Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 roars to 6300 again up 56.
• High 6302 Low 6258. Big volume on futures trades.
• Up 14 points for the week.
• Banks lead the way with election boost.
• BHP sells shale with money for shareholders to come.
• Staples ease, Healthcare back in fashion. Energy powers ahead.
• Shanghai rebar at a 5-year high
• AUD lower at 73.86c.
• Bitcoin eases to US$7930
• Aussie Gold steady at $1657. Again.
• US futures uneasy before FB up 9.
• Asian markets mixed again Japan up 0.29% and China eases down 0.09%

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• BHP +2.26% sells US shale assets.
• MQG +1.91% market warms to Shemara.
• TWE -2.51% broker downgrade
• CVN +4.55% buyers still in action on drill results.
• PPH +4.16% APT love rubs off.
• GEM +3.14% finding friends on new changes to childcare.
• MSB +7.02% brokers support.
• COE +5.68% small oils attracting attention.
• SBM -12.25% broker downgrades following quarterly.
• SFR -8.31% quarterly disappoints.
• EVN -4.61% La Mancha sell down a further 5.4% to bring it to 9.6% shareholding.
• SWM -3.93% media deal fall out.
• NEC -3.10% FXJ -3.59% two wrongs don’t make a right!
• BLA -4.92% profit-taking
• RFG +9.88% turnaround begins?
• WHA +24.40% quarterly report. Revenue still pathetic.
• BYE +5.26% back in the spotlight.
• BCK +30.00% farm-in and JV with MIN.
• MUA -4.79% LIFULL takes a tumble in Japan down 9%.
• Speculative stock of the day: Spookfish (SFI) +47.06% after a takeover from Eagle View at 8c. SFI is in a similar space to NEA +3.58% implications for valuation.
• Biggest risers – FAR, MSB, COE, CVN, PPH and WTC
• Biggest fallers – SBM, SFR, AMP, EVN, CIA and WPP

TODAY

• AMP (AMP) – 5.17% AMP has put out an announcement – “AMP takes action to reset business and provides 1H 2018 update” – First half underlying profit is forecast to be in the range of $490–500m. It expects a capital surplus above regulatory requirements of around $1.18bn. The dividend for FY18 is expected to be at the lower end of the 70-90% guidance range. 1H results are also expected to include a $290m provision for potential advice remediation. Announces fee reductions for MySuper products. Will reduce fees to around 700,000 customers.
• BHP Billiton (BHP) – 2.26% Agrees to the sale of its onshore oil and gas assets to units of BP and Merit Energy for US$10.8bn.
• GUD Holdings (GUD) – 0.43% Full year results. Net profit of $101.8m, swings from a $7.3m loss in FY17. Final dividend of 28c announced, up 12% on year and revenue up 11% to $396.6m.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Final Demand Prices (EXCL. EXPORTS)

• Prices rose 0.3% in the June quarter 2018.mainly due to rises in the prices received for Heavy and civil engineering construction (+1.5%), Building construction (+1.2%) and Petroleum refining and petroleum fuel manufacturing (+11.9%) partly offset by falls in the prices received for Other agriculture (-2.9%), Fishing (-18.9%) and Professional and scientific equipment manufacturing (-2.3%) rose 1.5% through the year to the June quarter 2018.

• There were 19.2m registered motor vehicles in Australia as at 31 January 2018.
• The national vehicle fleet grew by 2.1% between 2017 and 2018.
• Toyota topped the list of passenger vehicle makes for the 13th consecutive year with 2.9 million registrations.
• Diesel powered vehicles constitute 23.4% of the national fleet, up from 17.2% in 2013.

BOND MARKETS

ASIAN MARKET NEWS

• China seems to be slowing still as credit access becomes more difficult and tariff wars begin to bite.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• US GDP tonight at 10.30 Sydney time.
• More trouble for Trump and Jnr with Cohen set to tell investigators that POTUS knew of son’s meeting with Russia.

• Winklevoss twins denied being able to launch bitcoin ETF by the Cboe Global Markets.
• Team Sky looks for Tour win.
• Lunar eclipse starts at 4.30am.

See you on the Gold Coast.

And finally

A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.”

 

A lady goes to the doctor and complains that her husband is losing interest in sex. The doctor gives her a pill, but warns her that it’s still experimental. He tells her to slip it into his mashed potatoes at dinner, so that night, she does just that. About a week later, she’s back at the doctor, where she says, “Doc, the pill worked great! I put it in the potatoes like you said! It wasn’t five minutes later that he jumped up, raked all the food and dishes onto the floor, grabbed me, ripped all my clothes off, and ravaged me right there on the table!” The doctor says, “I’m sorry, we didn’t realize the pill was that strong! The foundation will be glad to pay for any damages.” “Nah,” she says, “that’s okay. We’re never going back to that restaurant anyway.”

Clarence 

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