K64 Auxiliary Finance and Insurance Services

US stocks brace for grim reporting season

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Timothy Moore
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 8-Apr-19

Michael Wilson of Morgan Stanley expects the quarterly US reporting season to signal the start of an earnings recession. He says the March 2019 quarter is likely to be the first since the June 2015 quarter that the S&P 500 will record year-on-year negative earnings growth. The S&P 500 has gained 15.4 per cent so far in 2019, closing at 2,892.74 points on 5 April. Morgan Stanley expects it to end 2018 at 2,750 points, while Capital Economics forecasts that it will reach a 2019 low of just 2,300 points.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, MORGAN STANLEY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED, FACTSET RESEARCH SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP INCORPORATED, BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION, JP MORGAN AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, WELLS FARGO AND COMPANY, THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCORPORATED

Citi slaps 6500 target on ASX 200 by year’s end

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 29-Mar-19

Citigroup is bullish about the outlook for the S&P/ASX 200, forecasting that it will end 2019 at 6,500 points and reach 6,650 points by mid-2020. The benchmark index has gained 9.4 per cent so far in the first quarter of 2019, following a nine per cent decline in the December 2018 quarter. Citigroup is particularly upbeat about the resources sector. Meanwhile, Andrew Garthwaite of Credit Suisse has upgraded his recommendation on resources stocks from ‘neutral’ to ‘overweight’.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Shares hit by fresh global growth fears

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 26-Mar-19

The bearish sentiment that saw the S&P/ASX 200 fall to a three-month low on 25 March also weighed on the local bond market, with the yield on Australian 10-year bonds reaching a record low of 1.756 per cent. Growing concern about the outlook for the global economy also prompted a decline in the yield on US government bonds, with the yield curve inverting for the first time since 2007. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar reached an low of $US0.7066 in local trading, and Steven Miller Grant Samuel Funds Management expects it to fall further.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, GRANT SAMUEL FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CHICAGO

Shares on track for bumper quarter

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 21 & 30 : 22-Mar-19

The S&P/ASX 200 has gained 9.2 per cent so far in 2019, putting it on track for the best quarterly return since 2009. The rebound follows a loss of 6.9 per cent for the benchmark index in calendar 2018, including a nine per cent loss in the fourth quarter. However, Chris Nicol of Morgan Stanley is bearish about the outlook for the local bourse, forecasting that the S&P/ASX 200 will end the year at 5,800 points. He also forecasts economic growth of just two per cent in 2019.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MSCI ALL COUNTRY WORLD INDEX, SUPERRATINGS PTY LTD, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

AMP and Clayton Utz roll over for ASIC

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 12-Mar-19

An AMP spokesperson has confirmed that it has withdrawn its claim of legal and professional privilege over documents sought by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission regarding the fee-for-no-service scandal. Clayton Utz had been involved in the claim; the documents in question included notes taken by Clayton Utz in interviews with AMP employees over the scandal. ASIC deputy commissioner Daniel Crennan attacked AMP for trying to delay its investigation, although he said it was pleased that the sought documents had now been released.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, CLAYTON UTZ

Resources strength holds up reporting season

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 28 : 5-Mar-19

Paul Winter of UBS notes that Australia’s latest February reporting season featured more earnings downgrades than upgrades for the first time in the last four years. Hasan Tevfik of MST Marquee adds that while the reporting season was better than expected, this was largely due to a strong performance by the resources sector, which offset weakness in other sectors. Earnings-per-share growth for S&P/ASX 200 stocks is now forecast to be 6.3 per cent in 2018-19, compared with 7.6 per cent in 2017-18.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MST MARQUEE, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

S&P cuts AMP rating, more action to come

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 5-Mar-19

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded AMP’s credit rating from ‘A’ to ‘A-‘ in the wake of the wealth manager’s decision to sell its life insurance arm. S&P has flagged the potential for a further downgrade once the sale is completed, noting that the deal will affect AMP’s creditworthiness. Rival ratings agency Moody’s Investor Services recently downgraded the credit rating of AMP Life after it posted a 2018 operating loss of $176m.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, AMP LIFE LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, AMP BANK LIMITED, RESOLUTION LIFE GROUP LIMITED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

ASX’s most shorted stocks set for results reporting test

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by William McInnes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 11-Feb-19

Some of the Australian sharemarket’s most heavily shorted companies will release their latest financial results in the week beginning 11 February, including JB Hi-Fi, Super Retail Group, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and AMP. JB Hi-Fi is the most shorted S&P/ASX 200 stock, and Jun Bei Liu of Tribeca Investment Partners notes that the retail trading environment is challenging at present. Meanwhile, ASX 200 trading volumes were 11 per cent higher than average during the first week of the reporting season, as fund managers returned to the market.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, JB HI-FI LIMITED – ASX JBH, SUPER RETAIL GROUP LIMITED – ASX SUL, BENDIGO AND ADELAIDE BANK LIMITED – ASX BEN, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, TRIBECA INVESTMENT PARTNERS PTY LTD, FIRETRAIL INVESTMENTS PTY LTD, OPHIR ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, CLEANAWAY WASTE MANAGEMENT LIMITED – ASX CWY, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, CYBG PLC – ASX CYB, JAMES HARDIE INDUSTRIES PLC – ASX JHX, NICK SCALI LIMITED – ASX NCK, IOOF HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX IFL, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

Global dividends on the rise

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 8-Feb-19

Data from Plato Investment Management shows that dividends increased across the majority of developed markets in 2018, with a total payout to shareholders of $1.8trn. Globally, companies in the information technology sector increased their dividends by 33 per cent in the December quarter, followed by consumer staples (up 17.9 per cent). The global materials sector is the only one that did not record growth in dividend payments. In contrast, Australia’s materials sector recorded year-on-year dividend growth of 26 per cent.

CORPORATES
PLATO INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 300 INDEX, BROADCOM CORPORATION, VISA INTERNATIONAL

Contractor stuns AMP with identity data theft

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Frost, Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 8-Feb-19

Former AMP contractor Yi Zheng has pleaded guilty to possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence. Police records reveal that he downloaded 20 identity documents one morning in October when working at AMP’s Kent Street office in Sydney, then sent them to his home email account before deleting them from his desktop. After AMP’s security system revealed that Zheng had downloaded a dark-web browser onto his AMP laptop, the laptop was taken from him and he was escorted from the building. He was later arrested at Sydney Airport when trying to flee to China. Zheng will be sentenced on 21 March.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP