Australia’s best and worst city suburbs for crime, according to the locals

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Dec-16

Roy Morgan Research’s latest State of the Nation report shows that 57 per cent of Australians aged 14+ now agree that "crime is a growing problem in my community". Meanwhile, a Roy Morgan Single Source survey has identified the suburbs in each major capital city where the most residents believe crime is getting worse. In Melbourne, 73 per cent of Dandenong residents agree, while other suburbs where crime is perceived to be getting worse include Bradbury-Wedderburn in Sydney (69 per cent), Redland Islands in Brisbane (74 per cent) and Elizabeth in Adelaide (67 per cent). Meanwhile, Darlinghurst in Sydney tops the list of suburbs where residents believe that crime is not getting worse.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Origin Energy spins off oil and gas business

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 7-Dec-16

Australian-listed Origin Energy has revealed plans for a partial demerger in 2017, with its conventional oil and gas assets to be held by a separately listed company. However, Origin will retain its stake in the Australia Pacific LNG project in Queensland, while it will not hold a stake in the new company. Origin CEO Frank Calabria says an IPO was deemed to offer the best value, although he adds that the group would be open to an offer that represented better value than a float. JP Morgan estimates that the assets that will be spun off are worth around $A1.8bn.

CORPORATES
ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SANDON CAPITAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED – ASX SNC, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX ILU, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, STANDARD AND POOR’S FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED

Party’s over as economy turns mediocre

Original article by Michael Bennet
The Australian – Page: 19 & 23 : 7-Dec-16

Australia’s real GDP growth is expected to have fallen by 0.2 per cent in the September 2016 quarter, with year-on-year growth likely to have slowed to about two per cent. This compares with annual GDP growth of 3.3 per cent in the year to June. Despite the relative strength of the economy and a fall in the jobless rate, Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has conceded that growth in employment has slowed and underemployment has risen to a record high, at 9.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the participation rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Amazon gearing up to make its trade mark on Australia

Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 7-Dec-16

US e-commerce retail Amazon has applied for more than 250 trademarks in Australia, covering some 30-plus categories of products and services. The retail had previously lodged a number of trademark applications in the mid-2000s, including Amazon Prime and Amazon Fresh. The Amazon Prime subscription video-on-demand service is expected to be formally launched in Australia in 2017. Data from Roy Morgan Research shows that Amazon boast a 50 per cent share of online retail sales in the US.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, IP AUSTRALIA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

America: What Now? An Autopsy of the 2016 Election. Today, Wednesday December 7: 6pm – 8pm at Morgans at 401. 401 Collins St.

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Dec-16

As the dust settles on the 2016 United States election, the complex process of preparing to govern a bitterly divided nation begins for President-Elect Trump. And the long, slow process of post-mortem begins for political scientists, who along with pollsters, pundits and experts, were shocked once again to find that Trump had proved them all wrong, defied expectations, and remade American politics in the process. Or at least, that’s the news headlines. But with Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote and a small, fractious Republican Congressional majority, Trump’s victory is not all it seems. When Trump enters the White House in January of 2017 he will do so with an enormous weight of expectation upon his shoulders, an extremely challenging policy environment, and unprecedented unpopularity across the general population, and fair-weather allies in Congress. Full details: http://www.humanities21.com.au/event/america-what-now

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), HUMANITIES 21 INCORPORATED

Australians yet to embrace online grocery shopping

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Dec-16

Roy Morgan Research’s latest State of the Nation Retail Spotlight report revealed that Australian grocery buyers made more than 2.5 trips per week to supermarkets in 2015-16, or 1.95 billion trips for the year. And despite the ever-increasing popularity of online retail, the vast majority of Australians continue to do their grocery shopping in-store rather than online. A Roy Morgan Single Source survey, which was carried out in the year to June 2015, found that 26% of Australians agreed that "I’d consider doing some of my grocery shopping on the Internet in the next 12 months". However, just 3% of grocery buyers did their supermarket shopping online in any given four-week period during the following 12 months. Admittedly, this is an increase on 2011 (when it was 1.4%), but it is unlikely that there will be a mass exodus to online grocery shopping any time soon.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSSIE FARMERS DIRECT, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, CATCH GROUP PTY LTD, GROCERY RUN, INDO-ASIAN GROCERY STORE

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Rebounds – up 3.2pts to 118.6

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Dec-16

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose a solid 2.8% to 118.6 in the week ended 3 December 2016. The headline index is now at its highest level in 10 weeks. The details were also positive. The strength in the headline index was broadly based, with the biggest improvement coming from a 4.4% jump in households’ view of future finances. Households’ views of their finances compared to a year ago also improved, but by a much more modest 0.2%. Households’ views of economic conditions over the next 12 months rose a strong 2.9%, while households’ view of the economic outlook in the next five years bounced a solid 2.2%.

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

PM rules out carbon price

Original article by Sarah Martin
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Dec-16

The Australian Government will proceed with its review of its Direct Action climate change policy, but Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says introducing an emissions intensity scheme will not be on the agenda. A number of Coalition MPs have warned against the introduction of any policy that resulted in higher electricity prices, including a carbon tax or an emissions trading scheme. However, the Opposition has indicated that it supports an emissions intensity scheme.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY COUNCIL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE

Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan Research, comment on improving Consumer Confidence – up 3.2pts to 118.6

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Dec-16

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has improved strongly this week driven by rising confidence about personal financial situations and that now is a good time to buy major household items. The improvement in Consumer Confidence is matched by the increase in Roy Morgan November Business Confidence – now at 116.7 – its highest since the Federal Election. Both measures have improved despite the election victory of Donald Trump in the US, which many suggested would cause problems for the global economy. Of course, Trump is not yet in office, so will President Trump stand by his campaign promises or move away from them as President? The major test for Trump is whether he can convince the Federal Reserve not to raise interest rates whilst real unemployment and under-employment in America (well over 20%) is clearly higher than the "unbelievable" figures released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showing US unemployment of only 4.6% in November. In addition, Trump’s stance on US free-trade "deals" will be particularly important to the Australian economy which has benefited from free-trade agreements with important trading partners like China, Japan and South Korea. If Trump increases trade barriers with important Australian trading partners this will obviously impact on Australian Business Confidence which so far has been steady since the Trump victory.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

BHP tops big oil in Mexico

Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Dec-16

BHP Billiton has acquired a 60 per cent stake in the Trion oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, following a highly-contested auction process. BHP will initially pay $US62.4m for the stake, while the deal also requires it to spend at least $US320m ($A429m) on an appraisal program. Mexico’s state-owned Pemex, which will have a 40 per cent stake in Trion, estimates that the oil field could contain about 485 million barrels of oil equivalent. BP also submitted a bid to acquire the Trion stake.

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, PEMEX PETROLEOS MEXICANOS, BP PLC, COLONIAL FIRST STATE GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENT, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, NEWCREST MINING LIMITED – ASX NCM, OZ MINERALS LIMITED – ASX OZL, MEXICO. MINISTRY OF ENERGY