The Italian Football Team waiting for the plane to Moscow.

Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 kicks up another 10 points to 6104
• High 6115 Low 6085.
• Trade crisis, what crisis?
• Banks the stars for a change with REITs following.
• TLS slips ahead of investor day.
• Miners under pressure on metal prices and oil.
• Quake hits Osaka.
• AUD steady at 74.50c
• Bitcoin weaker at US$6426
• AUD Gold cracks to $1279.
• US futures down 117.
• Asian markets hit by Japanese quake and China closed for holiday. Japan falls 0.81%.

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• PPH -2.20% co-founder resigns. Bookbuild for his stake. 24m shares.
• JMS +5.71% company update.
• S32 -1.28% acquisition of Arizona Ming in all-cash offer.
• GXL +2.29% shorts covering.
• CYB +0.82% all share offer for Virgin Money.
• RHC +2.19% bounce continues.
• MLX -5.65% copper sell off,
• FAR -4.55% oil price falls.
• GXY -3.69% Mt Caitlin royalty deal with RED
• BRU -13.70% operations update.
• WHA-10.08% becoming a substantial shareholder.
• AGO +22.22% takeover off at 4.2c from Gina Rinehart.
• AGY +10.64% gas supply switched on.
• PHK +10.00% after Insiders comments this morning.
• AVZ +8.99% hits 263.2m@1.52% Li2O
• TCL +0.82% substantial shareholder
• TLS -2.38% sees profit taking after recent rise.
• ASX +0.22% CFO retires.
• BLA -6.02% unable to complete a farm purchase on QLD/NSW border.
• PRZ – IPO launch postponed until Friday.
• MND -2.22% profit taking.
• Speculative stock of the day: Simonds Group (SIO) +% provided a trading update with new MND/CEO driving results in first 100 days and 2,500 new homes starts forecast for FY18.EBITDA expected in the range $15.5m-$16.5m
• Biggest risers – JMS, OGC, SAR, PGH, AOG, SXL and LLC
• Biggest fallers – MLX, FAR, KDR, LOC, CDD, COE and GXY

TODAY

• South32 (S32) –1.28% have made a US$1.3bn all-cash bid for the remaining 83% interest in Arizona Mining, representing a 50% premium. Directors of Arizona who are entitled to vote have already supported the agreement and are recommending to shareholders to vote in favour of the deal.
• Atlas Iron (AGO) +22.22% Received an unconditional take-over bid from Gina Rinehart for 100% of the company at 4.2c.
• The proposal is separate from the MIN bid and the shares will return to trade on Wednesday. It also announced that its first shipment of lithium has set sail. Received an unconditional take-over bid from Gina Rinehart for 100% of the company at 4.2c
• Bubs Australia (BUB) –4.47%The company has done a placement to institutions at 75c to raise $40m. The proceeds will allow BUB flexibility and provide working capital to support the new strategic opportunities and growth momentum in China. The issue was oversubscribed at 75c.
• Zip Co (Z1P) +3.12% announced a partnership with Officeworks.
• Jupiter Mines (JMS) +5.71% Announced this morning production at Tshipi has exceeded 3.3mtpa target. Manganese price remains very strong and strong cash generation. The CEO has also been released from hospital and is at home recovering. The board has resolved to distribute ZAR1.5bn to shareholders in September 2018 well in excess of the stated 70% distribution policy.
• Ausdrill (ASL) –1.34% appointed a new CEO in Mark Norwell. Mark has over 20-years’ experience in the mining service sector holding senior roles at Leighton Contractors, HWE Mining and McMahon Holdings. The company also said it expects the significant earnings growth of the past two years to bee seen again in FY18 and continue into FY19.
• Rio Tinto (RIO) – 1.97% At an investor day today the company said they look to spend around $2.2bn on replacement iron ore mines over the next 3 years and around $1bn a year on iron ore mine capital. However, the company also reiterated its FY18 iron ore shipment guidance. Rio believe that China’s supply side reforms that are currently increasing demand for specifically high-grade iron ore are long-term.
• Pushpay (PPH) –2.22% Founder and executive director Elliot Crowther to step down and PPH is conducting a book build to sell all of his ordinary shares. Elliot will resign as an employee of the company and has chosen to do so for family reasons.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Preliminary auction clearance rate improved marginally last week, lifting from 55.3% to 56.9%.

BOND MARKETS

ASIAN MARKETS NEWS

• China Holiday today.
• Google pays US$550m for small 1% stake in JDs.
• Noble Group in a trading halt as its stock plunges to a record low.
• Japan’s export growth sped up in May to the fastest pace in four months

EUROPE AND US MORNING HEADLINES

• Merkel looks to be in trouble in Germany as immigration once again proves a problem for the coalition.
• UK’s economic growth rate has been downgraded to just 1.3% this year by the British Chambers of Commerce, taking it to its weakest level in almost a decade.
• The Bank of International Settlement (the central banks’ central bank) has said that cryptocurrencies have no value and are useless as a form of exchange with exorbitant transaction costs and snail pace verifications. “Useless, unsafe, and dirty”.
• England play Tunisia tonight. 4am. Going to be an early start.

And finally…………….

The old golfer paced anxiously up and down outside the emergency room of the East Lothian Hospital near Muirfield Golf Course. Inside, the doctors were operating to remove a golf ball accidentally driven down a player’s throat.

The chief or surgery noticed the old golfer and went to reassure him.

“It won’t be long now,” she said. “You’re a relative?”

“No, no,” he said. “It’s my ball.”

 

Back on January , a group of Pekin, Illinois bikers were riding west on I-74 when they saw a girl about to jump off the Murray Baker Bridge. So they stopped.

George, their leader, a big burly man of 53, gets off his Harley, walks through a group of gawkers, past the State Trooper who was trying to talk her down off the railing, and says,

“Hey Baby…..whatcha doin’ up there on that railin’?”

She says tearfully, “I’m going to commit suicide!!”

While he didn’t want to appear “sensitive,” George also didn’t want to miss this “be-a-legend” opportunity either so he asked …”Well, before you jump, Honey-Babe…why don’t you give ole George here your best last kiss?”

So, with no hesitation at all, she leaned back over the railing and did just that … and it was a long, deep, lingering kiss followed immediately by another even better one.

After they breathlessly finished, George gets a big thumbs-up approval from his biker-buddies, the onlookers, and even the State Trooper, and then says,

“Wow! That was the best kiss I have ever had, Honey!  That’s a real talent you’re wasting, Sugar Shorts. You could be famous if you rode with me. Why the hell are you committing suicide?”

“My parents don’t like me dressing up like a girl.”

It’s still unclear whether she jumped or was pushed…!!

Clarence

XXX