ASX 200 down 3 to 7488 (0.04%).

• HIGH 7495 LOW 7465 Narrow range and waiting for a Fed.

MAJOR MOVERS:

Winners: CUV ALG RMC VGL ALX BKL CXL

Losers: ASM IDX MYX JUN GRR DDR PLS

• POSITIVE SECTORS: Banks. Industrials.
• NEGATIVE SECTORS: Base metals. Lithium stocks.
• ASX 200 up 27 points for the week.
• BIG BANK BASKET: Up to $183.49
• ALL -TECH INDEX: Down 1.1% APT down 1.4%
• GOLD: Rallies to AUD $2487
• BITCOIN: US$46795 Drifting.
• AUD: Slips to 72.40c. 10-YEAR YIELD: Rallies to 1.19%
• ASIAN MARKETS: Tokyo down 0.5% Hong Kong up 0.2%, China up 0.2%.
• US FUTURES: Dow futures up 70. NASDAQ up 43

ASX 200 fights back from early losses to close down 3 points to 7488 ahead of Powell’s appearance on Zoom. Banks were slightly firmer with the Big Bank Basket up slightly to $183.49. CSL performed well with the rest of healthcare flat, Resources eased as BHP fell 0.6% and MIN slipped 1.4%. Base metal and lithium stocks were depressed as ORE dropped 5.3% and PLS down 6.6%. Industrials were mixed as Tech slipped on APT falling 1.4% and two of the troubled stocks APX and A2M continued to sour. Corporate news again dominated, WES slipped 2.8% despite a $2 special dividend and DDR fell 8.1% on a sale of stock from Mr Dicker. Travel stocks were mixed with QAN flying 2.2% on analyst comments, WEB down 2.0% and FLT modestly lower.

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STOCKS ON THE MOVE

• APX -6.08% broker downgrades
• A2M -2.64% outlook sours.
• NXT -5.42% looking at M&A.
• BWX- halted- buys into skincare brand.
• CIM -0.34% another NZ$600m contract.
• SGH +17.24% results bring cheer.
• CBR +13.30% director buying.
• WZR -7.94% profit taking.
• NMT -9.88% resource profit taking.
• SHJ +8.49% results presentation.
• CUV +17.95% broker upgrades, short squeeze.
• ALG +9.88% travel stock rally.
• ALX +6.83% broker upgrades following results.
• BKL +6.42% Marcus orders a new yacht.
• CXL +5.81% pushing higher again.
• ASM -18.37% profit taking. And some.
• PLS -6.55% lithium stocks off boil on results.
• GRR -8.94% iron ore falls weigh.
• PWR -5.57% results disappoint despite prospectus beat.
• KNI -5.99% Corporate presentation.
• Speculative Stock of the Day: MGC Pharmaceutical (MXC) +43.59% executes a US$24m US supply agreement over three years. First product launch of CannEpil, CogniCam and CimetrA.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Lynas Rare Earths (LYC) -3.60% Reports Full-year net profit $157.1m vs FactSet $172.2m. Revenue $489.0m vs consensus $505.0m. EBITDA $235.3m vs consensus $252.8m. No dividends have been paid or proposed at 30-Jun-21.
• NextDC (NXT) -5.42% Reports Full-year underlying EBITDA $134.5m vs guidance $130-133m and consensus $131.7m. Net profit -$20.7m vs consensus -$12.5m. Data centre services revenue $246.1m vs guidance $246-251m and consensus $251.1m. FY Guidance (Jun 2022): Underlying EBITDA $160-165m vs consensus $163.0m. Data centre services revenue $285-295m vs consensus $300.5m. Capital expenditure in the range of $480-540m.
• Wesfarmers (WES) -2.75% Reports Full-year underlying net profit $2.42bn vs consensus $2.38bn. Revenue $33.94bn vs consensus $33.56bn. EBIT from continued operations $3.78bn vs consensus $3.63bn. Final dividend 90 cents per share, fully franked.
• Mayne Pharma Group (MYX) -11.86% Reports Full-year reported net profit -$208.4m vs year-ago -$92.8m. Intangibles asset impairment of -$229m. Revenue $400.8m vs consensus $410.7m. Underlying EBITDA $63.5m vs consensus $62.2m. Outlook: Mayne Pharma’s performance will be heavily influenced by the effective execution of its strategic priorities and will depend on many factors including the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, movements in the US dollar, the timing of FDA approvals, and competitor launches and withdrawals on key products. Key growth drivers are expected to be the successful commercialisation of NEXTSTELLIS in the US and Australia, the launch of more than a dozen dermatology and women’s health products in the US targeting markets with IQVIA sales of $1.5bn, accelerating the growth of Metrics Contract Services and International, and continued optimisation of the cost base.
• Australian Finance Group (AFG) -1.01% Full-year underlying profit $49.6m vs consensus $50.8m. Revenue $767.1m vs year-ago $692.8m and consensus $798.8m. Gross profit $102.4m vs year-ago $90.6m. Net interest $43.7m vs year-ago $32.4m. Final dividend 7.4cps vs year-ago 4.7cps. Outlook: Volumes across the network remain strong. White label residential settlements are up +18% y/y and AFG expects this to continue to increase with the inclusion of a Volt-funded white label AFG Home Loans product in the second half of FY22.
• Bega Cheese (BGA) -unchanged – Full-year normalised EBITDA $141.7m vs consensus $136.6m.Revenue $2.07bn vs consensus $1.93bn. Final dividend 5cps, fully franked Will continue to focus on unlocking value through growth of the combined complementary portfolios of branded products in domestic and export markets, by achieving costs synergy benefits from the Lion Dairy and Drinks acquisition in the year ahead, and carefully manage the supply of milk which is set to remain competitive through FY22.
• Peter Warren Automotive Holdings (PWR) -5.57% Full-year profit (before tax) $75.7m vs prospectus $45.0m. Revenue $1.62bn vs prospectus $1.53bn and consensus $1.55bn. EBITDA margin 6.7% vs prospectus 5.0%. New and used vehicles sold 29.9K, +9% y/y. Impact of lockdowns mitigated by strong new vehicle order bank at 30-Jun which has supported the delivery of new vehicles in Q1.

