Let’s start with a funny as its Friday.

I just had a physical.

The doctor said “don’t eat anything Fatty”

I said to him like bacon, burgers and pizza.

He said “No fatty , don’t eat anything”.

Todays Highlights

• ASX 200 up 24 to 5677. Rally wanes.
• High 5706 Low 5653.5. ASX 200 up 14 points for the week.
• Cricket steals focus.India on top.
• Banks back in demand.
• REITs and healthcare on the shopping list. Defensives again.
• Staples too and Utilities.
• AUD firms a little to 72.36c
• Bitcoin weaker again at $3338.
• Aussie Gold steady at $1713
• US futures down 30 ahead of jobs data.
• Asian markets firms with Japan up 0.48% and China up 0.12%

STOCKS IN FOCUS

• ORG +3.12%% launches an attack on the uncertain regulatory environment.
• ANZ +0.16% considering options following IFL APRA accusations.
• ABC -9.53% profit downgrade.
• NEC +2.45% implementation of scheme update,flkags $65m in cost cuts.
• JHG -4.60% director shareholdings.
• WOR -2.69% continued oil price weakness.
• SDA +4.06% short covering.
• DMP +3.33% short covering on defensive appeal.
• APX +3.31% good move higher.COL +% broker upgrades.
• AMP -3.32% not getting any better.
• CTD -1.67% new player on the short side?
• JIN +3.65% profit upgrade.
• AHY +3.85% still feeling love after toilet paper sale.
• WGX -14.42% capital raising.
• SOL +3.44% chairmans address at AGM.
• Speculative stock of the day: Whitehawk (WHK) +22.00% after announcing a cyber risk framework contract anda contract extension with a top US defence industrial company.  Phase 2 amounts to around US$400k.
• Biggest Risers – YAL, WBA, SGR, SSM, GMG and COL.
• Biggest Fallers – IFL, ABC, HT1, PPT, JMS and FNP.

TODAY

• Origin Energy (ORG) +3.12% Reaffirms guidance at investor day. Energy markets underlying EBITDA expected to be between $1.5bn and $1.6bn. Capital expenditure (ex-APLNG) expected to be between $385m and $445m. ORG sees the medium-term outlook supporting dividends in FY19.
• Telstra (TLS) +1.32% Newswires this morning reporting that Goldman Sachs has been appointed by Telstra to sell data centres in Singapore, Hong Kong, Britain and Sydney which have a book value of $400m. Superloop and NextDC expected to show interest.
• IOOF Holdings (IFL) –35.84% Has received a notice from APRA who is looking to impose licence conditions on IOOF’s APRA regulated entities, in relation to alleged breaches of the Superannuation Industry.
• Adelaide Brighton (ABC) –9.53% Guidance update. NPAT now expected to be between $188m and $195m, slightly below guidance provided back in August of between $200m and $210m.The updated guidance is based on unaudited internal management accounts and expected performance for the remainder of the calendar year.
• Jumbo Interactive (JIN) +3.65% First half trading update. FY19 revenue is expected to be $54.9m above analyst estimates of $49m. NPAT from continuing operations is expected to come in at $20.5m. EBITDA is forecast to be $34.3m above analyst forecasts of $26m.
• ANZ (ANZ) +0.16% Has provided an update on the sale of its OnePath business to IOOF (IFL) following APRA’s decision to seek license conditions this morning. ANZ CEO Alexis George said: “Given the significance of APRA’s action, we will assess the various options available to us while we seek urgent information from both IOOF and APRA. The work to separate Pensions and Investments from our Life Insurance business continues. There is a framework available to complete the Zurich transaction that does not involve IOOF.”
• Virgin Australia (VAH) +8.33% Announced revenue growth of 9.7% in the first quarter of FY19 vs 1Q18. Similar growth is expected for the second quarter. First-half underlying profit before tax is anticipated to be at least $100m.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Labor has left the door open on when the changes to negative gearing and CGT will come in.

BOND MARKETS

• 2-Year bonds down 4bps to yield 1.92%
• 5-Year yields down 6bps to yield 2.04%
• 10-Year yields down 5bps to yield 2.45%

ASIAN MARKETS

• Japan looks to ban Huawei too.
• Chinese media calls arrest of CFO a ‘despicable Rogue act.’
• Japanese biotech SanBio announced the results of a phase 2 clinical trial that showed patients with traumatic brain injury achieved statistically significant improvement in motor function when treated with the company’s SB623 cells compared to a control group.Stock up 155%.
• Chinese drug companies are under pressure as the authorities push 11 cities to combine drug purchases from the pharmas. The winner of the tender will supply all the hospitals for those cities but at a reduced price. Could catch on.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• OPEC fails to reach an agreement on how much supply to cut. The US now a net exporter for the first time in 75 years.
• US jobs data tonight. Expecting to show a rise of 200,000. The unemployment rate is seen holding at near a 49-year low of 3.7%.

• France closes Louvre and Eiffel Tower as Yellow shirts take to the streets again this weekend.
• GM sticks to its guns. Still closes US production lines.
• The UK Conservative party chief whip has admitted that May may lose vote on Tuesday. ‘Operation Stop Boris’ kicks off.
• Pete Shelley from the Buzzcocks dies at 63. Vale Pete. The father of so many great bands.
• DeepMinds AI program AlphaZero which learned from scratch how to be a Chess master in 4 hours. Now the program has hit a turning point according to scientists as it is now playing Chess using intuition and creativity.

And finally…………….

Two elderly residents, a man and a woman, were alone in the lounge of their nursing home.one evening. The old man looked over and said to the old lady, “I know just what you’re wanting. For $5.00 I’ll have sex with you, right over, there in that rocking chair.”

The old lady looked surprised but didn’t say a word.

The old man continued, “For $10.00 I’ll do it with you on that nice soft sofa over there, but for $20.00, I’ll take you back to my room, light some candles, and give you the most romantic evening you’ve ever had in your life.”

The old lady still says nothing, but after a couple of minutes, starts digging down in her purse.

The lady pulls out a wrinkled $20.00 bill and holds it up.

“So you want the nice romantic evening in my room,” says the old man.

“Get serious,” she replies. “I’ll go for four times in the rocking chair!”

 

Have a great weekend …Thanks Al.

Clarence

XXX