Todays Highlights

• ASX 200 closes down 31 to 5818 in moderate trade.
• High 5857 Low 5818. Lunchtime rally fades into close.
• Banks a bright spot after WBC results. CBA under pressure.
• Hartzer says ‘house prices to cool further’.
• NSW brings in Stamp Duty changes.
• Consumer Staples in buyer’s sights.
• Healthcare and energy under pressure.
• BHP and energy stocks slump. FMG pushing ahead.
• AUD consolidates at 71.91c
• Bitcoin firms to US$6412. Remarkably stable.
• Aussie Gold rises slightly to $1714 ahead of midterms.
• US futures down 77 points.
• Asian markets stronger with Japan down 1.23% and China down 1.41% on Xi Jinping.

STOCKS IN FOCUS

• GXL +18.94% the dogs are barking. Takeover announced.
• CUV +8.60% investor newsletter.
• VG1 +3.75% doing well on CTD -1.57% short position.
• SDA +2.95% bargain hunters appearing
• VOC +1.76% TPM +3.32% some interest stirring in telcos. Not TLS -%.
• APX -5.30% unwind continues.
• WTC -6.10% profit taking.
• WGN -3.15% broker downgrades.
• BAL -3.60% BKL -3.59% selling resumes in China facing stocks.
• SUL -3.20% no place to hide.
• BWX -4.44% broker downgrades.
• COH -3.80% US legal suit goes against them.
• ORG +0.42% signs infrastructure and gas agreements.
• MWR +11.75% good news on SpaceTalk sales
• Speculative stock of the day: Antipa Minerals (AZY) +29.41% after a strong quarterly activity report for drilling activity at North Telfer and Paterson projects.
• Biggest risers – GXL, CUV, MGX, OMH, VG1 and TPM
• Biggest fallers – EHL, ECX, CRN, BIN, WTC and NEA.

IN THE NEWS

• ASX Limited (ASX) –0.15% October activity; strong. Total capital raised $12.42bn up from $6.33bn a year ago. Avg. daily number of trades up 22% year on year. Avg. daily value $4.56B vs A$3.65bn a year ago. Futures avg. volume up 12% year-on-year.
• Cochlear (COH) -3.80% has announced that the US district court has ordered entry against it in patent infringement case, with damages of US$268.1m awarded against Cochlear. The ruling concerns the patent infringement lawsuit brought by the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research and Advanced Bionics LLC. Cochlear will appeal the Judgment with the timing of an appeal outcome expected in approximately two years. Cochlear has noted that the infringement relates to a long-expired patent and has no ongoing impact to its business
• Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) +0.57% FY18 Results – Net profit up 1% YoY while Cash EPS fell 1%. Good result with NIM +2bps to 2.11%, along with 4% rises in both Net Interest income and Non-interest income. Total impairment charges increased by 17% to $710m, mostly thanks to the royal commission and its outcomes. CET1 capital up 6bps at 16.14%. Final dividend of 94c per share announced.
• Webjet (WEB) –trading halt – Announced acquisition of Destinations of the World (DOTW) and capital raising. DOTW is a leading B2B travel business, with approximately US$530m in total transaction values. Following acquisition of JacTravel last year, it consodlidates WebBeds’ position as #2 global B2B player. DOTW provides attractive earnings growth profile, with total anticipated synergies estimates at $10 million per annum. Webjet is paying $240m for DOTW and will raise approx. $153m via a fully underwritten accelerated pro rata non-renounceable entitlement offer to help fund the deal.

ECONOMIC NEWS

ANZ Job Ads

• On a seasonally adjusted basis, ANZ Australian Job Advertisements increased 0.2% in October following a fall of 0.7% in the prior month. On an annual basis, growth slowed to 3.6% in October (vs 4.7% in September). This is the slowest annual growth in ANZ Australian job ads since April 2015.
• In trend terms, job ads fell by 0.2% m/m for the fifth consecutive month. Job ads grew 3.8% y/y to October in trend terms (down from 4.8% y/y in September), also the weakest result since April 2015.
• The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries released on Monday a new set of VFACTs figures which track new vehicle purchases. They showed that 90,718 vehicles were sold by dealers in October, down 5.3% on the same month a year ago. Sales in NSW were down by 9.2% while in Victoria sales were 4.2% lower. Queensland had a 2.7% drop, South Australia was 5.1% lower and Western Australia was down 1.7%.

BOND MARKETS

• 2-Year bonds yield up 2bps to 2.04%
• 5-Year yields up 7bps to 2.26%
• 10-Year yields up 4bps to 2.73%

ASIAN MARKET NEWS

• President Xi Jinping gives keynote speech at China imports event. Takes a swipe at protectionism and vows to open up the Chinese markets. Again. The event took place in front of 3600 companies from 172 countries although minimal presence from USA. Xi pledged to import US$30 trillion of good over the next 15 years, up from US$24 trillion in previous estimates. Most have been announced already.
• Chinese services Caixin PMI fell to a 13-month low of 50.8 from 53.1.
• Caixin’s sub-index for new business orders showed virtually no growth at 50.1 in October, down from 52.4 the previous month and the worst performance since a contraction in November 2008 during the global financial crisis.
• Japanese PMI rebounded in October to a six-month high

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EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• The Italian deputy PM says the EU should ditch austerity and embrace Trumpism.
• Berkshire Hathaway goes with US$1bn buyback as acquisitions look too expensive at current valuations.
• Iranian sanctions kick off today.

And finally…………..

Doctor: “I’m sorry but you suffer from a terminal illness and have only 10 to live.”

Patient: “What do you mean, 10? 10 what? Months? Weeks?!”

Doctor: “Nine.”

Anton, do you think I’m a bad mother?

My name is Paul.

And don’t forget you can donate some of your hard earned money to a great cause at Movember as Clarence is raising money to help prevent male suicide.

Donate here.

Clarence

XXXX