ECONOMIC NEWS/ BOND MARKETS

• The Pfizer vaccine was approved for use in everyone aged 12 and over on Friday. Bookings open 13^th September.

ECONOMIC DATA

• Retail trade (July) fell 2.7% missing estimates of a 2.5% fall. Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys, said: “Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders in many parts of Australia continued to impact retail trade in July, with many non-essential retail businesses closing their physical stores. In particular, the first full month of lockdown in New South Wales, following the Delta outbreak in June, saw retail turnover in the state fall 8.9 per cent. This was the largest fall of any state and territory since August 2020.”

CV19 NEWS

• NZ has extended the national lockdown for four more days. The strict Level 4 lockdown will remain in place until midnight on Aug. 31.

• Vaccine Tracker: 5.11bn doses in 183 countries. 38.4m doses a day. Australia 268,848 doses a day. Another 2 months to cover 75% of population.

ASIAN MARKETS

• Chinese Jan -July Industrials profits up 57.3%. Compared with the first seven months of 2019, the figure represented a rise of 44.6%.
• In July alone, China’s industrial profits rose by 16.4% year on year, increasing by 2.3% compared to June.

US AND EUROPEAN NEWS

• Jerome Powell speaks tonight. This is what we have been waiting for.
• Joe Biden is considering a second term for Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair with the nomination of Lael Brainard as the central bank’s chief regulator. No decision expected until the US autumn.
• Biden will press on with Afghanistan evacuations and pledges to punish those responsible for attacks.
• Small app developers can now contact users outside of the Apple Store to avoid fees.
• Peloton downgrades and cuts bike prices.

And finally…

A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.”

A bank robber pulls out gun points it at the teller, and says, “Give me all the money or you’re geography!” The puzzled teller replies, “Did you mean to say ‘or you’re history?'” The robber says, “Don’t change the subject!”

This is the true story of George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi, who was going to bed when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the shed. George opened the door to go turn off the light but saw there were people in the shed in the process of stealing things.

He immediately phoned the police, who asked, “Is someone in your house?” and George said, “No,” and explained the situation. Then they explained that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be there when available.

George said, “Okay,” hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

“Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I’ve just shot them all.”

Then he hung up. Within five minutes three squad cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the policemen said to George, “I thought you said that you’d shot them!”

George said, “I thought you said there was nobody available!”

Clarence

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