K: Financial and Insurance Services

Mortgage stress increased to 30.8% of mortgage holders in April but remains below highs reached earlier in 2024

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 22-May-24

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 1,560,000 mortgage holders (30.8%) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to April 2024. This represents an increase of 29,000 (+0.5%) on a month earlier, but remains below the highs reached earlier in 2024. There was no RBA board meeting on interest rates during the month of April. The proportion of mortgage holders now ‘At Risk’ is well below the record high of 35.6% reached during the Global Financial Crisis because of the larger size of the Australian mortgage market today. However, the number of Australians ‘At Risk’ of mortgage stress has increased by 753,000 since May 2022 when the RBA began a cycle of interest rate increases. Meanwhile, the number of mortgage holders considered ‘Extremely At Risk’ of mortgage stress is now numbered at 994,000 (20.2% of mortgage holders), which is significantly above the long-term average over the last 10 years of 14.4%. These are the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, based on in-depth interviews conducted with over 60,000 Australians each year, including over 10,000 owner-occupied mortgage-holders.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Loss-making companies surge on ASX, baffling analysts

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 21-May-24

Shares in Australian-listed growth stocks that have low or zero profits have gained 26 per cent so far in 2024. In contrast, comparable stocks in the US have shed 19 per cent, with the inflation outlook causing a spike in the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds. Matthew Ross from Goldman Sachs says this divergence is difficult to explain, given that the Australian stocks have the same general characteristics that make them vulnerable to higher interest rates. Goldman Sachs has identified a number of high-growth S&P/ASX 300 companies that it believes are well-placed to ride out an extended period of higher borrowing costs.

CORPORATES
GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA GROUP HOLDINGS PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 300 INDEX

ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator March 2024

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-May-24

Financial wellbeing is the extent to which someone is able to meet all of their current commitments and needs comfortably, and has the financial resilience to maintain this in the future. The ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator is reported as a 12-month moving average, with regular updates showing the changes in aspects of financial wellbeing across locations and for a range of segments in the community. The FWBI is a useful measure of how people are faring in their financial lives in Australia over time. This update examines how financial wellbeing changed in the December quarter of 2023 and year-on-year. While the financial wellbeing of Australians declined further in the December 2023 quarter, the quarterly decline was the smallest since March 2022. Indeed, the spot results show some improvement since June 2023 coinciding with the RBA (November excepted) leaving interest rates on hold during the September and December 2023 quarters. Download the full report.

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

Bendigo Bank, Bankwest & ING home loan customers are the most satisfied with their bank after two years of interest rate rises

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 15-May-24

New financial data from Roy Morgan’s Single Source shows that Bendigo Bank has topped the banking customer satisfaction ratings among home loan customers in early 2024. Bendigo Bank’s home loan customer satisfaction is a market leading 87.7% in March. In second place was Bankwest with customer satisfaction among home loan customers at 86.6%. Filling out the top four banks are ING on 84.6% and Macquarie on 79.9%. The latest data covers the six months to March 2024, and overall home loan customer satisfaction amongst Australia’s top banks collectively was at 74.9% during this period. This represents a collective decrease of 1.1% points from a year ago. CBA had the highest home loan customer satisfaction among the big four banks, with a rating of 76.1% in March. Average home loan customer satisfaction with the big four banks as a group was 72.7%.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BENDIGO BANK, BANKWEST, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Rate rise still priced in despite Chalmers’ forecast

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Original article by Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 14-May-24

AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver is amongst those who have questioned the federal government’s forecast that the headline inflation rate will fall to 3.5 per cent by the end of June. He notes that it is uncertain as to how cost-of-living relief in the budget will impact on inflation, given that the financial year ends in about six weeks. Paul Bloxham of HSBC in turn says the budget is likely to boost the Reserve Bank’s preferred measure of core inflation, which is likely to rule out an interest rate cut in 2024. Meanwhile, futures traders still expect the central bank to increase the cash rate this year.

CORPORATES
AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, HSBC HOLDINGS PLC, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Former PM Gillard to chair $2bn energy fund

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 14 : 7-May-24

HMC Capital has announced that former prime minister Julia Gillard has agreed to chair the newly created $2 billion HMC Capital Energy Transition Fund, which will make investments in energy assets such as wind, battery and bio-fuels. Gillard said she was "excited and honoured" by her appointment, noting it was in the nation’s interests to make the most of its abundant sources of renewable energy, while for his part, HMC Capital CEO David Di Pilla said he was "absolutely delighted" that someone of Gillard’s global standing and experience had agreed to chair the new fund.

CORPORATES
HMC CAPITA LIMITED – ASX HMC, HMC CAPITAL ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

ASX tipped to hit 8300 this year, defying rate talk

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 7-May-24

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 reached a record high of 7,896.9 points in early April; despite the recent pullback it has still gained about 0.6 per cent so far in 2024. UBS equity strategist Richard Schellbach is amongst the market watchers who are bullish about the outlook for the ASX 200, forecasting that it will top 8,000 points by the end of this year. VanEck Australia in turn has a year-end target of 8,300 points, while David Bassanese from Betashares expects the index to reach 8,250 by the end of 2024.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, VANECK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BETASHARES CAPITAL LIMITED

ASX tipped to hit 8300 this year, defying rate talk

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Original article by Joanne Tran
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 7-May-24

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 reached a record high of 7,896.9 points in early April; despite the recent pullback it has still gained about 0.6 per cent so far in 2024. UBS equity strategist Richard Schellbach is amongst the market watchers who are bullish about the outlook for the ASX 200, forecasting that it will top 8,000 points by the end of this year. VanEck Australia in turn has a year-end target of 8,300 points, while David Bassanese from Betashares expects the index to reach 8,250 by the end of 2024.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, VANECK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BETASHARES CAPITAL LIMITED

Former PM Gillard to chair $2bn energy fund

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 14 : 7-May-24

HMC Capital has announced that former prime minister Julia Gillard has agreed to chair the newly created $2 billion HMC Capital Energy Transition Fund, which will make investments in energy assets such as wind, battery and bio-fuels. Gillard said she was "excited and honoured" by her appointment, noting it was in the nation’s interests to make the most of its abundant sources of renewable energy, while for his part, HMC Capital CEO David Di Pilla said he was "absolutely delighted" that someone of Gillard’s global standing and experience had agreed to chair the new fund.

CORPORATES
HMC CAPITA LIMITED – ASX HMC, HMC CAPITAL ENERGY TRANSITION FUND

CBA tips one rate cut this year as fears of a rise ease

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Original article by Cecile Lefort, Joshua Peach
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 1-May-24

Financial market traders have now priced in a 25 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will increase the cash rate by September; this compares with a 47 per cent chance on Monday. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Bank now expects the cash rate to be reduced by 25 basis points to 4.1 per cent in November, having previously forecast three interest rate cuts in 2024. It also anticipates four interest rate cuts in 2025. The revised interest rate outlook follows last week’s release of data showing that inflation grew by a higher than expected one per cent for the March quarter; however, it preceded the release of data showing a decline in retail sales in March.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA