The ASX rose 140 points after influential economist Bill Evans from Westpac talked a rate cut to coincide with the budget. The Index closed at 5924 reversing two days of losses this week and then some. Dow Futures rose points.10-year bond yields crashed through 0.80% with 2-years at 0.14%. The Banks finally rallied off the lows despite talk of lower rates which would lead to lower margins, The Big Bank Basket rose to $114.63 with CBA up 1.9% and MQG joining in the fun up 1.9%. Other financials rose across the board with MFG up 2.3% and IAG up 2.9%. Big miners saw solid gains as the AUD fell, BHP up 1.3% and RIO up 0.5%. Gold miners were a little left out in places although CHN kicked again on a broker note up 15.9% and NCM rose 1.3%. Healthcare rose led by CSL up 3.8% and Consumer stocks rose as expected on rate cut hopes, WOW up 3.8% and COL up 2.1%. Bond proxies put in a good day with TCL up 4.9% and SYD rising 4.9% with REITs in the green, GMG up 1.8%. Technology was in demand with XRO rising 3.7% and APT up 2.9% with SZL showing a clean pair of heels up 5.5% ahead of a virtual BNPL conference tomorrow. Telcos rose despite NBN now rolling out NBN2.0 with fibre, TLS up 1.8% and TPG up 3.6% strange really as competition should increase. One winner seems to be SSM up 14.0% on more NBN contracts to build and DOW up 5.6% as well. In corporate news, NUF rose 4.3% after its results and leading agriculture stocks higher, ELD up 4.1 %. KMD fell 8.5% after a messy result due to the Ripcurl acquisition. PLT fell 21.6% after a lacklustre IPO launch. Asian markets saw Japan return from holidays, down 0.4% and China rose 0.2%.

Today’s Highlights

• ASX 200 up 140 to 5924
• High 5933 Low 5799. very solid volume at close.
• Big Bank Basket rallied hard to $114.63
• All Tech Index up 2.79%
• 27 trading days until the US election.
• Dow Futures up 100
• Gold slips to AUD$2647
• 10-year bond yield fall to 0.79%
• AUD falls to 71.29c
• Bitcoin steady at $10471
• Asian markets saw Japan return from holidays, down 0.4% and China rose 0.2%.

STOCKS

• SSM +14.04% to build NBN next leg?
• CHN +15.86% Macquarie upgrades.
• NUF +4.33% results brighten outlook.
• CGC +5.12% buys new citrus and wine assets.
• APE +7.05% CAR +5.19% BAP +1.92% car renaissance.
• KMD -8.51% messy result.
• VUK -2.27% UK restrictions and woes.
• FMS -10.00% Appendix 4G.
• TSO +20.00% presentation.
• CDA +8.13% annual report.
• GGG+15.69% EIA goes to next stage.
• AT1 +7.14% DIVOC Labs sales in India.
• BYE +2.86% bargain hunters.
• CBR +11.97% cars back in fashion.
• MYR – shrinks to weakness.
• YOJ – Placement at 20c.
• PPH +6.71% broker upgrade.
• QAN +4.51% Rugby is no longer home.
• NVX -10.59% early swoon on Tesla Battery day fizzes.
• TNY +15.32% qualified to trade on USOTC market.
• PLT -21.6% not such a land of plenty after all.
• Speculative Stock of the Day: Tesoro Resources (TSO) +% increases its El Zorro land position by 500% to 540kms together with a presentation.
• Biggest Winners: CHN, SSM, CDA, APE, PPH, FLT, VOC and AX1
• Biggest Losers: GXY, NVX, KMD, RMS, PLS, ORE and PSI

