Today’s Headlines

• ASX 200 down 35 to 6241. Selling accelerates on Asian falls.
• High 6277 Low 6241
• Banks slip from early highs.
• Miners and energy under pressure.
• AUD lower at 73.88c
• Bitcoin steady at US$7635
• Aussie Gold steady at $1651.
• US futures down 62
• Asian markets flounder again on trade talk and threats. Japan down 1.02% and China hit hardest down 2.62%

STOCK STUFF

Movers and Shakers

• RIO -4.90% priced to perfection.
• BHP -3.31% Escondida workers vote to strike.
• JMS -10.39% UBS sell down.
• SWM +4.17% media landscape changing.
• AZJ -0.44% block trade of 1.3% worth $112m at 448c.
• BLA +12.68% rally continues.
• ALQ +3.01% broker upgrades after results.
• GMA +2.85% broker upgrades on results.
• SXY +3.30% bringing it back on an upgrade.
• CVN -6.38% profit-taking.
• AOG -3.39% sellers winning.
• WSA -5.39% nickel price falls.
• CVW -5.45% update on charges against a non-executive director.
• PPS +6.41% oversold.
• TWE +1.79% charging ahead.
• PHK +6.10% hitting highs.
• AGY -10.53% commodity price weakness.
• AVZ -7.14% resource update.
• PNV +0.99% final patient enrolled in BARDA trial.
• HUB -3.56% platform stocks under pressure.
• Speculative stock of the day: Scout Security (SCT) +14.29% good announcement yesterday getting follow through after Stanley Black and Decker deal.
• Biggest risers – FAR, SWM, YAL, OMH, CUV and SXY
• Biggest fallers – AJM, JMS, NEA, CLQ, CVN and CVW

TODAY

• Rio Tinto (RIO) – 4.90% Released half-year results yesterday after close; shareholder returns pleased but earnings just missed expectations. Highlights included a record interim fully franked dividend of US$1.27 per share, up 15% year on year (YoY), and promises of plenty more returns to shareholders in years to come due to sales non-core assets still in the company’s portfolio. These returns include US$4m from divestments this year, largely due to the sale of its QLD coal assets. RIO also announced US$1bn of share buybacks on the London Stock Exchange. The financials saw earnings just miss expectations with underlying net earnings of US$4.41bn missing the expected US$4.45bn despite growing 12% in 1H. Cashflow fell 38% YoY to US$2.9m and EPS jumped 37% YoY to 251.6 US cents per share. The outlook statement saw capital expenditure in 2020 increase from US$6.0bn to US$6.5bn but production guidance was reiterated to be unchanged from the Q2 operations review. Rio announced a US$1bn share buyback on the ASX to complete the US$2.5bn buyback program it announced in September 2017.
• MMG Limited (MMG) – Released after close yesterday, the CEO, Mr Jiao, has stepped down to a non-executive director and will play a senior role with CMC in Beijing. Mr Jiao will be replaced, effective immediately, by Mr Gao Xiaoyu, previously a non-executive director with the company since 2011.
• Oil Search (OSH) – 0.44% Announced successful drilling results used to identify where gas and other assets lie to determine commercial drilling pathways. The explorative drilling results at the Barkiewa 3 well found gas at depth as expected with reservoirs having better thickness and quality than expected.
• Northern Star Resources (NST) – 0.55% Has embarked on its FY19 strategy, ‘its next round of growth’. This includes $60m spent on exploration and converting resources to reserves, which will in turn drive production ‘beyond FY19 guidance.’ This comes after NST hit FY18 production guidance of 600,00ozpa 6 months ahead of schedule.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Australia’s trade surplus rose by 158% to $1,873m in June from $725m in May, the largest surplus in 17 months and beating estimates of a $900m surplus. Exports rose by 3% or $914m and imports fell 1% or $233m.

• ANZ cuts rates on variable loans by 34bps. Looking for increased market share.

BOND MARKETS

ASIAN MARKET NEWS

• Singapore’s Grab raised US$1bn from financial investors on top of the $1 billion it secured from Toyota. Six-year-old Grab bought out Uber Technologies Inc. in Southeast Asia earlier this year and is racing to consolidate its grip on the region. It announced it would invest US$500m to enter Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
• Hong Kong and China are bearing the brunt of the trade wars falling to 10-month lows.

• Japanese Government Bond (JGB) yields rise to 18-month highs.
• Starbucks will start coffee deliveries in China next month as part of a new tie-up with Alibaba.
• Google may be planning to re-enter the search engine market in China, reversing its decision to withdraw over censorship concerns. They will not display censored sites though including the BBC and human rights sites and religious ones. The project is known as Dragonfly.
• China is seeing a surge in loan books for sale as liquidity tightens.
• The yuan has weakened by 9% against the dollar since mid-April. This is the steepest fall for the micro-managed exchange rate for a quarter century. Is it deliberate or benign neglect? Whatever it is this is what Trump is now railing against.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• Credit Suisse has chosen Frankfurt as its key Post Brexit centre.
• House of Fraser edging closer to collapse with EY on standby.
• Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, one of Europe’s largest suppliers of insulin, has been stockpiling drugs in the UK as fears mount over a no-deal Brexit. In the absence of any transition agreement, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will deem the UK to be a ‘third country’. This will  make things really tough.

And finally………….You know you are from Bondi when………

Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.

You make over $300,000 and still can’t afford a house.

You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.

Your child’s year 3 teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Flower.

You’ve been to a baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.

You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown, and you can taste the difference between Sumatran and Ethiopian.

A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.

Both you AND your dog have therapists, psychics, personal trainers and cosmetic surgeons.

Plus

Looking for a good job on the Murray River ?? Sally Mulligan of Paddington NSW decided to take one of the jobs that most Australians are not willing to do.

Sally applied for a job in a lemon grove and seemed to be far too qualified for the job.

She has a liberal arts degree from the University of Adelaide and had worked as a social worker and a school teacher.

The foreman frowned and said, “I have to ask you, have you had any actual experience in picking lemons ??”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I have,” she said. “I’ve been divorced three times, once owned a Leyland P76, a Korean smart phone, voted twice for Labor, and once for Clive Palmer.”

 

She started work this morning.

Clarence

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