The smiling legal assasin

Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 down 12to 5869.
• High 5887 Low 5863.
• Narrow range. Convictionless trading.
• Royal Commission and the ongoing fallout continue.
• Banks again under pressure.
• Resources slip on profit-taking.
• AUD slips to 77.13c.
• Bitcoin rallies to US$8273.
• US futures flat down 2
• Asian markets fall with China CSI down 1.44% and Japan down 0.09%.

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• KDR +7.98% lithium stocks finding friends.
• PLS +2.87% catching the lithium upswing. Board update.
• SWM +3.92% merger speculation.
• IRE +3.04% broker upgrade.
• BPT +2.66% small oil company rally.
• GEM -7.23% AGM negative comments.
• API -3.40% broker downgrades.
• ALL +1.43% continues to shine.
• WSA -3.89% profit taking on lower nickel price.
• TPM -2.66% TLS -0.96% telcos still under pressure.
• AGL -1.98% continues to fall as NEG on the COAG agenda.
• NAB +0.14% announces $755m of restructuring costs or redundancy payments.
• WPL +1.16% oil futures rally in Asia.
• ADH +13.82% trading update.
• CAT +7.57% technical buying appearing.
• Speculative stock of the day: AusTin Mining (ANW) +29.41% new $2.5m funding package to advance tin and cobalt projects.
• Biggest risers –KDR, SWM, CEN, GXY, IRE and PLS.
• Biggest fallers – GEM, EVN, IGO, AX1,ECX, and PRU.

TODAY

• MYOB(MYO) – 0.93% Approval for the $180m takeover of online accounting firm Reckon by MYOB has been postponed. A decision about the deal is expected to be made by regulators ACCC and NZCC in June 2018.
• Sydney Airport (SYD) +0.46% International tourists lift 11% in March mainly on the back of an earlier Easter holiday than last year.
• Evolution Mining(EVN) -5.36% La Mancha has announced a sell down of 5% of its stake to 15% via a bookbuild. The shares were sold at 321c a 4.5% discount to the market and are the reason for the weakness this morning.
• AMP-0.46% CEO Craig Meller has resigned effective immediately following the Royal Commission revelations.Non-executive director Mike Wilkins will replace Meller in the short term until a successor is appointed. AMP has also pledged to undertake a review of its regulatory reporting and governing practices. It will appoint “a retired judge or equivalent independent expert” to oversee the review.
• G8 Education(GEM) – 7.23% AGM today with an update from theMD. Supply growth exceeded demand by 2.5% last year. In 2018 that same supply growth is forecast to grow by 3.5% in 2018. Pressure is set to wane following the government’s new childcare provisions starting in June. According to the company, 95% of GEM centres will be better off under the new regime. The target of EPS of 40c is no longer achievable.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Nothing significant today
• Royal Commission continues to dominate headlines.

BOND MARKETS

ASIAN MARKET NEWS

• Japanese inflation dipped in March. Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 0.9% in March from a year earlier, versus a 1% rise in February. The result was expected by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

• China’s largest bad loan bank, Huarong, plunged to its lowest in more than a year in Hong Kong on Friday as the stock resumed trading after its chairman was placed under investigation by the Chinese Communist party’s anti-corruption agency earlier in the week.
• Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co slumped as much as 6.8% to a four-month low on Friday after it forecast higher costs and lower sales in the second quarter amid weaker smartphone demand. Trouble for Apple as we hit peak smartphone.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• The EU has rejected PM Mays solution for the Irish border question.
• Irish drug company, Shire has rejected a GBP42bn offer from Takeba after Allergan pulls the plug.The U.S. government is reviewing the possible use of a law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers allowing President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” allowing him to block transactions and seize assets. Steve Mnuchin has until around May 21 to propose executive action to address concerns about investments in the U.S.
• Acquisitions by Chinese firms in the U.S. fell to $31.8bn last year from $53bn in 2016.
• Bank of England governor Mark Carney says that the UK should prepare for interest rate rises over the next few years. Carney said policy makers would make their decision conscious of the fact that they could act later in the year, rather than right away.
• The UK has gone a record 55-hours without the use of coal power.
• Russian billionaire has a worse day than an AMP planner after losing his US$492m super yacht in divorce settlement.
• US Opioid prescriptions dropped 12% last year.

And finally…………….

Have a great weekend

Clarence

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