RBA tipped to make cuts around mid-year

Original article by Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 20-Jan-16

Data from Citigroup shows that financial markets believe that the Reserve Bank of Australia is now almost certain to reduce the cash rate by 25 basis points in June 2016. There is a 20 per cent chance of a rate cut in February, and a 40 per cent chance of a rate cut in March. Factors such as the downturn in the crude oil price and the uncertain outlook for the Chinese economy are like to influence the central bank’s monetary policy deliberations. The cash rate has remained on hold since May.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, CITIBANK PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD

NAB unveils pricing range for Clydesdale

Original article by Clancy Yeates
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 19-Jan-16

National Australia Bank (NAB) expects to float its British lender Clydesdale Bank in early February 2016. Volatility on global share markets has forced the Australian-listed bank to lower its price expectations for the float. NAB’s Craig Drummond says the British bank will be offered to shareholders at between Stg1.75 and Stg2.35 a share which suggests a market capitalisation of between Stg1.54 billion and Stg2.07 billion ($A3.19 billion and $A4.29 billion).

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CLYDESDALE BANK PLC, LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

Mortgage activity falls to three-year low

Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 19-Jan-16

CoreLogic RP Data’s Mortgage Index fell to 70.1 in the week to 17 January 2016. The index was at 99.2 a year ago. The New South Wales mortgage index recorded a sharp decline to 90.4, falling 53.2 per cent from a month earlier. A year ago, it stood at 131.6.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RP DATA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIAN FINANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX AFG, FITCH AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PROPELL NATIONAL VALUERS PTY LTD, WBP PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD

Australian Roy Morgan Business Confidence declines further in December

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 13-Jan-16

A Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey has found that Australian business confidence fell by 4.2 points to 114.5 in December 2015, following an 0.6 per cent decline in November. The combined drop of 4.8 points (or four per cent) over the last two months is a likely indication that the initial burst of confidence following Malcolm Turnbull becoming Prime Minister is beginning to "cool off", although business confidence remains 11.6 per cent above the level prior to his appointment. The drop in business confidence in December was mainly due to deterioration in the outlook for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, which has fallen to its lowest level since August. Despite this poor outlook for Australia over the coming year, businesses still maintain a positive attitude, with 60 per cent agreeing that the next 12 months will be a good time to invest in growing their business, well up on the 51 per cent seen in August.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence falls following rout on Australian share-markets

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Jan-16

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia fell by 1.9 per cent to 114.1 in the week ended 10 January 2016, retracing the 0.8 per cent rise in the previous week. Concerns around China’s economic growth prospects and volatility on global financial markets are likely to have had an impact on consumer confidence. The fall was largely driven by a 9.9 per cent dip in consumers’ views towards their current finances, which recorded the largest fall since March 2012. The sub-index on "economic conditions in the next 12 months" fell a modest 0.3 per cent, whereas "economic conditions in the next five years" rose by 2.6 per cent.

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

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence increases to 116.3 to start 2016

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 5-Jan-16

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia rose by 0.8 per cent to 116.3 in the week ended 3 January 2016. This reverses the fall seen in the last survey conducted in mid-December, leaving confidence above its long run average (+3.2 per cent). Consumers’ views towards their current finances have risen by 6.4 per cent in the last week, leaving the sub-index at its strongest level in the history of the weekly survey (which started in October 2008). However, consumers’ views towards their financial situation in the next 12 months fell by 1.4 per cent.

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

Australia forecast to follow Fed on rates

Original article by Mark Mulligan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 22-Dec-15

The Australian dollar has strengthened in the wake of the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates. There is growing speculation that the Reserve Bank will begin tightening monetary policy in 2016, with BT Investment Management forecasting that the cash rate will rise from two per cent to 2.5 per cent. Michael Blythe of the Commonwealth Bank expects monetary policy to remain unchanged, while the ANZ Bank has forecast that the cash rate will be cut to 1.5 per cent.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED – ASX BTT, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, MARKET ECONOMICS PTY LTD, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Easy money era coming to an end

Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 18-Dec-15

The Australian sharemarket rose on 17 December 2015, in response to the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates from historic lows. However, the Australian dollar lost ground in local trading, while the US dollar gained 0.95 per cent. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has given indications that there could potentially be four interest rate increases in 2016, although Mark Bayley of AquAsia has questioned whether there will be scope for such aggressive monetary policy tightening. Many analysts believe that two rate rises are more likely.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, AQUASIA PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, SCHRODER INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WELLS FARGO BANK

US stocks rise on Fed rate hike

Original article by Chelsey Dulaney
The Australian – Page: Online : 17-Dec-15

The US Federal Reserve has increased the federal funds rate by 25 basis points at its monetary policy meeting in mid-December 2015. It is the first rise in US short-term interest rates since December 2008. Investors will now be seeking guidance from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on the likely timing of further rate increases. The move to tighten monetary policy has bolstered Wall Street, while the gold price and the US dollar have also risen.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX, O’NEILL SECURITIES, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, EURO STOXX 50 INDEX

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence: A Cheerier Christmas

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-Dec-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia fell by 0.8 per cent to 115.4 in the week ended 13 December 2015, consolidating after the 3.1 per cent bounce in the previous week. Confidence remains well above levels seen last Christmas (up 4.7 per cent compared with this time last year), and is still above its long- run average. The decline was relatively broad-based, with confidence in financial conditions falling by 2.6 per cent and the economic outlook down 1.3 per cent. Roy Morgan Research executive chairman Gary Morgan says the Turnbull Government has injected confidence in the economy, but the end of the commodities boom is only now starting to have an impact on the Australian economy. Unless real action is taken to get the private sector moving consumer confidence will deteriorate in 2016. Tax reform alone will be of limited value while significant sectors of the economy, such as the cost of the Public Sector and the "cash economy", are immune.

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