Market Maker

Good Morning, yes… It is Monday morning…. and guess what? It’s May… “Sell in May and go away?”… will this be relevant in 2016? Maybe… Global markets appear to be fragile, with US earnings providing to be “some-what” positive (although coming off a very low EPS expectations). On Friday,the Bank of Japan sat still and didn’t unleash any further stimulus… so what can we expect from AUS bank earnings today? WBC comes out first… how big will the SGH write-down be? Will net interest margins fall? Cash earnings remain flat… all likely..

At an ASX meeting on 13 April 2016 the ASX raised the prospect of a number of potential changes to the Listing Rules.  The changes are intended to apply from 1 July 2016.  The changes may be subject to a brief consultation period. 

Good morning. It's been a great long weekend but it is now time to get back to business. Historically, May hasn't been a great month in equities and we're cautious, given the rally in global equities. the "Fear" and "Greed" index is now hovering around 75 and it appears the consumer confidence is on the rise... but is the rally losing steam? 

So what happened last night? US stocks closed higher (Dow Jones +42 points), following weaker US oil production, sending Crude to the highest level in over 4 months…This is good news, as a rising oil price, is usually strongly positively correlated with economic growth…….

Good Morning, a “fight back” in crude oil and a great report from Walt Disney, saw the Dow Jones close +106 points. So we should have a good day, right?  More than 90 companies are scheduled to report results this week, including Goldman Sachs Group, Starbucks and American Express. Analysts are projecting a 9.5 per cent decline in first-quarter profit, compared with forecasts for almost flat growth at the start of the year. .. 

Good Morning, happy Friday…. This week has gone fast, right? We have seen crude oil break through $40/barrel (the DOHA meeting this weekend is strongly in focus on whether Russia and Saudi Arabia will cut production)…If they cut production, we see upside to $60/barrel as demand starts to pickup on the back of weaker inventories.  So this weekend’s meeting is crucial…

Good Morning, global stocks closed higher (Dow Jones +165 points), following better than expected US earnings and crude oil above $42/barrel on “speculation” that Saudi Arabia and Russia reached a consensus on an oil freeze during talks on Tuesday. Energy producers led the rally…. In Oz, Bellamy’s, Blackmores, A2 Milk & Bega Cheese are in “crisis talks” with Chinese authorities on a suggested 11.9% tax on products bought on ecommerce websites… Here we go….

As we approach May, a lot of questions are being asked on whether global central bank intervention is actually, effective….

Good morning. So Malcolm tells the banks to “get their act together”, but the question is, will they listen? Weakening credit growth, flat earnings and a huge exposure to the mining services and energy sectors, won’t help the bad and doubtful debt cycle… but is this a turning point? Should investors be buying the banks right now? Not just yet….