Author: roymorgansocial

Aussie 10-year bond yield drops below 1pc

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Original article by Patrick Commins, Vesna Poljak, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 27 : 7-Aug-19

The fallout from the escalating trade and currency war between the US and China has seen the yield on Australian 10-year government bonds fall below the cash rate for the first time. The bond yield reached a record low of 0.968 per cent on 6 August, before rising to 1.047 per cent late in trading. Meanwhile, the futures market has priced in an 0.25 per cent reduction in the cash rate by October, after the Reserve Bank left official interest rates unchanged at one per cent at its monthly board meeting.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, QIC LIMITED, ARDEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, PEOPLE’S BANK OF CHINA, EXANTE DATA

Super, massive trade surplus holds up economy

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Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Aug-19

Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans says Australia could be set to post its first current account surplus since 1975, following the release of the latest balance of trade data. The nation’s trade surplus rose to a record $8.04bn in June and totalled $19.7bn for the June quarter, which is $5.2bn higher than the March quarter. The result was driven by strong growth in iron ore export volumes and the price of the steel input during the period. Australia’s overall export volumes increased by 1.4 per cent in June, while there was a 3.6 per cent decline in imports.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence slips to 115.8

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 7-Aug-19

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence fell 2.3% to 115.8 in the week ended 4 August, after two straight weekly gains. Households’ views towards current financial conditions fell 4.3% and views towards future financial conditions were down 1.9%; however, both components are comfortably above their long-run average. Consumers’ views toward current economic conditions fell 6.1%, more than reversing the prior week’s big jump, but views toward future economic conditions gained 3.8%. The ‘time to buy a major household item’ index fell 2.6%, and the four-week moving average for inflation expectations was down 0.1ppt to 4.0%.

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

Secretive government agency linked to AFP raid on ABC, documents show

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Original article by John Lyons
abc.net au – Page: Online : 7-Aug-19

The Australian Federal Police has released documents relating to the recent raid on the Sydney offices of the ABC, in response to a Freedom of Information request from Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick. However, the AFP has withheld some documents on the grounds that they contain material relating to a government agency that is exempt from FOI laws. Patrick says the AFP’s actions show that a second agency was involved in the investigation that led to the raid, and he believes that it is either ASIO or the Australian Signals Directorate. He has urged the federal government to reveal which agency was involved.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

Home Affairs fights to restrict media

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Original article by Mark Schliebs
The Australian – Page: 6 : 7-Aug-19

The Department of Home Affairs has used its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom to argue that the existing rules governing police search warrants are adequate. The Right to Know Coalition recently told the inquiry that the media industry should have the right to challenge warrants that are used to gather evidence against journalists. Home Affairs has contended that there is the potential for material evidence to be destroyed if there is advance notice that a warrant is to be issued. The ABC has rejected this suggestion, arguing that the destruction of ­evidence is a criminal offence under existing laws.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY, AUSTRALIA’S RIGHT TO KNOW COALITION OF MEDIA COMPANIES, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

56 million Indonesians engage in online entertainment

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows that over 56.5 million Indonesians aged 14+ (34.5%) conducted at least one entertainment activity online in an average four weeks during the year to March 2019, compared with 28.5 million in 2015. The most popular entertainment activity conducted online in Indonesia is streaming video through popular websites such as YouTube, which 27 million Indonesians now do in an average four weeks, up from 8.8 million four years ago (an increase of over 200%). Meanwhile, 19.7 million Indonesians play games online (up 105% since 2015), 15.1 million download games (up 49%), and over 14.8 million access adult entertainment (up 268%). Some 14 million Indonesians download music (unchanged) and nearly 14 million stream music (up 133%).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Recession – what recession? asks Amazon

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 19 : 6-Aug-19

Rocco Braeuniger, Amazon’s country manager for Australia, says he has not seen any indication that the retail sector is in the poor state that some retailers and media commentators have claimed. He was speaking at the launch of a new Amazon service called Launchpad, which aims to help start-ups and small businesses that want sell their products via Amazon. A spokesperson for David Jones’s parent company Woolworths Holdings recently claimed that the retail sector is in a recession.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, DAVID JONES LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS HOLDINGS LIMITED

Business Confidence down slightly at 114 in July

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 6-Aug-19

In Australia, Business Confidence eased 0.7pts (-0.6%) to 114.0 in July 2019, according to the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey. Business Confidence has now averaged 114.4 over the last three months, after an 11.2% jump in May. Business Confidence is now 0.4pts above its level of July 2018, but 1.6pts below its long-term average of 115.6. Now 53.9% (unchanged) of businesses expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the equal highest figure for this indicator since April 2018), while 19.8% (up 5.7ppts) expect the business to be ‘worse off’ financially this time next year. Meanwhile, 49.1% (down 0.4ppts) of businesses expect the Australian economy to have ‘good times’ over the next year, while 43.2% (up 3.5ppts) expect the economy to have ‘bad times’. However, 48.7% (up 7.5ppts) of businesses say the next year will be a ‘good time to invest in growing the business’, while only 38.9% (down 4.5ppts) say it will be a ‘bad time to invest’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Privacy warning on Facebook currency

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 6-Aug-19

An Australian-led initiative has seen privacy regulators from around the world write an open letter to Facebook, in which they voice concerns about its proposed Libra digital currency. The letter states that Facebook has not provided sufficient information on how Libra would protect the data of Facebook users. They are also concerned that Facebook has indicated that it intends to promote the use of Libra in developing countries, many of which lack suitable data protection regulations.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PRIVACY COMMISSIONER, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Big four lending at record low as competition bites

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Aug-19

Analysis by Morgan Stanley suggests that smaller Australian banks and non-authorised deposit-taking institutions are enjoying stronger growth in mortgage lending than the nation’s four largest banks. The ‘big four’ are attempting to counter this by offering incentives and aggressively reducing their interest rates, but some of the smaller lenders are matching these offers. Meanwhile, data from Australian Finance Group shows that the market share of non-bank lenders rose to a record 42 per cent in the June quarter.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN FINANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX AFG, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ME BANK, BENDIGO BANK, CANSTAR PTY LTD, THINKTANK, THE BLACKSTONE GROUP LP, LA TROBE FINANCIAL PTY LTD