Author: roymorgansocial

No sign of breakout in inflation: King

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 20-Apr-20

The Reserve Bank of Australia has been actively buying state and federal government bonds in response to the coronavirus crisis. Former Bank of England governor Mervin King contends that the risk of a sharp rise in inflation will remain low if central banks rather than governments continue to have responsibility for deciding how much money to print. King has also described modern monetary theory as "nonsense", while he has praised regulators in Australia, the UK and New Zealand for advising banks to delay their dividend payments.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BANK OF ENGLAND

Mine workers drive the great COVID migration

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 20-Apr-20

It is estimated that around 5,000 workers have had to relocate interstate over the past month to overcome coronavirus restrictions on the movement of people between states. More than 900 BHP workers have relocated to Western Australia, while around 800 of Rio Tinto’s fly-in, fly-out workers have relocated indefinitely, and most of them have moved to WA. Trevor Hart, KPMG’s global head of mining, says the current situation presents an opportunity for both the resources sector and the WA government to persuade affected workers to move permanently to the state.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO HOLDINGS LIMITED, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, OZ MINERALS LIMITED – ASX OZL, NEW CENTURY RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX NCZ

Big tech made to pay for news

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 20-Apr-20

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has been directed to set up a mandatory code of conduct under which Google and Facebook will be required to pay news publishers for using their content. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says it is only reasonable that those who create content are rewarded for it. Facebook and Google had initially been directed to set up a voluntary code of conduct for content payment by November, but the two technology companies had been accused by media firms of not genuinely engaging in negotiations on the issue. Nine Entertainment CEO Hugh Marks has praised the government for taking "taking swift and decisive action" on the issue.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Crown pays out $205m as staff languish

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 17-Apr-20

Crown Resorts CEO Ken Barton says a new $1bn debt financing deal will assist the group to ride out the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and complete work on its Barangaroo casino in Sydney. Crown has stood down some 11,500 employees since closing down its Melbourne and Perth casinos in late March, while it has confirmed that shareholders will receive the previously-declared interim dividend of $0.30 per share. Rival casino operator The Star Entertainment Group has stood down 8,500 employees and deferred its interim dividend. Both companies have registered for the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme.

CORPORATES
CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN, THE STAR ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LIMITED – ASX SGR

Royal commission begins into harrowing black summer of bushfires

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Original article by Bellinda Kontominas
The New Daily – Page: Online : 17-Apr-20

The royal commission into Australia’s deadly 2019/20 bushfire season has been formally opened via an online hearing on 16 April. The commission has already held 17 community forums in bushfire-affected areas, but all future hearings will be conducted online, due to the impact of COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions. Thirty-three people lost their lives during the fires, while over 10 million hectares were burnt, and 3,000 homes and 7,000 outbuildings were destroyed. The commission hopes to release its findings before the start of the next bushfire season.

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Facebook and YouTube strong across all Generations but Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok have important user bases

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 17-Apr-20

The latest research from Roy Morgan shows that Facebook is the most popular Social Network across several generations of Australians. Facebook is used by 65% of Pre-Boomers (born pre-1946), 86% of Baby Boomers (1946-1960), 87% of Gen X (1961-1975) and 90% of Millennials (1976-1990). Video streaming site YouTube is the most popular Social Network for the two youngest Generations, used by 91% of Gen Z (1976-1990) and 72% of Generation Alpha (2006-). However, beneath these two market leaders differences in preferences really stand out. Photo-sharing site Pinterest is the third most popular Social Network for both Pre-Boomers (used by 20%) and Baby Boomers (32%), while Instagram is the third most popular choice for Gen X (40%), Millennials (61%), Gen Z (69%) and Generation Alpha (19%). Meanwhile, new short-video site TikTok is now the second-most popular Social Network for Generation Alpha (21%). These results are based on in-depth Roy Morgan Single Source interviews with more than 25,000 Australians aged 14+ over the 6 months to February 2020 and over 1,000 interviews with Young Australians aged 6-13 years old during the six months to December 2019.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM LLC, TIKTOK

Long road to life without Covid

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Apr-20

International modelling shows that Australia has a coronavirus detection rate of 84 per cent, compared with 12 per cent for the US and just 3.6 per cent for the UK. However, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated that lockdown restrictions are likely to remain in place for at least another four weeks. He has outlined a three-stage process for easing the restrictions; this will be based on increased testing for the virus, improved tracing of virus cases and action to contain coronavirus ‘hotspots’. Morrison argues that easing the restrictions too soon risks further infections, with resulting health and economic consequences.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Private equity investors circle over Virgin

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Jemima Whyte
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 17-Apr-20

Virgin Australia has asked the federal government for a $1.4 billion loan to help it survive the COVID-19 induced shutdown of the aviation sector, and it has threatened to put itself into voluntary administration if government help is not forthcoming. However, pressure on the government to provide Virgin with a loan may have eased, due to reports that at least two private consortia are looking to take over the airline; one of the two is understood to be an investment bank partnered with an Australian infrastructure investor, while the other is believed to be a private equity entity in partnership with a "strategic airline investor".

CORPORATES
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX VAH, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN

PM flags business growth plan

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 17-Apr-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told a meeting of the national cabinet that pro-growth economic policy measures will be required in the post-coronavirus environment. He has stressed that business rather than government will lead the economic recovery, so there will be a need for policies that encourage employers to invest in their business and to hire people. Morrison has also raised the prospect that some of the policies that the Coalition took to the May 2019 election might need to be shelved. Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott has expressed support for Morrison’s pro-business focus.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Whitehaven puts off Vickery mine decision

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 16 : 17-Apr-20

Whitehaven Coal has advised that its production fell by 15 per cent year-on-year in the March quarter, to 4.1 million tonnes of saleable coal. Whitehaven’s managed coal sales fell 22 per cent to 4.5 million tonnes, and the group now expects its managed coal sales for the full year to be within the range of 17.5-18.5 million tonnes. Whitehaven has also indicated that challenging market conditions means that a final investment decision on its Vickery project will not be made until at least 2021. It had previously expected a decision to be made by the end of June.

CORPORATES
WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED – ASX WHC