TODAY

• Kathmandu (KMD) –8.51% Full-year revenue up 48.7% to NZ$801.5m. Rip Curl added $NZ315.7m of the sales total over the nine months it contributed to the full-year result. NPAT down 84.6% to NZ$8.9m. Underlying EBITDA (operating income) fell 15.3% to $NZ98.4 million. No final dividend. Gross margin worsened. CEO comments, “It has been a transformational year for us with the acquisition of Rip Curl and we are pleased with its integration into the Group over the last nine months. Unfortunately, the Group faced significant unexpected challenges with COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns.”
• Nufarm (NUF) –4.33% Full-year underlying NPAT continuing operations -$80.6m. Revenue from continuing operations $2.85bn vs year-ago $2.67bn. Underlying EBITDA continuing operations $235.8m vs guidance $230-240m. Statutory NPAT -$456m. No dividend. Expects net external interest costs (excluding foreign exchange gains and losses) between $75m-$80m in FY21. Forecasts depreciation and amortisation ~$220. Capital expenditure is forecast to be approximately $180m.
• Sezzle (SZL) +5.55% Enters partnership with Ally Lending. Ally Lending enables monthly fixed-rate instalment-loan products that extend up to 60 months in length and $40K per instalment plan. The partnership will give Sezzle merchants and shoppers access to long term financing options, complimenting Sezzle’s existing short-term, interest-free offering, without adding any balance sheet impact.
• Dacian Gold (DCN) – Appoints Derek Humphry as CFO, effective immediately.
• Polynovo (PNV) +2.74% Appoints Innova Medical Oy, in Helsinki, to distribute NovoSorb BTM in Finland.
• Super Retail Group (SUL) +3.91% CEO Anthony Heraghty discloses sale of 15k shares. Heraghty beneficially owns 66,238 ordinary shares and 209,965 unvested performance rights following the transaction.
• Splitit Payments (SPT) – Completes the second tranche of its placement, raising $45m at 130c/share. Completion of the second tranche brings the total gross proceeds raised to $90m.
• Costa Group (CGC) +5.12% To acquire citrus and wine assets at Nangiloc from Murray River Organics (MRG) for $4.5m. The agreement is for the sale of 113ha of planted conventional citrus and wine grapes at Murray River’s Nangiloc property to a subsidiary of Costa Group Holdings. Coupled with surrounding vacant land, the sale comprises 390 ha of MRO’s 3,040 ha Nangiloc property, effective from October 1.
• Myer Holdings (MYR) – Reduces board size to five directors as Lyndsey Cattermole and Julie Ann Morrison decided to retire.

ECONOMIC NEWS

• Bill Evans from Westpac has thrown his weight behind calls for a rate cut from the RBA. Yields on the three-year bond fell as much as seven basis points to a record low of 0.14% Australia prepares to sell a 2026 bond

• Preliminary retail data for August revealed a 4.2% fall over the month (-$1,276.3m) from July 2020 to August 2020.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, Australian turnover rose 6.9% in August 2020 compared with August 2019. This compares to an annual movement of 12.0% in July 2020.

• Average Australian spent $450 setting up home office. Mainly it seems in JBH and KGN.

COVID – 19 NEWS

• India reported 1,085 additional fatalities from Covid-19, bringing its total death toll above 90,000. It also added 83,347 cases for Wednesday.
• Lauren Gardner who led the effort to build Johns Hopkins University’s Covid-19 Dashboard was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people for 2020.
• Argentina reported a record daily rise of 470 Covid-19 deaths, for a total of 13,952.
• Goldman Sachs is now reversing course and urging its London employees to work from home.

BONDS

ASIAN NEWS

• Carson Block, a short-seller famous for mounting attacks on Chinese companies, is launching an internet video channel to share ideas on his short calls and the research behind them. Tweets just don’t cut it anymore.
• Ant Group listing is talk of the town.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• European markets showing solid but uninspiring gains at the opening.
• Battery Day: Musk sets his goal for a US$25,000 model with Tesla made batteries.
• Tesla says it will halve the cost of its batteries.
• US regulators are raising the bar for CV19 vaccine making it unlikely before US election.
• Citi is closing its retail options market making.

And finally…

There have been 6 Kings of England called George. Name the other 5?

I asked the electrician to help sort out an electric problem at home. He refused

Clarence

XXXX