Quick flash back to the times of Charlie and Di

Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 -7 TO 6087 on late rally.
• High 6111 Low 6080.
• Narrow range thin volume.
• Index down 29 pts (0.4%) for the week.
• Banks flounder together with resources.
• CSL saves the day on upgrade.
• AUD slips slightly to 75.14c number
• Bitcoin falls again to US$8040
• AUD Gold weaker at $1288.
• US futures up 55.
• Asian markets better with Japan 0.34% and China up 0.43%

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• A2M -4.56% turns sour again.
• TWE -1.95% corked its seems.
• TTT -8.61% profit taking.
• BYE -8.97% disappointing flow rates.
• BWX -3.92% sellers emerge.
• DLX -3.43% broker downgrades after numbers yesterday.
• CGF +7.07% bounce continues.
• CDA +9.12% profit guidance.
• MYR +4.65% Solly writes letter but Not known at this address.
• TLS -0.70% continues to leak.
• VOC -3.67% sector woes continue.
• MQG +0.76% back in favour.
• KDR +3.60% broker upgrades.
• FAR +5.32% moving ahead on oil price.
• AKP -% wafer delivery query. No volume as usual.
• Speculative stock of the day: Ausmon Resources (AOA) +20.00% the company has been granted two exploration licences for 6 years from May 2018.The company is targeting a cobalt-nickel project near the Thackaringa Cobalt project near Broken Hill.
• Biggest risers – CGF, RFF, MSB, UPD, FAR and ECX
• Biggest fallers – NHF, A2M, IPH, BWX, NAN and GXY

TODAY

• CSL +4.13% Has lifted its profit guidance, on the back of strong sales of Idelvion and Haegarda. CSL now expects FY18 net profit of around US$1.68bn to US$1.71bn, up 8.3-10% on previous guidance. The company has also cited good performance in its flu vaccine following a challenging season.
• Westfield (WFD) -0.22% An announcement from Unibail-Rodamnco this morning with the shareholders voting to approve the takeover/merger at the AGM in Paris. The next hurdle for the merger is the WFD AGM vote on 24th May. This should be a formality given it has been unanimously recommended by the Lowy family and Westfield’s Board of Directors.
• Godfreys(GFY) +6.45% NGE has announced it intends to accept the takeover offer from Arcade at 32c. Kentgrove has also accepted the offer. The two groups combined represent 19.77%. The deal is now assured after passing 50.1%.
• Appen (APX) +0.40% AGM today with CEO commenting that the company is well positioned in a high growth market. The Company’s full year underlying EBITDA for the year ending Dec 31st 2018, is trending to the upper end of $50M – $55M (at A$1 = US$0.80). YTD revenue plus orders in hand for delivery in 2018 ~$190M at end April 2018.
• Sydney Airport (SYD) – unchanged -Traffic numbers for April out this morning. Total passenger numbers are up 2.6%, with international traffic up 1.8% in April. The nationalities with the largest growth in April were Indian (+18.0%), USA (+9.9%); and South Korean (+8.1%).

ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT

BOND MARKETS

ASIAN MARKETS NEWS

• China said it has dropped its anti-dumping investigation into US imports of sorghum on Friday as it was not in the public interest.
• Consumer inflation in Japan slowed further in April after dropping a month prior for the first time since the country exited deflation in early 2017.

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• NAFTA talks have missed deadline and look to be a feature of 2019.
• Elon Musk may need to tap capital markets for more than $US10bn by 2020 to fund Tesla’s auto-making operations, new products and expected expansion into China, according to Goldman Sachs.
• PayPal is in talks to buy iZettle for more than $2bn and snap up the Swedish payments start-up just before it was set to become the biggest fintech in Europe to list.
• Good luck to Harry and Meghan. At least for that series of The Crown they won’t need an actor to play her.

And finally……………

One afternoon a lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the roadside eating grass.

Disturbed, he ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.

He asked one man, “Why are you eating grass ?”

“We don’t have any money for food,” the poor man replied. “We have to eat grass.”

“Well then, you can come with me to my house and I’ll feed you,” the lawyer said.

“But sir, I have a wife and two children with me. They are over there eating grass under that tree.”

“Bring them along,” the lawyer replied.

Turning to the second poor man he stated, “You may come with us, also.”

The other man, in a pitiful voice, then said, “But sir, I also have a wife and six children with me!”

“Bring them all as well,” the lawyer answered.

They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine.

Once under way, one of the poor fellows turned to the lawyer and said, “Sir, you are  too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you.”

The lawyer replied, “Glad to do it. You’ll really love my place. The grass is almost a foot high.”

Clarence

XXX

For an audio version of this report click here