Melbourne heading in right direction but lockdown extension likely

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Original article by Michael Fowler
The Age – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

Victoria has recorded 20 new locally-acquired COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours; only five had been self-isolating while they were infectious, while 10 of the new cases have been linked to a shopping centre in Caroline Springs. Meanwhile, the state government is expected to extend Melbourne’s current lockdown beyond the scheduled end date of 12 August, amid concern about rising case numbers in the western suburbs. University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman contends that the restrictions should not be relaxed until daily case numbers are in single digits. He says the four-day average of the current outbreak is still rising and is unlikely to peak for another 2-3 days.

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Movement in the Adelaide CBD bounces back after short lockdown while movement in the Sydney CBD continues to trail other cities

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

A special analysis of movement data in Australia’s Capital City CBDs since the COVID-19 pandemic began shows that movement in the Adelaide CBD bounced back quickly following its short lockdown in July, while movement remains low in both the Sydney CBD and Melbourne CBD – both in lockdown. The average 7-day movement level in the Adelaide CBD was at 40% of pre-pandemic averages in early August, up by 25% points from a low of 15% in late July. The entire State of South Australia was locked down from July 21-27 to deal with the State’s first outbreak of COVID-19 so far this year. The average movement level in the Sydney CBD was at only 10% of pre-pandemic levels in early August and well below other cities. Greater Sydney has now entered its seventh week of lockdown since the city was first locked down on June 26. The city of Melbourne was still recovering from its fifth lockdown in late July, with average movement levels in the Melbourne CBD at only 20% of pre-pandemic levels in early August. The State of Victoria was in lockdown from July 16-27 and exited lockdown only briefly before returning to lockdown just a week later. The Perth CBD has regained its spot as Australia’s most ‘COVID-normal’ city with average movement levels at 55% of pre-pandemic averages in early August. This is the highest they’ve been since early June and the first time Perth has sat atop the rankings since late January when the city entered its second lockdown. Just behind in second place is the Hobart CBD with movement levels at 47% of pre-pandemic averages in early August and the Brisbane CBD at 46% of pre-pandemic averages before last week’s short lockdown. These results do not include the impact of the most recent lockdowns in Victoria or SE Queensland. Roy Morgan has partnered with leading technology innovator UberMedia to aggregate data from tens of thousands of mobile devices to assess the movements of Australians as we deal with the restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, UBERMEDIA

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops below neutral level of 100 after SE Queensland & Victoria plunged into lockdown

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 3.2pts to 98.6 on August 7/8, after new lockdowns were imposed covering South-East Queensland and Victoria and more than 15 million people were placed under stay-at-home orders. Consumer Confidence is well below the 2021 weekly average of 109.9; however, it remains 12.1 points higher than the same week a year ago (86.5). The lockdowns in South-East Queensland and Victoria helped drive Consumer Confidence under the neutral level of 100 for the first time since early November 2020. Consumer Confidence in Queensland was down 7.8% on a week ago and Victoria was down 3.0%. However, Consumer Confidence in NSW increased by 3.7% as curbs on some industries were relaxed. Now 24% (down 2ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year (the lowest figure for this indicator so far this year), while 31% (up 4ppts) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially (the highest figure for this indicator so far this year). In addition, 34% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, and 18% (up 3ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’ financially. Some 13% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, while 28% (down 1ppt) expect ‘bad times’. Meanwhile, 32% (down 4ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items (the lowest figure for this indicator since late August 2020), while 36% (up 4ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

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

‘No place to hide’: pressure on Australia to end support for new fossil fuel projects after IPCC report

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Original article by Adam Morton, Graham Readfearn
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

Environmentalists have called for the federal government to halt all new fossil fuel projects in the wake of a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Kirsty Howey from the Environment Centre Northern Territory says development of gas resources in the Beetaloo basin must not proceed in the wake of the IPCC report; the federal government is providing up to $50 million in funding for exploration in the basin. Andy Paine of Frontline Action on Coal has also urged an immediate halt to fossil fuel projects, including the Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.

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INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT CENTRE (NT) INCORPORATED, FRONTLINE ACTION ON COAL

Wager addict sues Crown, seeking $4.5m

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 11-Aug-21

Crown Resorts is already facing a number of class actions regarding its conduct over the last decade. However, Ahmed Hasna has become the first individual to pursue legal action against the casino operator. Hasna alleges that Crown took advantage of his gambling addiction and encouraged him to gamble on credit. He is seeking to recover about $4.5m that he gambled at Crown, and alleges that Crown’s treatment of him amounted to unconscionable conduct. Peter Lawrence, Crown’s head of VIP customer service, had told the Victorian royal commission that the group’s treatment of Mr Hasna was irresponsible.

