Author: roymorgansocial

Big Digital shift finally under way, says News

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 19 : 9-Oct-19

News Corporation’s CEO Robert Thomson says digital platforms are starting to direct revenue to companies that produce original news content. He expects the flow of revenue to content producers will increase in coming years, which will benefit media companies and their shareholders. News Corp Australia recently struck a deal to be the exclusive local provider of news content for Apple’s News+ subscription service.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, APPLE INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

QE would kill finance and capitalism, McKibbin warns

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 9-Oct-19

Former Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin has cautioned against any move to reduce implement quantitative easing in Australia. He argues that unconventional monetary policy in Europe is merely propping up financially unsustainable businesses while restricting access to capital for new businesses. He adds that reducing interest rates below a certain level merely distorts capital without providing any economic stimulus. Some economists expect the cash rate to fall to 0.5 per cent in coming months.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Doubts about Fortescue’s Simandou bid

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 21 : 9-Oct-19

Lyndon Fagan of JP Morgan has expressed reservations about Fortescue Metals Group’s bid for blocks 1 and 2 of the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea. He says a successful bid may not be welcomed by shareholders, given the sovereign risks associated with the West African nation. He adds that given Simandou’s high-grade iron ore and the fact that it is likely to be developed, Fortescue may be taking the view that it is better to participate in a project that will compete with Fortescue’s own Pilbara operations.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence reverses to 112.3

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 9-Oct-19

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence fell 2.1% to 112.3 in the week ended 6 October, after gaining 4.2% in the previous reading. Households’ views towards current financial conditions fell 4.7%, while views towards future financial conditions lost 5.0%. Consumers’ views toward current economic conditions fell 1.7% and views towards future economic conditions fell 1.1%. The ‘time to buy a major household item’ continued to recover after falling to a 10-year low in recent weeks, although it remains below its long-term average. Inflation expectations rose 0.1 ppt to 4.1%.

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

Research on how cells adapt to oxygen earns trio Nobel Prize for medicine

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Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 8-Oct-19

Scientists William Kaelin, Gregg Semenza and Peter Ratcliffe have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in determining how cells adapt to oxygen levels. In awarding the prize to Kaelin, Semenza and Ratcliffe, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute noted that oxygen sensing is central to a large number of diseases. Their work is tipped to help find new methods for combating diseases such as cancer and anaemia.

CORPORATES
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE

We’ve ourselves to blame for paying banks too much

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 12 : 8-Oct-19

Australia’s banks have attracted widespread criticism for reducing their mortgate rates by about half of the 0.25 per cent official interest rate cut on 1 October. However, banks are entitled to pass on as much or as little of the cash rate cut as they like, and customers can easily switch to another lender if they are dissatisfied. Consumers effectively pay a loyalty tax for remaining with their existing lender; this may be more appropriately called a stupidity tax, as it raises some $6.3bn each year for mortgage lenders. While banks are the biggest beneficiary of the stupidity tax, it is paid across the economy.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Coalition faces Senate battle to pass big reforms

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 2 : 8-Oct-19

The federal government has identified a number of legislative priorities when Parliament resumes on 14 October. However, analysis suggests that the Coalition may lack the numbers to pass up to seven bills in the Senate, including the Ensuring Integrity Bill and a religious discrimination bill. The proposed first-home loan deposit scheme is the only government initiative that appears to have sufficient support in both houses at present, after Labor agreed to back the bill.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

Australia: rich, but getting dumber

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Original article by Aaron Patrick
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 8-Oct-19

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for International Development has developed an Atlas of Economic Complexity, with Australia being ranked as having one of the least complex economies. The Atlas measures the diversity and sophistication of national exports, with almost all of Australia’s exports not requiring a degree to make. The Center for International Development contends that for countries to get richer that they need to develop more sophisticated products, but Australia has been very tardy when it comes to innovation.

CORPORATES
HARVARD UNIVERSITY. HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL. CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Carnegie finally tunes out of Macquarie

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 8-Oct-19

Nine Entertainment Company has reached the 90 per cent threshold to compulsorily acquire Macquarie Media, after venture capitalist Mark Carnegie accepted the offer of $1.46 per share. Carnegie says he had no option other than agreeing to the Nine deal, and he adds that radio – and news talk radio in particular – is a powerful media that will be a good fit for Nine’s other media assets. Nine CEO Hugh Marks has also stressed the power of talk radio and says he is looking forward to working with the Macquarie team.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED

Denialists are to blame for high power bills: Turnbull

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Original article by Troy Bramston
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 8-Oct-19

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says the federal government’s lack of a ‘­coherent’ national energy policy has resulted in higher electricity prices in Australia and higher greenhouse gas emissions. He has also accused the Liberal Party of having been influenced by a group that is "denialist and reactionary" on the issue of climate change. Turnbull contends that Robert Menzies regarded the Liberal Party as being ‘genuinely progressive’ rather than a ‘conventional conservative party’. He argues that the term ‘conservative’ has lost its true meaning.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA