The ASX 200 is up 20 points in mid morning trade (half the highs) despite flat leads as iron ore rallies. Materials rally, CSL lags. WES buys Catch, EHL update and APT bounces after raising. #ausbiz
TODAY
- Economic data – Westpac Consumer Confidence Index
- Japanese data – Machinery Orders, PPI
- Chinese data – Inflation Rate, PPI, FDI (YTD)
TONIGHT
- US – CPI
COMPANY NEW
- Wesfarmers (WES) – Buying Catch (online retailer) for $230m. Catch Group will operate as an independent business unit, under the oversight of Ian Bailey, the Managing Director of Kmart Group.
- Afterpay Touch (APT) – Completed the capital raising $317.2m at $23
- Appen Group (APX) Lukas Biewald (founder of Figure Eight) has purchased approximately US$1.5m of shares as per acquisition agreement. These shares will be held in escrow until 2 April, 2021.
- Amcor (AMC) – Acquisition of Memis now completed and AMC will trade on NYSE as code AMCR. ASX listing will remain.
- Dicker Data (DDR) – Launch of Dicker Data Financial Services (DDFS); a new business to address the growing demand for Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions and the shift from capital expenditure (CAPEX) to operational expenditure (OPEX). Clients will be able to pay by the month.
- Emeco (EHL) –
OVERNIGHT
SPI FUTURES +12
US EQUITIES – S&P 500 -1 (-0.03%), Dow -14 (-0.05%), NASDAQ -1 (-0.01%).
Major themes
- Breaking 6 day winning streak –
- Suspension of the 5% tariff on Mexican imports.
EUROPEAN MARKETS – Stronger. STOXX600 +0.69%, UK FTSE +0.31%, German DAX +0.92%, French CAC +0.48%
CURRENCIES
- The USD is lower at 96.71.
- The Aussie dollar is little changed at US69.63.
BONDS – 2-yr: +3 bps to 1.93%, 3-yr: +1 bp to 1.88%, 5-yr: UNCH at 1.91%, 10-yr: UNCH at 2.14%, 30-yr: -1 bp to 2.62%
COMMODITIES
- Oil – WTI futures were up US1c to US$53.24 after Russia said it might support extending production cuts. In other oil news, the EIA cut its 2019 world oil demand growth forecast by 160,000bpd to 1.22mbpd.
- Gold was up 0.1% at US$1,328.50 an ounce
- Iron Ore – IRESS has iron ore up US$2.00 at US$101.00 a tonne. CommSec has iron ore up US$5.50 or 5.5% at US$105.90 a tonne.
- LME metals – Mixed. Cu +0.20%, Ni +2.32%, Al -0.03
ECONOMIC DATA, NEWS & POLITICS
- US economic data – May PPI 0.1% (consensus 0.1%; prior 0.2%) and May Core PPI 0.2% (consensus 0.2%; prior 0.1%)
- Central Bank gath – Governors from the Bank of Japan, People’s Bank of China, and Bank of Korea reportedly met to discuss the current economic and financial landscape.
- ECB policymaker Olli Rehn said that low inflation expectations could prompt policymakers to strengthen forward guidance, lower rates, or relaunch quantitative easing.
- Brexit – ECB President Jean-Claude Juncker reiterated that the new British Prime Minister will not be allowed to renegotiate Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
RunningMoney 