ASX 200 pushes 18 points higher to 6995 (+0.3%). A tale of two cities with banks and industrials doing well and resources falling by the wayside. No sooner had a couple of brokers raised their forecast for iron ore than the miners staggered and slumped. Iron ore price easing and Chinese data not helping from yesterday. BHP down 1.9%, RIO off 2.0% and FMG falling 1.1%. Base metal stocks were under pressure too, with lithium also slipping away, IGO down 2.4% and MIN off 1.4%. Gold miners gave back some recent gains as safe haven bullion buying eased on a stronger USD. NEM down 4.7%, and NST off 1.2%. Oil and gas eased back, but not by much despite crude falls, WDS down 0.6%. Coal stocks steadied. Meanwhile, banks once again pushed higher, with WBC bouncing around up 1.5% and CBA firming by 0.7%. The Big Bank Basket up to $177.07 (+0.7%). MQG had a better day up 1.1%, with insurers also finding friends. MFG held a fiery AGM and got a first strike against pay. The stock rose 0.6%. REITs are in positive territory, led as always by GMG up 1.8%, and SGP rising 1.9%. Industrials firmed, interest rate sensitive stocks doing well, TCL up 1.3%, and REA firing 1.6% higher. TLS and ABB were winners from the Optus outage. Rising 1.3% and 1.9% respectively. Tech in demand, WTC up 2.3% and XRO rising 1.5%, with the All-Tech Index up 1.7%. In corporate news, JHX shot the lights out with quarterly results up 13.8%.  Nothing on the economic front local, RBA produced its chart pack, always a highlight for economists. In Asian markets, Japan slipped 1.0%, China down slightly 0.1%, and HK higher, up 0.1%. 10Y yields continue to fall to 4.59%. Dow Futures down 20 points. NASDAQ Futures down 15 points. 

MAJOR MOVERS

  • JHX +13.8% positive results.
  • SYA +8.8% bouncing around.
  • WBT +6.8% tech rally.
  • A4N +6.2% board changes.
  • ABB +1.9% Optus free kick.
  • MP1 +3.7% tech rally.
  • MFG +0.6% gets first strike on pay.
  • ALX +2.5% IFM sings Creep.
  • BRN +38.9% going nuts. Change of director’s interest.
  • WA1 +16.6% West Arunta update yesterday.
  • HFR +14.7% Muga feasibility study.
  • AWC -1.9% remains under pressure.
  • WC8 -3.4% one life down.
  • S32 -4.3% resources under pressure.
  • NEM -4.7% gold miners flop.
  • FLN -10.4% heading into irrelevance.
  • INR -2.9% back down again.
  • Speculative Stock of the Day: Arizona Lithium (AZL) +39.1% Good volume and follows webinar Monday. Honourable mention goes to Woomera Mining (WML) +41.7% not too bad volume on recent capital raising for Ravensthorpe lithium projects.

ECONOMIC HEADLINES

  • RBA Chart Pack out today – Riveting.

HEADLINES

  • NAB has boosted its standard variable home loan rates by 25 basis points from November 17.
  • PwC Australian is cutting 4% of its workforce. WBC dumps it as auditor.
  • Portuguese PM Costa resigns as corruption crisis erupts.
  • IMF raises China growth outlook as bankers urged to ‘ride the dragon’.
  • Chinese Vice President Han Zheng talked up the importance of improving ties with the US.
  • Democrat Gabe Amo won election to the House in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District.
  • Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said “Because of some of the strangeness of this moment, there is the possibility of the golden path … that we got inflation down without a recession.” The Golden Path, a new alternate to a soft landing!
  • US and China had a rare meeting regarding nuclear arms control as Washington urges Beijing to disclose more information about its growing nuclear capabilities.
  • China had about 500 nuclear warheads this year and plans to have more than 1,000 by 2030. US has 3700 warheads.
  • King’s Speech begins countdown to next UK general election.

And finally….

Clarence

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