Author: roymorgansocial

Emergency alarms raised ahead of heatwave return

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Original article by Lachlan Moffet Gray, Rachel Baxendale
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 10-Jan-20

Authorities in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia have issued bushfire emergency warnings for 10 January, amid expectations of extreme weather conditions. The prospect of soaring temperatures and strong winds has prompted the Victorian government to extend its ‘state of emergency’ for an extra two days, with Premier Daniel Andrews stressing that the move is necessary in order to save lives. Residents of some towns in the King Valley were given orders to evacuate late on 9 January. Meanwhile, residents in some areas of South Australia’s Kangaroo Island have been advised to evacuate if it is safe to do so.

CORPORATES
VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES RURAL FIRE SERVICE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE

Conditions ideal for melt-up in world markets

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 18 : 10-Jan-20

The S&P/ASX 200 fell just shy of the record 6,893.7 points on 9 January, as tensions between the US and Iran eased. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 reached a new intra-day high. Peter Cecchini of Cantor Fitzgerald says the S&P 500 could potentially reach 3,300 points in the near-term, but he expects it to fall to 2,880 by the end of 2020. However, there is every indication that equities markets in developed countries will continue to rally in the near-term; the Australian market will receive a further boost if the cash rate is reduced in February.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 A-REIT INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, CANTOR FITZGERALD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Tasplan tops superannuation satisfaction, as industry funds continue to lead retail funds

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 10-Jan-20

New data from Roy Morgan’s Superannuation Satisfaction Report shows that industry fund Tasplan had the highest customer satisfaction rating of any super fund in the six months to November 2019, at 73.9%. It was ahead of Unisuper (73.7%), Cbus (73.3%), First State Super (70.3%) and HESTA (70.2%). As a group, industry funds (65.1%) outperformed retail funds (59.5%) in terms of satisfaction, and the gap has widened compared to the same period a year ago. The report’s findings have been obtained from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, compiled by in-depth face-to-face interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, TASPLAN LIMITED, UNISUPER LIMITED, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND, FIRST STATE SUPER, HEALTH EMPLOYEES’ SUPERANNUATION TRUST AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Pundits expect rate cut despite jobs positivity

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 9-Jan-20

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that there was 1.6 per cent growth in job vacancies in the November quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Private sector job vacancies increased by 1.5 per cent, after declining in the two previous quarters. The figures also show that the number of available jobs rose to 239,400 in the year to November, compared with 235,100 in August. However, economics still expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to reduce the cash rate in February.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED

Seeds of next LNG glut already being sown

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 9-Jan-20

Growth in Asian demand for LNG slowed to 2.1 per cent in 2019, amid a global oversupply. However, Bernstein Research forecasts that the glut will end in the second half of 2020 as Asian demand rebounds and a five-year expansion of global output comes to an end. Bernstein also cautions that another oversupply could emerge in the mid-2020s, with a number of new LNG projects slated for coming years. The firm anticipates that projects to be approved over the next 18 months will boost global production by about 70 million tonnes a year.

CORPORATES
BERNSTEIN INVESTMENT RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ENTE NAZIONALE IDROCARBURI SPA, INPEX CORPORATION, TOTAL SA

Union pushes to overturn BHP’s Fair Work win on enterprise deals

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 9-Jan-20

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining & Energy Union is appealing the Fair Work Commission’s decision to approve two enterprise agreements covering employees of BHP’s Operations Services division. The bulk of these workers are employed at BHP’s coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, and the CFMEU contends that they should be covered by the enterprise agreement for the miner’s other workers in the basin. The CFMEU argues that these workers earn up to $40,000 a year more than the Operations Services employees.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

No tax on disaster payments for fire-stricken Aussies

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Original article by David Crowe
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Jan-20

The federal government has advised that the one-off Disaster Recovery Allowance for bushfire victims will be exempt from income tax. The government will introduce legislation to this effect when Parliament resumes in early February, and it is expected to be supported by Labor. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says accommodation operators in fire-affected areas have been hard hit by the disaster, and he has urged people to support them by not cancelling their bookings and seeking a refund.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Many, many billions of animals feared to have died in bushfires

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Original article by Liam Mannix
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Jan-20

More than six million hectares of land have been razed by the bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales, and scientists have warned that the disaster has taken an enormous toll on wildlife. Professor Chris Dickman from the University of Sydney believes that up to 800 million animals may have perished in the NSW fires, compared with his initial estimate of 480 million. Experts have also warned that some endangered species may now be extinct, including the long-footed potoroo, whose last remaining habitat was in the fire zone.

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Bushfires likely to impact Australian retailers, analysts say

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Original article by Dominic Powell
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Jan-20

Bryan Raymond of Citigroup says the bushfires crisis is likely to have a near-term impact on major retailers, as the smoke blanketing large cities will reduce foot traffic and some stores in bushfire-affected areas have closed temporarily. Hardware and outdoor equipment retailers are expected to be among the hardest hit, although Raymond notes that they may receive a boost as the nation rebuilds after the disaster. He adds that there is unlikely to be much impact on the sales of grocery giants Coles and Woolworths.

CORPORATES
CITIGROUP PTY LTD, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

Rate cut odds shorten as bushfires hit economy

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 14 : 9-Jan-20

The prospect of an official interest rate cut in February has increased from 38 per cent to almost 60 per cent in the wake of the bushfires crisis. Katrina Ell of Moody’s Analytics says the odds of a rate cut had already been high, while she warns that agriculture, tourism, household spending and productivity are likely to be particularly hard hit by the disaster. Meanwhile, Capital Economics’ analysis suggests that a sharp fall in tourist numbers and farm production could reduce economic growth by about 0.1 per cent in the March quarter.

CORPORATES
MOODY’S ANALYTICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD