stay on the boars after the transition.
• Catapult Group (CAT) – The company has launched a $25m institutional placement at 110c to drive its Elite and Prosumer businesses.
• Bendigo and Adelaide (BEN) – The company has appointed Marnie Baker as the new CEO. Baker is a long time executive with BEN having joined in 1989. Says it all really.
• Commonwealth Bank (CBA) -1.09% the bank has announced some significant changes to its leadership team. Melanie Laing (HR) Kelly Bayer Rosmarin (Insto Banking) and David Whiteing (CIO) will leave the bank. Search processes are now in train to replace the three executives. These moves are a result of the change in leadership from Ian Narev to Matt Comyn which begins 9th April.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Citrus news – Export volumes are up more than 17% to 273,000 tonnes in 2017. China is unsurprisingly the biggest buyer with exports rising 73% to 72,427 tonnes.

BOND MARKET UPDATE

ASIAN MARKETS NEWS

• Uber has exited south-east Asia, swapping its operations in the region for a 27.5% stake in Grab, its erstwhile local rival.
• China is posing the final hurdle to Toshiba’s US$18bn sale of its profitable memory chip business
• Japan’s Nikkei hits a 6-month low.
• South Korea exempted from Trump tariff rises in steel and aluminium.
• Big things happening in the oil market with China began trading yuan denominated oil futures. Nickel was the last commodity to begin trading in Shanghai. It saw steep rises in price as speculators moved in.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• Stormy Daniels has broken her silence on her relationship with US President Trump.

• John Williams, the current president of the San Francisco regional branch, is a front-runner to succeed William Dudley as head of the powerful New York Fed.
• You watching this Mr Hounsell? In the UK, the department store the House of Fraser looks to be heading into administration with GBP400m of bank debt and bonds. House of Fraser has been dogged by rumours of a cash-crunch ever since Chinese tycoon Yuan Yafei bought the company in 2014. In September, Yafei’s company Sanpower pumped GBP25m into the business, its first cash injection since buying the chain three years ago, as losses widened to almost GBP9m. It has also identified GBP26m of annual cost savings and has been trying to persuade landlords to slash their rents. Sound familiar?
• Paul Fisher, a former Bank of England policy maker guru has warned that Trump’s ‘economic madness’ will push the US into a deep recession. He fears that a recession in the world’s biggest economy will harm the rest of the world.
• The European Union harbours “grave suspicions” about the dominance of Google and has not ruled out breaking it up, the bloc’s competition commissioner has warned.

And finally…………

The mother of a 17-year-old girl was concerned that her daughter was having sex.
Worried the girl might become pregnant and adversely impact the family’s status, she consulted the family doctor.

The doctor told her that teenagers today were very willful and any attempt to stop the girl would probably result in rebellion. He then told her to arrange for her daughter to be put on birth control and until then, talk to her and give her a box of condoms.
Later that evening, as her daughter was preparing for a date, the woman told her about the situation and handed her a box of condoms.
The girl burst out laughing and reached over to hug her mother saying:
“Oh Mum! You don’t have to worry about that! I’m dating Susan!”

 

A film crew was on location deep in the desert. One day, an old Indian went up to the director and said, “Tomorrow storm.” The next day there was a sandstorm.
Several days later, the Indian went up to the director and said, “Tomorrow rain.” The next day it rained for the entire day.
“This Indian is amazing,” said the director. He told his secretary to hire the Indian to predict the weather. However, after several successful predictions, the old Indian failed to show up for a couple of weeks.
Finally, the director sent for him. “I have a big scene to shoot tomorrow,” the director said, “and I’m counting on you. What will the weather be like?”
“Not know,” replied the Indian, shrugging his shoulders. “Radio broken!”

 

Clarence

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