ASX futures pointing higher.
The Australian share market could be set for a positive day of trade. At the time of writing SPI futures are pointing to a small gain of 3 points at the open. Wall Street has been closed for President’s Day. In addition to this, oil prices have climbed higher overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 0.8% and the Brent crude oil price has risen 0.4%.

Almost $9.00 now. Getting cheaper

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/mar...219-h1bfco.html

BHP reported that revenue from continuing operations increased by 1% to US$20.74 billion. Profit after taxation from continuing operations attributable to shareholders went up 117% to US$4 billion. Meanwhile, total statutory profit increased by 87% to US$3.76 billion.

However, underlying profit fell by 8% to US$3.73 billion and underlying earnings per share (EPS) dropped 8% to US70.4 cents.

Its underlying EBITDA was US$10.5 billion from continuing operations

A fresh wave of bank buying lifted the Australian sharemarket above the 6100 point level as ANZ said it had been too conservative on lending and the Reserve Bank said the next rate move could be either way.

There was no overnight lead from US markets closed for a public holiday, but the S&P-ASX 200 dipped into the red at the open but it rallied to close up 17 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 6106.9 as the lenders countered weakness across most other sectors.

ANZ led the charge despite reporting a decline on mortgage lending last quarter after chief executive Shayne Elliot said the bank may have been “overly conservative in our implementation of some policy and process changes”.

The Australian dollar fell US0.4¢ to US71.10¢ after the Reserve minutes revealed increasing uncertainty over domestic growth momentum as house prices fell.

Sonal Desai, fixed income group chief investment officer at Franklin Templeton, discusses the U.S.-China trade war, its impact on the economy and her views on Fed policy.

The minutes said board members noted that there were significant uncertainties around the forecasts, “with scenarios where an increase in the cash rate would be appropriate at some point and other scenarios where a decrease in the cash rate would be appropriate”.

National Australia Bank economist David de Garis said the Reserve was forecasting a peak to trough decline in real dwelling investment of 10 per cent.

But they pointed out that “if prices were to fall much further, consumption could be weaker than forecast, which would result in lower GDP growth, higher unemployment and lower inflation than forecast.”

Government 10-year yields were slightly softer at 2.132 per cent.

The Shanghai composite index was up 0.3 per cent at the close of the ASX as euphoria of the surge in new lending in China abated amid concerns about the size and effectiveness of lending in one month equal to a staggering 5 per cent of GDP.

Westpac head of macro strategy Frances Cheung said although the market’s focus remained on the effect of the global slowdown and US/China trade tensions, the key determinant of China’s softer growth in 2018 was actually structural change, planned and managed by China’s central government.

However, “weak imports of upstream goods by China do not bode well for China’s export outlook in the months ahead”.

i added a bit 8.88..

now i thinking got AUSTRALIA BANK close shop before???
When ppl say BOQ small bank.. mean how small?
not really familiar with it. This investment i tembak only.

i invested 3 banks. NAB, BOQ, WBC.

as i do not want to convert my AUD out so, just leave it and buy sell bank shares.

Not so informed on Aussie banks.

BIG ones are NAB, WBC and Commonwealth

There are big 4 banks in Australia

By market capitalisation,

Commonwealth bank $125 billion
Westpac $98 billion
ANZ $85 billion
NAB $77 billion

BOQ $4.5 billion

So it's about 20 times smaller than the big 4. Also, it is a regional bank, most branches are in Queensland

Don't think it will collapse because of its size....all banks kena wallop because of the RCI. And now so much uncertainty on the effect of implementing Hayne's recommendation. In short term, banks may need to write off/down a lot of loans (especially property loans) and take a hit on their bottom line, but I think eventually (1-2 years) everything will stabilised with cost pass on to the customers. Banks still will make their money and recover.

For risk averse investors, sell banks and run now (maybe 1 year too late, but late better than never). For long term investors, dividends will pay back capital loss. At 8%, 5 years of dividend can recover 40% of capital loss already

TQ clearer pix now..

my Westpac is
+ve bought recently.
NAB -ve
BOQ - just recently buy 9.90 add 8.88. also -tive.

i will just wait it out.

