Author: roymorgansocial

Macquarie tips Australian shares to beat Wall St in 2018

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Original article by Patrick Commins
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 7-Dec-17

Jason Todd of Macquarie Group is upbeat about the outlook for the Australian sharemarket in 2018, forecasting that it will end the calendar year at 6,500 points. Todd expects the Australian bourse to outperform the US market in total return and local currency terms in 2018, following a stronger performance by Wall Street in 2017. However, he expects the S&P/ASX 200 to finish 2017 at 5,875 points, compared with around the 5,950-point level at present.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, ADELAIDE BRIGHTON LIMITED – ASX ABC, DOWNER EDI LIMITED – ASX DOW, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, JAMES HARDIE INDUSTRIES PLC – ASX JHX, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, SEEK LEARNING PTY LTD

High Court removes strike protections in landmark ruling

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Dec-17

A landmark ruling of the High Court of Australia has major implications for unions regarding negotiations over enterprise bargaining agreements. The court ruled that unions are not permitted to take protected industrial action while EBA negotiations are underway if the union had previously breached an order of the Fair Work Commission regarding that bargaining. The Australian Workers’ Union had argued that unions are only required to comply with current rather than past orders of the FWC. The ruling could potentially result in the AWU being required to pay significant damages to Esso over strike action at the Longford gas plant in Victoria in 2015.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ESSO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED)

Australia rises in housing list

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Original article by Elizabeth Redman
The Australian – Page: 23 : 7-Dec-17

Iceland heads Knight Frank’s latest Global House Price Index, with annualised growth of 20.4 per in the September quarter. Australia is ranked seventh in the list, compared with 11th in the June quarter, with house price growth of 10.2 per cent year-on-year and 1.9 per cent in the three months to September. The data shows that house prices have risen by 5.1 per cent globally over the last year.

CORPORATES
KNIGHT FRANK

LNG glut may last 10 years

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 20 : 7-Dec-17

Most analysts expect rising demand for LNG to result in a global shortage by 2023. However, Macquarie Group has forecast that the current global oversupply could potentially last until 2027. The prospect of increased output by countries such as the US, Russia and Qatar are among the factors that could contribute to the oversupply being sustained for longer than anticipated. Meanwhile, new data shows that the three LNG projects in Queensland shipped 1.704 million tonnes in November, compared with 1.68 million tonnes in October.

CORPORATES
MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ENN GROUP

Why Murdoch changed his tune on selling

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Original article by Amol Sharma, Joel Flint
The Australian – Page: 17 & 22 : 7-Dec-17

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has a market capitalisation of about $US60bn ($A79.1bn). The proposal to sell the bulk of its assets to Walt Disney Company would allow Murdoch to achieve a premium price for those assets at a time when the traditional media industry is facing growing competition from companies such as Netflix and Google. A deal with Disney might also help resolve the issue of succession at 21st Century Fox, as there has been speculation that CEO James Murdoch could take up an executive role at Disney, leaving the way clear for Lachlan Murdoch to head Fox.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, COMCAST CORPORATION, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, SKY PLC, 20TH CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, METROMEDIA INTERNATIONAL, STAR INDIA, FOX NEWS, HARPERCOLLINS, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, HBO, AT&T CORPORATION, TESLA INCORPORATED, VICE MEDIA INCORPORATED, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE

Amazon just warming up, warn analysts

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 7-Dec-17

Melanie Sanders of Bain & Company has forecast that e-commerce giant Amazon will boast Australian sales of between $A8bn and $A10bn within 5-10 years, making it the nation’s sixth-biggest retailer. Consumers have criticised the limited product range offered by Amazon when it officially launched in Australia, but Sanders argues that the company probably opted for a low-key launch in order to test its systems. Retail industry analysts have warned Australian retailers against becoming complacent based on Amazon’s local launch on 5 December, while Amazon itself says its sales for the day were higher than for any previous country launch.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, BAIN AND COMPANY, UGAM, WORLD FIRST AUSTRALIA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, IGA, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

First Greens MP to hold ALP to account

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Original article by Sarah Elks
The Australian – Page: 4 : 7-Dec-17

The Australian Labor Party is set to be returned to office in Queensland after securing the 47 seats it needs to form government. The Liberal-National Party has won 39 seats to date, but Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has yet to concede defeat. Katter’s Australian Party has won three seats in state parliament, while Michael Berkman will become the state’s first Greens MP. Berkman has indicated that he will seek to revoke Adani’s licence to develop the Carmichael coal mine.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LIBERAL-NATIONAL PARTY OF QUEENSLAND, KATTER’S AUSTRALIAN PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, ONE NATION PARTY, ADANI MINING PTY LTD, ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF QUEENSLAND

Slow growth puts a brake on rate rises

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 26 : 7-Dec-17

The latest GDP data has prompted financial markets to price in an 84 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will increase the cash rate by the end of 2018, down from 94 per cent previously. The economy expanded by a lower-than-expected 0.6 per cent in the September 2017 quarter, while year-on-year growth rose from 1.9 per cent to 2.8 per cent. Meanwhile, growth in household consumption slowed to just 0.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to September.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

PM seeks more scalps as Labor refers duals

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Original article by David Crowe
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 7-Dec-17

The High Court will determine whether Australian Labor Party MPs David Feeney and Katy Gallagher are eligible to be in federal parliament due to dual citizenship concerns. Labor advised on 6 December that it will refer the matter to the court, and it is facing growing pressure over three of its other MPs. The Federal Government is seeking the support of crossbenchers in the lower house to also refer Justine Keay, Susan Lamb and Josh Wilson to the court. Labor in turn believes that a number of Coalition MPs should be referred to the High Court.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, NICK XENOPHON TEAM, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Local retailers brace as Amazon opens

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Original article by Chris Griffith, Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 2 : 5-Dec-17

The Australian retail website of e-commerce giant Amazon will be officially launched on 5 December. Consumers will be able to purchase a range of goods at significantly lower prices, with discounts of up to 30 per cent on some clothing and toy brands. Consumers will be able to purchase goods directly from Amazon or from merchants that sell their goods via the Amazon Marketplace. Consumers who order goods worth more than $A49 in total will receive free delivery. Amazon is forecast to gain up to $A200m worth of local sales at Christmas.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, OFFICEWORKS SUPERSTORES PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TARGET AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, BABY BUNTING GROUP LIMITED – ASX BBN, REBEL SPORT LIMITED, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, DAVID JONES LIMITED, CALVIN KLEIN INCORPORATED, TOMMY HILFIGER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FISHER-PRICE INCORPORATED, BONDS INDUSTRIES LIMITED, PUMA AUSTRALIA, LEGO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SOL-SANA, L’OREAL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SONOS INCORPORATED, SUNBEAM CORPORATION LIMITED