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CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN

Big carbon nations must cut too: PM

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Original article by Greg Brown, Dennis Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 11-Aug-21

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government will update its 2030 emissions projections ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November. He adds that the update will show that Australia is on track to exceed its Paris climate agreement targets. Morrison also contends that ‘catastrophic’ climate change will only be avoided if China, India and other developing nations take action to reduce their carbon emissions. China and India are regarded as developing nations, so they are not required to cut emissions immediately under the Paris agreement. Morrison is of the view that his government’s focus on reducing carbon emissions via technology rather than taxes will help to boost clean energy uptake in developing nations.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, UNITED NATIONS

$39 billion purchase of Afterpay highlights value of buy-now-pay-later services such as Zip, Humm and LatitudePay

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Aug-21

The latest Roy Morgan Digital Payments Report shows that 16 million Australians aged 14+ (75.5%) are now aware of buy-now-pay-later services such as Afterpay, Zip, Latitude Pay, Humm and Openpay. The high and growing awareness for buy-now-pay-later services comes as Silicon Valley ‘tech giant’ Square has lodged a bid of $39 billion ($US29 billion) to buy Australian market leader Afterpay. Awareness of buy-now-pay-later services has overtaken that of traditional online payment platforms (74.5%) such as PayPal, Visa, Western Union and masterpass for the first time. Afterpay is the clear market leader, with 73.4% of Australians aware of the service in the year to June 2021, up 3.4% points since February 2021 and up 39.6% points since September 2018. Meanwhile, 52.9% of Australians are now aware of main rival Zip, an increase of 4.3% points since February 2021; awareness of Zip amongst Australians is now rising at a faster pace than Afterpay. The two main buy-now-pay-later services have been joined by a host of second-tier fintech companies in the space, including Humm, LatitudePay and Openpay – and awareness of all three is growing rapidly.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, AFTERPAY LIMITED – ASX APT, SQUARE INCORPORATED, ZIP CO LIMITED – ASX Z1P, HUMM GROUP LIMITED – ASX HUM, LATITUDE PAY, OPENPAY GROUP LIMITED – ASX OPY

NAB’s doubling down on credit cards boosts retail banking arm

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Original article by Cliona O’Dowd, John Durie
The Australian – Page: 17 : 11-Aug-21

National Australia Bank CEO Ross McEwan says the deal to buy Citigroup’s Australian consumer banking division will provide NAB with scale and expertise in unsecured lending, particularly in the credit card market. However, Morgan Stanley has questioned the merits of NAB’s push to expand in the consumer unsecured lending market, which is occurring at a time when younger Australians in particular are shunning credit cards in favour of ‘buy now, pay later’ services. Ord Minnett has in turn warned of the material risk that the transaction will be blocked by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

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NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ORD MINNETT GROUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Coal, hard cash rolls in as thermal prices surge higher

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 11-Aug-21

The price of thermal coal has rallied since May, amid strong demand in Europe and China. Dylan Kelly of Ord Minnett notes that the price rally has boosted the cash flows of major Australian thermal coal producers; he adds that seasonal restocking in key markets could push the coal price higher in the near-term. However, ratings agency Fitch Solutions expects the price of thermal coal to peak by the end of 2021.

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ORD MINNETT GROUP LIMITED, FITCH SOLUTIONS INCORPORATED

Huge AstraZeneca stockpile open to the young

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Original article by Richard Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 9-Aug-21

New figures show that New South Wales and Victoria have access to a combined stockpile of more than one million unused doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The huge stockpile has been attributed to weak demand for the vaccine, which has been linked to a rare blood clotting disorder. The Victorian government has advised that it will make 200,000 doses of the vaccine available to people aged 18-39, with Premier Daniel Andrews stating that mass vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the NSW government plans to inoculate some 24,000 Year 12 students in designated hotspot areas, while the Therapeutic Goods Administration is expected to approve the Moderna vaccine within weeks.

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ASTRAZENECA PLC, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. THERAPEUTIC GOODS ADMINISTRATION, MODERNA INCORPORATED