The ASX 200 kicked another 74 points higher to 6036 (1.25%) as the budget stimulus took centre stage. Big numbers move markets. Volume lower on school holidays though. Dow futures up 35 points. Trump tweets he could sign an executive order for his own stimulus cheque as a stand-alone. After a ‘wishy washy’ start, the market came to terms with the budget stimulus and bought the usual suspects. Banks turned around after some broker upgrades and a better outlook for loan books perhaps on tax cuts. The Big Bank Basket rose to $122.34 with ANZ up 2.3% and CBA up 2.1%. Other financials did well with MQG up 2.8% and QBE rising 2.8% on FUM news. Healthcare saw rises in CSL up 1.7% and SHL pushing modestly ahead, up 0.8%. Consumer stocks though fired up, WOW up 2.0%. COL up 1.4% and GMG up 1.7% on logistics business hopes. Miners though failed to get the memo, BHP fell 1.1% despite talks with Tesla, usually enough to galvanise the bulls at any mention of Tesla. RIO flatlined and FMG the same. Gold miners saw some profit taking after the big run yesterday with newly engaged NST up 1.9% and SAR up 3.8%. Oil stocks firmed despite crude falls in Asia, WPL up 2.1% and STO flat. In the tech space APT rallied 1.6% on stimulus, XRO piling on the cents up 1.2% and NXT up 2.4%. The All Tech Index rose 1.7%. In corporate news, CWY up 4.8% despite allegations of monopoly abuse. MFG up 2.3% on its FUM update. ARB up 2.1%, Q1 unaudited sales revenue growth of 17.7% vs year ago. AGL down 0.70% says FY21 earnings to be materially below last year. In economic news, much to digest following the breakfast briefings, croissants, or fruit salad? Ratings agencies seemed happy with debt and ratings on a relative basis, and the dollar was under a little pressure testing 71c. 10-year bond yield back to 0.84% and in Asia oil slips 1.8% whilst Japan fell 0.12%. China still on holidays.

Today’s Highlights

• ASX 200 rallies 74 points to 6036 after slow start post budget.
• High 6044 Low 5945.
• Big Bank Basket rallies hard to $122.34
• All Tech Index up 1.7%
• 17 trading days until the US election. Jobs number tonight.
• Dow Futures up 60.
• Oil off around 1.8% in Asian trade.
• Gold rises to AUD$2664
• 10-year bond yield rallies to 0.90%
• AUD slips to 71.18c
• Bitcoin falls to $10590
• Asian markets China closed, Japan up 0.5%. Hong Kong up 0.7%.

STOCKS

• TPW +9.49% retail boost.
• PLL +25.00% research report
• CWN +2.75% James back in the dock. Former executives under the bus.
• KGN +5.97% retail boost.
• AKP +5.38% buying continues.
• LOV -4.53% retail miss.
• PBH -1.80% US CV19 cases continue
• BET +7.23% buyers return.
• DTC +15.93% broker report and Vault acquisition approved.
• VUK +6.25% more job losses in UK.
• AGL -0.66% first strike on pay.
• NST +1.90% SAR+3.85% broker warm to Super pit.
• WBC +2.58% ANZ +2.35% Macquarie upgrades to outperform.
• FDV – Trading halt – Cap raise and acquisition.
• Speculative Stock of the Day:  American Rare Earths (ARR) +68.54% name says it all. US executive order for critical minerals supply. Good volume.
• Biggest Winners: PLL, TPW, HUB, VUK, KGN, SHV and OML
• Biggest Losers: LOV, RED, CHN, CIA, IAP, CIA and IDX.

