Perennial pair target ‘unloved, undervalued’ bunch of five

Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 31 : 2-Dec-16

Value investing has fallen out of favour in recent years, but the August 2016 reporting season was a catalyst for renewed interest in value stocks. Stephen Bruce, a portfolio manager at Perennial, says stocks that have been dubbed "expensive defensives" began to be sold down in the wake of the reporting season, while value stocks received support due to financial results that were better than expected. Bruce and colleague John Murray identify BHP Billiton, QBE Insurance Group, AMP, Lend Lease and Macquarie Group as their top picks among value stocks.

CORPORATES
PERENNIAL VALUE MANAGEMENT LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, QBE INSURANCE GROUP LIMITED – ASX QBE, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CSL LIMITED – ASX CSL, TRANSURBAN GROUP LIMITED – ASX TCL

Santa rally looking strong after ‘great escape’

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 27 : 30-Nov-16

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 has gained 2.6 per cent so far in November 2016, and it seems poised to achieve its best performance for the month since 2005. Meanwhile, Macquarie Group is upbeat about the outlook for the benchmark index in 2017, forecasting that it will rise by 7.5 per cent to around the 5,875-point level. However, Macquarie notes that the local market could potentially be affected by a number of overseas factors in 2017.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Goldman upbeat on local M&A activity

Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 28-Nov-16

Data from Dealogic shows that $US98.54bn ($A132.44bn) worth of mergers and acquisitions have been announced in Australia so far in 2016. Olivia Brown and Marissa Freund of Goldman Sachs are bullish about the outlook for M&A deals, and forecast strong activity in sectors such as healthcare, technology and retail. Freund expects strong interest in local companies from suitors in Asia, North America and Europe. Brown anticipates that Chinese companies will continue to be attracted to sectors that have export potential, such as consumer products and healthcare.

CORPORATES
DEALOGIC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GOLDMAN SACHS AND PARTNERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSGRID PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, TATTS GROUP LIMITED – ASX TTS, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, HEADWATERS INCORPORATED, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, PACIFIC BRANDS LIMITED, HANESBRANDS, UGL LIMITED – ASX UGL, CIMIC GROUP LIMITED – ASX CIM, KATHMANDU HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX KMD, BRISCOE GROUP LIMITED, LAZARD ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Get your next home loan by video session

Original article by James Eyers
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 24-Nov-16

Hashching is conducting a pilot program for a biometric identity verification service which is to be used in processing mortgage applications. As the program complies with "know your client" banking regulations, it eliminates the need for the presence of the applicant in the bank branch. Hashching co-founder Mandeep Sodhi says he will meet with representatives of the banks to persuade them to make mortgage applications fully digital.

CORPORATES
HASHCHING PTY LTD, ISELECT LIMITED – ASX ISU, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, TYRO PAYMENTS

Trade out, quality in as blue chips re-emerge

Original article by Jessica Sier
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 24-Nov-16

Australian-listed small-capitalisation stocks have outperformed the broader sharemarket over the last 18 months or so. However, this outperformance has been reversed in the last month, and particularly in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election win. There has been renewed support for bank and resources stocks, due to factors such as a rise in government bond yields and commodity prices.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, PERPETUAL INVESTMENTS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Recovery looks set to stay the course for year

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 31 : 24-Nov-16

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 has gained 8.6 per cent since Donald Trump won the US presidential election. The market has not staged a similar rally since December 2015, which followed a global equities sell-down prior to the rise in US interest rates. Financial markets have already priced in the next rise in US rates, so there would seem to be few factors that could potentially stall the domestic bourse’s recent rally.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, AMCOR LIMITED – ASX AMC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, ARISTOCRAT LEISURE LIMITED – ASX ALL, INCITEC PIVOT LIMITED – ASX IPL, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SYDNEY AIRPORT – ASX SYD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Stocks bounce back, buoyed by Trump’s fiscal optimism

Original article by Vesna Poljak
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 & 34 : 11-Nov-16

The Australian sharemarket posted its largest single-day gain in more than five years on 10 November 2016, while Wall Street defied expectations of a big fall after the election of Donald Trump, finishing in the black. The Australian dollar also rallied, while local and US 10-year bond yields rose. Financial markets have scaled back the odds of a reduction in Australia’s cash rate by mid-2017, while there has been a slight easing of expectations of a rate rise in the US in December 2016.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX ALL ORDINARIES INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, EURO STOXX 50 INDEX, PM CAPITAL LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, QIC LIMITED, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

You’re fired: result shows the limits of the forecasters

Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 11-Nov-16

Most public opinion polls had pointed to Hillary Clinton winning the US presidential election. Principal Global Investors’ Mark Farrington likens polling methods to the trading models used in financial market, noting that they both rely on historical predictions. In the case of Donald Trump’s election victory, and the Brexit vote earlier in 2016, traditional models did not reflect the forces that influenced voting trends. Meanwhile, Wall Street rallied and bond yields rose in response to Trump’s election victory.

CORPORATES
PRINCIPAL GLOBAL INVESTORS, UBS O’CONNOR LLC, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD

Wave of uncertainty wipes $30bn

Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 21 & 30 : 10-Nov-16

The Australian dollar and the domestic sharemarket fell sharply on 9 November 2016, in response to the election of US presidential candidate Donald Trump. The S&P/ASX 200 reached an intra-day low of 5,052.1 before closing down 1.9 per cent at 5156.6. In the US, S&P 500 futures initially fell by more than five per cent, which resulted in a temporary suspension of trading. Some analysts expect "risk-off" trading to be sustained for some time, while the prospect of an interest rate rise in the US in December appears to have diminished. The Australian dollar reached a low of $US0.758 in local trading, and Westpac’s Robert Rennie says it could fall below $US0.74 in the near-term.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, FTSE 100 INDEX, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED

Buckle up for a day of unusual volatility

Original article by David Rogers, Andrew White, Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 19 & 28 : 9-Nov-16

The US presidential election is set to dominate financial market trading on 9 November 2016. Voting trends will have emerged by the time the Australian sharemarket opens, while market volatility can be expected as exit polls are released over the course of the local trading day. The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Volatility Index has returned to its long-term average of 19, which suggests that financial markets do not anticipate that Donald Trump will win.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, CHICAGO BOARD OPTIONS EXCHANGE VOLATILITY INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD, VOTECASTR, REPUBLICAN PARTY (UNITED STATES), DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UNITED STATES), RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MONASH UNIVERSITY, ECONOMICS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, AUSDRILL LIMITED – ASX ASL