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Author: james Carter

Should we chase yield or growth? Today’s subject of growth v yield could be discussed at great length but we have attempted to touch on a few topical points to convey our thoughts. Last night’s news from APPLE we believe is a great illustration of what investors should both be looking for, and potentially avoiding. APPLE has just reported some headlines that would initially excite many yield hungry investors: 1. They increased their dividend, similar to a year ago, from 57c to 52c. 2. They are planning to increase equity buybacks from $US140bn to $US175bn. 3. But they experienced a first quarterly revenue fall in more than a decade, with another decline forecasted to follow. APPLE’s shares have tumbled well over 5% this morning AEST in late US trading, below $US100. The market is voting with both feet on the fear that we have seen the best from APPLE in the short to medium term even though its dividends are rising.
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Good Morning everyone, Our short term view and plan for equities World stock markets hardly moved overnight but we saw further weakness from our resource stocks with BHP looking to open ~ $19.80 down another 2.8%. BHP will now be down 6.9% from its high last Thursday. We stick with our view that on number of matrices, which includes risk / reward, we cannot be long iron ore stocks now. However, as we outlined in the Weekend Report we have switched cautiously bullish on the local banks short term, keeping a close eye on ANZ, NAB and WBC which go ex-dividend next month – some attractive fully franked dividends will be on offer. This view is short term in nature only and we still anticipate lower levels for the banks in the medium term. However we believe the S&P500 is poised for a decent correction which may easily become 5% as investors become scarred of the May factor approaching – “sell in May and go away”. Hence while we must remain conscious of our medium / long term negative view for US equities decent risk / reward opportunities should arise if this pullback in US equities unfolds in the near term. In short, we expect weakness now in the U.S, one more bounce then a bigger correction. The US S&P500 Daily Chart We will look at the three above mentioned banks individually with a specific eye on risk / reward. ANZ Bank (ANZ) Weekly Chart ANZ Bank has been the worst performing “Big Four” Bank in recent times being punished for its relatively large exposure to both Asia and resource / energy companies. After falling 41.3% from its highs of 2015 a short squeeze similar to that enjoyed by the resources sector would be easy to imagine. Ideally we can buy ANZ ~$23 with stops under $22 but this may be tweaked depending on coming days / weeks price action. National Australia Bank (NAB) Weekly Chart

Short term caution is definitely warranted for equities World stock markets have enjoyed an exceptional rally since late January with the S&P500 up 15.5%, and the ASX200 up 12% having enjoyed a strong recovery from the resources sector. We believe this 11 week rally is overdue for a correction, or consolidation at best, the nature of this potential pullback will determine our view on what comes next for US equities. The ASX200 concerns us because a number of major stocks hit our long term targets yesterday and have backed off overnight. BHP for example is looking to open over 50c lower this morning even with iron ore rallying a massive 8.8% last night in the US. In this morning’s report we are going to focus on four major stocks that have hit / approached our long term targets in the last 24 hours and we are now negative / neutral at best The US S&P500 Daily ASX200 Daily The ASX200 tested strong resistance at 5300 yesterday and a pullback to at least short term support ~5200 looks very likely in the coming days. BHP Billiton (BHP) Weekly Chart BHP has hit our long term “abc” and wave equality retracement target ~$21.20. We advise taking at least 50% profit on any longs, a break back under $19 would be very negative technically. S32 Daily Chart

How much do we think Central Banks are controlling Equities? A number of subscribers have asked over recent times why we mention the Central Banks so often when considering our view on the future direction for stocks. Hopefully today we can explain this in a very simple manner. Hence this should also help explain a large part of our medium term view for stocks. There is no doubt that since the GFC back in 2007/8 Central Banks and their respective policies have arguably played the most determining role ever in supporting equities. Central Banks have cut interest rates below zero, pumped money into world economies in unprecedented levels in a desperate effort to stop the world falling into a deep recession / depression. Considering the damage of the GFC, and more importantly the reasons of greed / excess which caused it in the first place, we believe they have performed a great job….so far.
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Have resources run too far too fast? At the start of 2016 one of our major calls was for a depreciating $US that would revive commodity prices and lead to outperformance from the ASX200 for the first time in a decade. The view of the $US and commodities was spot on but unfortunately due to our large weighting to the banking sector the local market remains the laggard on the world stage. Interestingly last night we had another strong night for resource stocks but the “Fang’s”, the darlings of recent times, were negative i.e. Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Who would have thought at Christmas that by late April BHP would be up 10% but Amazon would be down 7%, especially as the S&P continues to rally towards all- time highs. This is another great example for investors of the cyclical nature of stocks and that running with the crowd can be a dangerous game, even if it feels comfortable and easy at the time! As we have discussed previously the renewed market interest in the underperforming stocks is a tell-tale sign of the maturity of this bull market but not necessarily its end. We have been advocating trading the resources space from the buy side recently but how much fat is now left in the trade as the papers get excited on the sector and analysts start to become bullish upgrading forecasts; where were they in January? BHP Billiton (BHP) BHP looks set to open around $20.10 today, up 2.2%, after further gains from iron ore and crude oil.
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