K62 Finance

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

Bank branches under threat

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Sally Rose
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 14-Dec-15

Gerard du Toit of Bain & Company says Australian banks may close 10-30 per cent of their bank branches within five years, as the trend toward mobile banking gathers pace. He notes that the number of visits to branches fell by nearly 10 per cent year-on-year in the September 2015 quarter. However, du Toit cautions banks against shifting their focus to digital banking before it is fully accepted by customers, particularly those in older age demographics.

CORPORATES
BAIN AND COMPANY, ABN AMRO BANK NV, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence – Summer Break

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Dec-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Index has fallen by four points to 118.7 in December 2015, easing off November’s six-month high. The Current Conditions Index has fallen by one point to 122.1, while the Future Conditions Index has fallen by six points to 116.3. Meanwhile, the number of New Zealanders who believe that they are financially better off compared with 12 months ago has fallen by three per cent to six per cent.

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

Australian Roy Morgan Business Confidence still positive in November but showing signs of "cooling off"

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Dec-15

A Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey has found that Australian business confidence fell by 0.6 points to 118.7 in November 2015, but remained above the five-year average of 116.9. This decline in confidence was probably to be expected, given the big increase in the two months following Malcolm Turnbull becoming Prime Minister, which saw business confidence increase by 16.3 per cent. The small drop in business confidence in November was a result of only marginal declines in both the five-year economic outlook and the view that the next 12 months would be a good time to invest in growing the business. However, both of these measures remain at positive levels and are above the five-year average.

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 Australian Consumer Confidence bounces back to 116.3 (up 3.5pts)

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Dec-15

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rating for Australia rose by 3.1 per cent to 116.3 in the week ended 6 December 2015. Confidence has now retraced most of the falls seen in the last three weeks, and levels are now back well above their long-run average. The strength was seen across all sub-indices. The sub-index on consumers’ views towards their current finances rose by 5.4 per cent, while the sub-index on economic conditions in the next 12 months rose by 3.3 per cent.

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

Insurance jobs under threat from technology

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ruth Liew
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 8-Dec-15

Suncorp Group executive Darren O’Connell notes that the growing use of automation in the insurance sector has resulted in the elimination of entry-level jobs in the underwriting industry. He says this will result in a dearth of underwriters with expertise across the industry as older staff retire and their skills and knowledge are lost. O’Connell argues in a research paper that technology can never completely replace people in the underwriting industry, and insurers should reconsider their recruitment procedures.

CORPORATES
SUNCORP GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUN, SWISS RE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, IBM CORPORATION