Archives: Reports
The ASX200 knocked on the door of its August high yesterday before finally closing up +0.45% on broad based buying which saw over 67% of the main board close in positive territory. If it hadn’t been for a disappointing report from Bendigo Bank (BEN) which fell over 8% dragging much of the sector down in sympathy we could have been testing 7100 but with Commonwealth Bank (CBA) trading ex-dividend $2 fully franked on Wednesday it may prove a touch too much to ask this week.
The Match Out: Market higher to kick off a big week of reporting, what’s our take on Carsales (CAR)?
A positive session to kick off the new trading week, one where reporting really starts to ramp up. Property & Consumer Discretionary stocks the driving force today, clearly the outcomes being achieved here are better than feared and stocks are rallying from a low base, while Energy & Financials underperformed.
Last week saw some inconsistencies / fascinating moves across financial markets which we believe were largely driven by investor positioning & sentiment but this might not continue if MM’s preferred scenario unfolds for bond yields. Last week was all about the US CPI and Wednesday’s number showed a much-welcomed slowdown in inflation which sent most indices soaring to their highest levels in over 3-months:
The ASX200 struggled last week considering the theoretically strong tailwind from a weak US CPI print and no major blow-ups from the local reporting season, the index did manage to scale fresh 9-week highs but by Fridays close it had only managed to close up +0.2%. The Resources Sector helped keep the index in positive territory, significantly assisted by BHP’s bid for OZ Minerals (OZL), but what probably caught most investors off-guard was a more than 2% pullback by the tech & healthcare sectors even after the deceleration by the main US inflation indicator.
A softer session to end a positive week for the ASX with the first full week of local reporting proving to be okay. Energy rallied back today, so too did the Telco’s while Property lost some of yesterday’s lustre.
The ASX200 roared higher on Thursday on optimism that peak inflation is behind us but not all parts of this fascinating puzzle are currently in alignment:
The ASX opened with a bang this morning rallying off the back of a strong session in the US following signs that inflation has peaked, CPI printing 8.5% versus 8.7% expected. This is a big deal, uncontained inflation is the reason why rates have risen so aggressively and why risk assets had been sold off. Stabilisation here provides more certainty and more certainty gives confidence, and we all know the market ebbs and flows in the short term on this metric.
The ASX200 struggled on Wednesday with many traders taking a back seat ahead of last night’s important US CPI (inflation) data, the index ultimately closed down -0.5% basically at the same level we started August. Selling was broad-based with 70% of the main index closing in the red but with the influential Banking Sector closing higher, even as Commonwealth Bank (CBA) slipped -0.3%, losses were limited i.e. for fireworks to be lit under the index we generally need to see the Resources & Banks run in one direction.
The ASX weakened today ahead of the all-important inflation print in the US tonight with consensus tipping a result of +8.7% YoY. Tech fell on concerns bond yields will rally again while the Utilities which are more defensive + some are linked to CPI fared well.
MM is making a number of changes across portfolios.