TODAY

• Village Roadshow (VRL) -2.27% Shareholder Mittleman Brothers raise stake to just over 10%, to vote against BGH acquisition. “We encourage all VRL shareholders to also vote against these Schemes, as they appear to us to be unprecedented in structure, opaque in detail, and highly likely to confuse, coerce, and ultimately to deprive existing VRL shareholders of the intrinsic value of their VRL shares.”
• Cleanaway Waste Management (CWY) +4.76% In a letter to the ACCC, anindustry insider alleges that Cleanaway has extended and abused monopoly power in the health and hazardous waste sector. The Letter adds that misleading statements were provided to the ACCC in 2016 when a still independent Tox Free acquired smaller rival Daniels, with both Tox Free and Daniels now part of Cleanaway, the company allegedly has a dominant market position that it can exploit.
• Magellan Financial (MFG) +2.31% Funds under management (FUM) at the end of September totalled $102.09bn vs month-ago $100.87bn.In September, Magellan experienced net inflows of $1.20bn, which included net retail inflows $239m and net institutional inflows $959m.
• BHP Group (BHP) -1.10% Tesla and BHP in talks about nickel supply deal. Talks between the two companies are reportedly held up on pricing, and no final agreement has been reached so far. The discussions come as Tesla works to raise the amount of nickel used in vehicle batteries to improve performance, and as it makes a push into in-house cell production.
• ARB Corp. (ARB) +2.14% Reports Q1 unaudited sales revenue growth of 17.7% vs year ago.Q1 unaudited PBT $29.7m, excluding non-recurring government benefits of $9.7m related to the quarter. Notes excellent growth was achieved in export markets, while domestic Australian sales growth was moderate and, as expected, original equipment manufacturing (OEM) sales decreased compared with the same period last year. The level of outstanding orders remains high and work is being done to overcome logistical difficulties and to increase production to reduce the order bank and better service customers. In the absence of a significant change in the economic environment, export sales are expected to remain strong and the OEM order book is growing.
• ASX (ASX) +1.36% September volatility 1.1% vs year-ago 0.3%. Expected future volatility (as measured by the S&P/ASX 200 VIX) increased to an average of 20.8 vs year-ago 13.1. Total capital raised $7.92bn vs year-ago $5.41bn. Average daily number of trades down 10% vs year ago. Average daily value $6.17bn vs year-ago $5.39bn. Futures & options average daily volume down 16% vs year ago.

ECONOMIC DATA

• The federal government’s debt manager says it will not increase the size of its Treasury bond issuance beyond that which it forecast in July. That issuance will be around $240bn for this financial year of which $117bn has already been undertaken.
• Fitch said the government’s debt load was higher than it expected but that it maintained its AAA credit rating. Moody’s said the significant increase in Australia’s debt levels, reflecting its policy response to the coronavirus shock, was in line with that experienced by Australia’s peers and remained “consistent with the country’s Aaa rating at this point.

COVID – 19 NEWS

• Argentina reported a daily record of 14,740 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total to 824,468.
• Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the U.S. president, became the latest White House staffer to test positive for the coronavirus.
• Indonesia is hoping to secure  a supply of vaccines from AstraZeneca, part of its plan to procure doses from overseas while ramping up local output to inoculate its more than 270m people.
• France reported 10,489 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, with the weekly pace picking up for a fourth day.
• Texas virus hospitalisations rose 2.3% in a 24-hour period to 3,394, the highest in more than three weeks.

BONDS

ASIAN NEWS

• Negative perceptions of China have reached record highs in the U.S and in 9 out of 14 other nations surveyed. Negative perceptions are highest in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., South Korea, Australia and Canada.

EUROPEAN AND US HEADLINES

• IMF plans to upgrade its global growth forecasts.
• Trump takes to Twitter with 40 tweets in Two-hour period last night. VP Debate tonight in US. Live in our time zone in the morning.
• Trump has said that he is keen to approve a stand-alone bill to give a $1200 cheque as part of CV19 relief.
• Apple to unveil dramatic new design iPhones on October 13^th. The Tag line is ‘Hi’ Speed’ as a 5G range is rolled out. The smartphone generates about half of Apple’s revenue, and is the central driver of sales for AirPods and Apple Watches.

And finally…

I said to the Doctor, “I can’t stop singing ‘The green green grass of home’ He replied “That’s what we call the Tom Jones syndrome” “Oh really, is it common?” i asked, he said “It’s not unusual”

Clarence

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