Unemployment data on tap today: The arrangement leads to a set of circumstances whereby although nominally full-employment is achieved, labour is underutilized. Wages don’t grow consequently, dragging on other areas such as consumption, investment and savings. There is still hope from policy boffins that the described phenomenon will prove transient, and that the outlook for wage growth, and all the areas it impacts, will progressively improve.

Of course, it won’t be remedied today; but employment numbers released this morning will contribute to the evolving narrative. The Australian economy is expected to have added 15k jobs last month, enough to keep the unemployment rate to around 5 per cent. With traders pricing that the next move from the RBA will be a cut, a pull back in the AUD, or further falls in ACG Bond yields, may be what to watch for today.

Market watch:

Market Highlights

SPI futures up 4 points at about 6.30am AEDT

AUD flat at 71.63 US cents

On Wall St at 2.36pm: Dow +0.2% S&P 500 -0.2% Nasdaq flat

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.6% FTSE +0.7% CAC +0.7% DAX +08%

Spot gold +0.2% to $US1343.83 an ounce at 1.47pm New York time

Brent crude +1% to $US67.13 a barrel

US oil +1.8% to $US57.10 a barrel

Iron ore -1.4% to $US88.00 a tonne

Dalian iron ore +0.4% to 624 yuan

LME aluminium +0.7% to $US1868 a tonne

LME copper +1.4% to $US6405 a tonne

2-year yield: US 2.50% Australia 1.70%

5-year yield: US 2.47% Australia 1.72%

10-year yield: US 2.65% Australia 2.10% Germany 0.10%

US-Australia 10-year yield gap at 6.38am AEDT: 55 basis points

On Wednesday the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) winning streak came to an end when the benchmark index dropped 0.2% to 6,096.5 points. Will the local market be able to bounce back on Thursday? Here are five things to watch: ASX futures pointing higher. The Australian share market is expected to open the day higher on Thursday. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is poised to open 0.2% or 10 points higher this morning despite a mixed night of trade on Wall Street.

The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(^AXJO) is expected to open higher today, the USA’s S&P 500 Index (.INX) went up 0.19% on Wednesday.

Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 71.68US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 0.20%
Oil (WTI): $US56.92 per barrel
Gold: $US1,340 per ounce

NAB's preview of jobs data: "NAB expects slower growth in employment (NAB: +10k vs market: 15k) and unchanged unemployment at 5.0% (mkt: 5.0%), albeit with the risk that it ticks up to 5.1%."

Overseas data: Japan Nikkei manufacturing PMI February; Euro zone January CPI, Markit manufacturing and services PMIs February; US Phill Fed February, Markit PMIs February, Leading index February

Market Highlights
SPI futures up 6 points at about 8.15am AEDT

AUD flat at 71.63 US cents

On Wall St: Dow +0.2% S&P 500 +0.2% Nasdaq flat

In New York, BHP +1.8% Rio +1% Atlassian +0.2%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.6% FTSE +0.7% CAC +0.7% DAX +08%

Spot gold +0.2% to $US1343.83 an ounce at 1.47pm New York time

Brent crude +1% to $US67.13 a barrel

US oil +1.8% to $US57.10 a barrel

Iron ore -1.4% to $US88.00 a tonne

Dalian iron ore +0.4% to 624 yuan

LME aluminium +0.7% to $US1868 a tonne

LME copper +1.4% to $US6405 a tonne

2-year yield: US 2.50% Australia 1.70%

5-year yield: US 2.47% Australia 1.72%

10-year yield: US 2.65% Australia 2.10% Germany 0.10%

US-Australia 10-year yield gap at 6.38am AEDT: 55 basis points

A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

According to a note out of Morgan Stanley, its analysts have retained their underweight rating but increased the price target on this infant formula and dairy company’s shares to $10.50. While a2 Milk’s first half result came in ahead of the broker’s expectations on Wednesday, its analysts have pointed out that daigou sellers were a significant driver of this growth. But it doesn’t expect this to be sustainable and thus appears concerned by the quality of its earnings. The a2 Milk share price is currently trading notably higher at $14.21.

Spamming here?

These few days there have been bot invasion.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Feb 22 2019, 09:43 AM

Notice all newbies

Joined: Feb 2019