Author: roymorgansocial

ASX will share blockchain system savings

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Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 8-Dec-17

Stock exchanger operator ASX Limited expects to achieve significant cost savings by phasing out its CHESS settlement and clearing system for equities in favour of one based on blockchain technology. Financial market experts say the shift to distributed ledger technology developed by Digital Asset Holdings will increase the sharemarket’s transparency, and have welcomed the ASX’s announcement that some its cost savings will be passed on to market participants. The ASX could potentially deploy blockchain technology for other markets.

CORPORATES
ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, DIGITAL ASSET HOLDINGS LLC, STOCKBROKERS AND FINANCIAL ADVISERS ASSOCIATION LIMITED, NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY, DIGITALX LIMITED – ASX DCC, EUROZ SECURITIES LIMITED, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NCC GROUP, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, JP MORGAN AND COMPANY INCORPORATED

Game on: Foxtel, Fox Sports merger cleared

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 19 : 8-Dec-17

Shares in News Corporation and Telstra rallied on 7 December after the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission signalled that the proposed merger between Foxtel and Fox Sports would not substantially reduce competition. The two companies jointly own Foxtel, while News Corp is the sole owner of Fox Sports. Telstra’s stake in Foxtel will be reduced to 35 per cent if the merger proceeds. ACCC chairman Rod Sims says the regulator took into account the fact that Foxtel’s digital products will be available to Telstra’s rivals.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Top CEOs admit public trust deficit

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Original article by James Thomson, Michael Smith, Tony Boyd
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 9 : 8-Dec-17

CEOs such as Coca Amatil CEO Alison Watkins say big business needs to do a better job of explaining its contribution to the economy to the general public. Origin Energy CEO Frank Calabria contends that the average Australian has tuned out to both government and big business, while departing Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev says it is important that big business is willing to acknowledge its mistakes. APA Group CEO Michael Cormack says the federal government should stop using big business as a scapegoat for its own mistakes.

CORPORATES
COCA-COLA AMATIL LIMITED – ASX CCL, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, APA GROUP – ASX APA, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

Nation uplifted as marriage bill passes

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Joe Kelly, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 8-Dec-17

Same-sex marriage will be legalised in Australia after the private members’ bill of Liberal senator Dean Smith was passed by the House of Representatives on 7 December. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described it as a "unifying day" for Australians, and he expects the first same-sex marriages to occur in early January. Three Coalition MPs voted against the bill, while Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison are among seven who are believed to have abstained from voting. Several proposed amendments to the bill regarding religious freedom were rejected by the lower house. The bill was passed by the Senate in late November.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION

Budget surplus to be brief: PBO

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Original article by David Uren
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 8-Dec-17

Treasurer Scott Morrison has downplayed modelling by the Parliamentary Budget Office which suggests that productivity will need to increase in order to ensure that a Budget surplus is sustained. The Federal Government has forecast that it will post surpluses equivalent to 0.3 per cent of GDP from 2020-21, although this is based on expectations that productivity growth will remain at the long-term average of 1.6 per cent. However, growth in productivity has averaged just 1.35 per cent over the last decade, and the PBO’s analysis has found that the Budget will be "broadly balanced" by 2027-28 unless productivity growth improves.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Bulls edge ahead in the battle for coming year

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 26 : 8-Dec-17

Investment banks are generally upbeat about the outlook for Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 in 2018. Credit Suisse and Macquarie Group both expect it to end the year at 6,500 points, while Citigroup has a year-end target of 6,400 point. In contrast, Morgan Stanley expects the index to end 2018 at just 5,800 points. Meanwhile, Hasan Tevfik of Credit Suisse believes that factors such as the potential for fiscal stimulus, a sharp rise in bond yields and rising capital investment to influence the direction of the sharemarket in 2018.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, BLOOMBERG LP, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

Indonesians are far more confident than their Australian neighbours

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Dec-17

Consumer Confidence in Australia and its largest neighbour Indonesia has diverged massively since the height of the Australian mining boom in 2010-11. Indonesian Consumer Confidence soared following the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09, and while the ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Rating improved significantly it has never reached the heights of its northern neighbour. In October 2017 Roy Morgan Indonesian Consumer Confidence was at 153.8, more than 40pts above the figure for ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence for the same month of 113.3, although Australian Consumer Confidence has improved slightly over the past few weeks and is now at 115.8. However, in the years 2007-2010 Consumer Confidence in Australia and Indonesia was relatively similar and Australian Consumer Confidence was in fact higher throughout 2007, only dipping below Indonesian Consumer Confidence in mid-2008 as it reached a quarterly low of 94.4 in the December 2008 quarter.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

Insuranceline tops satisfaction among risk and life insurers

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Dec-17

Insuranceline had the highest customer satisfaction rating among Australia’s 13 largest risk and life insurers in the year to October 2017, according to a Roy Morgan Single Source survey. Insuranceline’s satisfaction rating rose by 5.4% over the year, to 79.2%, which is well above the industry average of 66.2%. Insuranceline was followed by Allianz (75.2%), AIA Australia (73.2%) and Real Insurance (72.6%). The biggest improver during the year was AIA Australia (up 6.6% points), while major brands to show declines in satisfaction over the year were Asteron (down 12.2% points), Zurich (down 9.9% points) and Comminsure (down 4.2% points).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, INSURANCELINE HOLDINGS PTY LTD, ALLIANZ AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AIA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, REAL INSURANCE, ASTERON LIFE LIMITED, ZURICH INSURANCE COMPANY, COMMINSURE, ONEPATH AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, MLC LIMITED

2.394m Australians unemployed or under-employed in November

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Dec-17

A Roy Morgan survey shows that 1.288 million Australians were unemployed (9.8% of the workforce) in November 2017, an increase of 89,000 (up 0.6%) on a year ago. In addition, 1.106 million Australians (8.4% of the workforce) were under-employed, working part-time and looking for more work, a rise of 6,000 in a year. In total, 2.394 million Australians were unemployed or under-employed in November. The figures also show that 11,886,000 Australians were employed in November – an increase of 39,000 over the past year. The Roy Morgan real unemployment figures are substantially higher than the current ABS estimate of 5.4% for October. Roy Morgan executive chairman Gary Morgan says it has now been more than two years, or 26 straight months, that more than two million Australians have been unemployed or under-employed. It is this "slack" in the Australian labour market that is responsible for the low wage growth mentioned by the RBA this week in their Statement explaining their decision to leave interest rates unchanged at 1.5%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Bargain buy of Canadian iron mine pays off for O’Keefe

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 7-Dec-17

Australian-listed Champion Iron aims to commence iron ore shipments from the Bloom Lake project in Canada in March 2018, having paid less than $US10m for it in 2016. Previous owner Cliffs had invested some $US2.4bn in the project, which it had acquired as part of its $US5bn purchase of Consolidated Thompson in 2011. Champion Iron is headed by Michael O’Keefe, who estimates that Bloom Lake’s higher-grade iron ore to fetch about $US80 per tonne at current prices. He is the former head of Riversdale Mining, which was acquired by Rio Tinto in 2011.

CORPORATES
CHAMPION IRON LIMITED – ASX CIA, CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INCORPORATED, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG