Divergent tides: The ebb and flow of financial markets
Most of the time, financial markets ebb and flow like the tide. All boats are lifted or fall together. On occasions, however, different assets part company, responding to the same influences in divergent ways. The first three months of 2021 has been such a period. Last week, the S&P 500 rose above 4,000 for the…
Aussies tested again
Aussies tested again Consumer confidence; CBA credit/debit card lending East Coast floods: The Insurance Council of Australia has “declared a Catastrophe for large parts of NSW following the devastating storms and flooding of the last few days.” Consumer confidence: The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating fell by 0.5 per cent to 110.4 (long-run average…
Economic review: A hard bump ahead?
The vast arsenal of fiscal, monetary and legal measures used by Australian governments to offset the COVID-induced economic crisis have worked well. They did not prevent a recession (popularly defined as two quarters of negative GDP growth) but things could have been much worse. What is particularly interesting is that the expected consequences have not…
Investing in realigned companies
In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, Vince Pezzullo, Deputy Head of Equities, praised businesses like Qantas, Flight Centre and Boral for their willingness to reinvent themselves in response to the global pandemic. COVID and associated market disruption rocked global markets in March last year but the rebound was just as sudden. Those who…
Why extra super payments will come from you
There’s something odd about those television and internet advertisements telling us we are getting more super. The money seems to come from nowhere. “Pretty soon,” explains the woman getting onto an escalator, “the amount of super paid on top of our wages will go up”. Fair enough, but the increases in compulsory super contributions will…
Earnings Season: Half-time report
Earnings Season: Half-time report Corporate Profit Reporting Season • Each ‘earnings season’ or ‘profit-reporting season’ CommSec tracks all the earnings results of S&P/ASX 200 companies to obtain a comprehensive picture of the aggregate health of Corporate Australia. • The earnings season has another week to go. But so far, 85 of the ASX200 index group…
Higher Aussie to soften petrol pump pain
Higher Aussie to soften petrol pump pain Petrol Prices; Used vehicle market; Household survey • Fuel prices: Last week the national average price of unleaded petrol rose by 2.2 cents a litre to 131.2 cents per litre (c/l) according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. • Used car prices: According to the Datium Insights, used…
8 lessons from 12 remarkable months
This time last year Mrs S and I were heading off to Alentejo for a week of good food, wine and late winter sunshine. Thank goodness we did. It’s hard to remember the carefree, hop-on-a-plane world we took for granted just 12 months ago. Obviously, I didn’t know at the time that the world’s stock…
CommSec Daily Report Wednesday
Latest news The Australian sharemarket is coming under pressure for the first time this week, with the ASX 200 declining by 0.62 per cent to 6,874.3 on one of the busiest days of the year for half year results. Declines from supermarket chains, gold miners, travel stocks, tech and healthcare are weighing most heavily. Strong…
CommSec Daily Report Tueday
Latest News The Aussie market has failed to follow Wall Street higher with another record session for major US indices overnight. The ASX 200 is softer at lunch on Tuesday, down 41 points or 0.6% to 6,839 around midday and trading at intraday lows as it eases back from the 11-month highs hit just yesterday….
