K: Financial and Insurance Services

Businesses buffeted in sea of uncertainty

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 17-Mar-20

A growing number of Australian-listed companies are abandoning their recently-issued earnings guidance in response to the coronavirus. They include Cochlear, which has warned that hearing implants will be a low priority for the healthcare sector in terms of elective surgery when the virus is eventually contained. Challenger Limited, Auckland International Airport and oOh!Media are among the other companies that have withdrawn their earnings guidance. In contrast, The Reject Shop has advised that its sales have risen strongly year-on-year amid panic buying by consumers.

CORPORATES
COCHLEAR LIMITED – ASX COH, CHALLENGER LIMITED – ASX CGF, AUCKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LIMITED – ASX AIA, OOH!MEDIA LIMITED – ASX OML, THE REJECT SHOP LIMITED – ASX TRS

Westpac CEO: banks strong, economy the risk

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 20 : 16-Mar-20

Westpac’s acting CEO Peter King says the coronavirus crisis represents a ‘real’ economy issue that needs to be dealt with accordingly. He says Westpac and the other big banks can cope with an increase in bad debts and a tightening of credit markets, but helping business customers that have no cash flow to remain operating will be their biggest challenge. King says Westpac is ready to play its part in slowing down the spread of the coronavirus within the community, with appropriate procedures in place if a staff member tests positive.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

Bull to bear in three weeks with market down 20pc as Trump leaves the world waiting

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 27 : 12-Mar-20

The Australian sharemarket is now officially in bear market territory, having shed 20 per cent since reaching a record high of 7,162.5 points just three weeks ago. Some $13bn worth of shares changed hands on 11 March, which is the fifth-highest daily total on record. Richard Coppleson of Bell Potter expects market volatility to persist for at least another month or so. Meanwhile, Josh Williamson of Citigroup now expects Australia to record minus 0.25 per cent GDP growth in the March quarter and zero growth in the June quarter.

CORPORATES
BELL POTTER SECURITIES LIMITED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Banks, retailers in talks over card fees

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 19 : 10-Mar-20

The Australian Retailers Association has estimated its members pay over $500 million a year in merchant fees on bank card transactions. ARA CEO Russell Zimmerman was invited to a meeting with Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh and Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn on 9 March, at which the fees issue was discussed. An initiative known as ‘least-track routing’, which aims to boost competition within the debit card market and to help reduce card payment costs, was among the other topics discussed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, AUSTRALIAN BANKING ASSOCIATION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

World hunkers down for fight against virus

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Original article by David Rogers
The Australian – Page: 29 : 6-Mar-20

Investors have responded positively to the announcement of economic stimulus measures in Australia and the US in response to the coronavirus. Wall Street and sharemarkets across the Asia-Pacific region rallied on 5 March, while the yield on 10-year Australian government bonds rose six basis points to 0.78 per cent. Meanwhile, financial markets expect further official interest rate cuts in both Australia and the US in coming months.

CORPORATES
STANDARD AND POOR’S ASX 200 INDEX, STANDARD AND POOR’S 500 INDEX, SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX, NIKKEI 225 INDEX, HANG SENG INDEX, KOSPI INDEX, TAIEX INDEX

More capital raisings on the cards: Goldman

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Original article by Melissa Yeo
The Australian – Page: 27 : 6-Mar-20

Matthew Ross of Goldman Sachs says the coronavirus outbreak is likely to prompt more listed companies to undertake capital raisings in coming months, particularly ones that are close to breaching their debt covenants. Ross notes that the supply chains of many companies will be impacted by the virus, given the high level of dependence on imports from China, especially in the consumer goods sector.

CORPORATES
GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Analysts cut bank earnings forecasts

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Original article by Gerard Cockburn, Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 21 : 5-Mar-20

JP Morgan expects the net profits of Australia’s major banks to fall by 3-4 per cent over coming years after they moved to reduce their mortgage interest rates by 25 basis points, in line with the latest official interest rate cut. JP Morgan adds that the prospect of lower profit margins may prompt banks to reduce their dividend payouts. Macquarie has reiterated its ‘underweight’ recommendation on the banking sector, while UBS has downgraded its earnings-per-share forecast for bank stocks.

CORPORATES
JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Lower rates won’t help: AFIC boss

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 3-Mar-20

The Australian Financial Investment Company’s MD Mark Freeman argues that official interest rates are already at a historically low level, so further monetary policy easing is unlikely to stimulate the economy or stabilise financial markets. The Reserve Bank is widely tipped to reduce the cash rate on 3 March, and there is growing speculation that it could pursue quantitative easing later in the year. However, Freeman has questioned the merits of quantitative easing. He adds that the sharemarket’s recent pullback has created some good buying opportunities.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN FOUNDATION INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED – ASX AFI, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

$A catches coronavirus, plummets to 11-year low

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Original article by Tom Richardson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 3-Mar-20

The Australian dollar reached a low of $US0.654 in local trading on 2 March, ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monthly board meeting. Financial markets have priced in a near-97 per cent chance that the central bank will reduce the cash rate on 3 March, and a 67 per cent chance of a second rate cut in May. Morgan Stanley expects the cash rate to remain on hold until April, giving the RBA time to assess GDP data to be released on 4 March. The Commonwealth Bank says the economic impact of the coronavirus could prompt the Australian dollar to fall further in coming days.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Rate cut tipped amid virus crisis

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 2-Mar-20

Financial markets have now priced in an 87 per cent chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia will reduce the cash rate on 3 March. This compares with an 18 per cent chance on 28 February. The case for further easing of monetary has been strengthened by the local sharemarket’s 9.8 per fall in the last week of February, amid global bearish sentiment as the coronavirus outbreak continued to spread beyond China. Shane Oliver of AMP Capital says the RBA would probably have preferred to wait a bit longer to act. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has also flagged the possibility of interest rate cuts to stimulate the US economy.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD