What Matters Today: Has QBE Insurance (QBE) set the tone for insurance stocks?

The ASX200 experienced a quiet start to the penultimate week of November which saw winners and losers match each other almost perfectly, the index ultimately slipped -0.2% to add to the consolidation of the market since testing 7200 last week. The ongoing sector rotation continues in a predictable fashion depending on strength/weakness in bond yields and the $US. Yesterday saw the $US kick up almost 1% leading to a very clear group of winners and losers which are likely to be reversed if/when we see the Greenback dip back under 107:

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Afternoon report 01/09/2025 17:19

The Match Out: ASX starts historically weak month on the back foot

Weakness crept into the ASX today as we start the most challenging month of the year, where the ASX has fallen on average 2% for the past 10 years. Dividends play a role here, however we’ve seen declines 70% of the time, and with markets at/near all-time highs, it’s easy to see why some profit taking may creep into the market ahead of the seasonally strong December quarter. Defensives and Gold outperformed while Tech was the obvious pocket of weakness.

Morning report 01/09/2025 09:32

Macro Monday: Let’s hope a tough week for the President doesn’t trigger volatility

The ASX200 closed up +3.6% for August, shrugging off its seasonally weak tag, having closed lower 70% of the time over the last decade. Interestingly, September is usually worse. It has fallen 80% of the time over the last decade, resulting in an average loss of 2.35%.

Weekend report 30/08/2025 08:57

Weekend Q&A: The volatile reporting season draws to a close – it’s been exhausting!

The ASX200 slipped 0.1% lower on Friday, but it still finished the week up +0.1%. As we’ve said a few times lately, it's feeling a touch tired above 9000. It was another week to remember from a reporting perspective, which dominated much of the movement on the sector level, although the materials sector continued to enjoy a strong recovery, topping the leader board for the week and month.

Afternoon report 29/08/2025 17:56

The Match Out: ASX dips as reporting season comes to a close

The ASX finished an up and down session slightly lower as reporting season volatility continued, with results headlined by strong gains in Harvey Norman and Mesoblast on the other side with ~10% moves for both continuing the trend of outsized share price reactions to earnings beats/misses.

Morning report 29/08/2025 09:47

ETF Friday: Can ETFs offer good exposure to Rare Earths?

The ASX 200 advanced +0.2% on the penultimate trading day of August, taking its monthly gain to +2.7%. As we often say, there are “lies, more lies, and statistics,” and in this case, the average decline for August and September combined over the last decade before 2025 was around -3%. Interestingly, when August managed to close positively, it was followed by a poor September. Time will tell this year, but the market is feeling tired.

Afternoon report 28/08/2025 18:59

The Match Out: ASX edges up as the ‘Big Four’ come to the rescue again

The ASX 200 ended the day up though it would have been a different story if it weren’t for strength in the banks with ‘The Big Four’ providing ~35pts of index gain with limited help from other sectors.

Morning report 28/08/2025 09:27

What Matters Today: Three switches which are worth investigating

The ASX200 finished up +0.3% on Wednesday after an initial dip into lunchtime, following hotter-than-expected inflation data, which cooled expectations for a September rate cut. The big miners drove the market along with selected earnings standouts, even as the chances of a rate cut next month fell towards 20%.

Afternoon report 29/08/2025 22:23

The Match Out: ASX moves up after juggling inflation data & results, WOW slumps

The ASX moved higher today as strength in Materials and strong results from Tabcorp and Siteminder more than offset heavy losses in Woolworths with its worst single session on record after revealing a profit slump in their full-year result.

Morning report 28/08/2025 09:31

Portfolio Positioning: All eyes switch to Nvidia tomorrow morning

The ASX200 retreated 0.4% on Tuesday, struggling from the get-go after Wall Street’s weakness on Monday night. Almost 60% of the market retreated, with losses concentrated in the materials and utilities sectors, although both were only down around 1%.

Afternoon report 26/08/2025 17:34

The Match Out: ASX loses steam as reporting starts to wind down

The ASX lost some steam today and as we penned this morning, we believe the market is starting to feel tired after its 25% advance from the April lows.