What Matters Today: Four of MM’s favourite defensive stocks

Famed portfolio manager Hamish Douglass has moved Magellan’s portfolio to 50% defensive although like ourselves he remains basically fully committed to equities. He believes many investors are ignoring the risks of a bumpy post COVID economic recovery citing virus mutations as one of many risks that could derail the stimulus / free money led recovery.

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Latest Reports

Morning report 13/11/2025 10:04

What Matters Today: The New Energy Stack for AI

The ASX200 closed down 0.2% on Wednesday, reversing early gains and closing below the psychological 8800 level. Over 50% of the main board closed higher, but another 3% drop by CBA was enough to drag the index lower, with Australia's largest bank now over 17% below its June high.

Afternoon report 13/11/2025 08:38

The Match Out: ASX falls late, Min Res rips on asset sale

The ASX finished lower today with decent sessions from miners and energy stocks more than offset by weakness in technology and financials, as selling in CBA struck again, capping broader momentum.

Morning report 12/11/2025 09:36

Portfolio Positioning: CBA drags the ASX into the red all on its own

The ASX200 started Tuesday in an encouraging fashion, up ~0.5%, as the US government neared a reopening deal, before the index reversed to close down 17 points, or 0.2%. The weakness was almost entirely down to CBA, even though winners outstripped losers by 2:1, when the ASX's largest stock tumbles 6.6%, the local bourse is going to struggle to close higher.

Afternoon report 11/11/2025 17:22

The Match Out: CBA sinks the ASX on soft quarterly

The ASX200 wavered through Tuesday’s session, opening up strongly after steps toward a resolution for the U.S government shutdown saw U.S markets rip overnight.

Morning report 11/11/2025 09:45

What Matters Today: The unheralded mining services names continue to kick goals

The ASX 200 rallied strongly on Monday, closing up +0.8% with 70% of the main board finishing higher. The local bourse enjoyed a strong tailwind from US futures and commodity prices as risk markets bounced on the news of the imminent end to the US government shutdown.

Afternoon report 10/11/2025 16:49

The Match Out: ASX bounces, ANZ climbs despite profit miss

A constructive start to the week underpinned by strength in US Futures on news the Govt shutdown is nearing an end – that supported the risk on trade with the ASX building on gains as the session progressed, fueled by good buying in tech, Gold and Uranium.

Morning report 10/11/2025 09:49

Macro Monday: The market’s animal spirits are waning

The stock market didn’t crash last week, but after 7-months of “risk-on” enthusiasm, cracks have started to emerge. Rich valuations and fresh doubts over the real-world payoff of AI dragged US tech stocks to their worst week since April.

Weekend report 08/11/2025 08:26

Weekend Q&A: Corporate Australia weighs on the ASX

The ASX 200 finished the week down -1.3%, sliding to new 9-week lows on Friday and marking 7 declines in the past 9 trading sessions. Only the energy sector provided meaningful support to the index, while technology, resources, and rate-sensitive areas such as consumer discretionary and real estate noticeably underperformed.

Afternoon report 07/11/2025 17:27

The Match Out: Weaker corporate news flow sinks stocks

Lots of corporate news across the ticker today, most of it was negative. Weaker results from Macquarie, sluggish domestic travel volumes at Qantas, higher costs for Afterpay owner Block, a weaker 2H outlook for advertising business oOmedia, mid-single digit growth (only) for REA Group and a near halving of share price for Alliance Aviation – it’s easy to understand why the market traded lower to end another softer week for equities.

Morning report 08/11/2025 08:49

ETF Friday: Is it time to “Buy the Dip” in the AI Trade using ETFs?

The ASX 200 bounced +0.3% on Thursday, helped by a strong session for the miners and energy names. Some stability in the likes of gold and iron ore was enough to push the sector higher, with all but a handful of names posting solid gains. The top-200 surged almost 70-points in early trade, but handed back more than half those gains as momentum waned in the afternoon, led by a couple of negative surprises on the stock level: