Australian Shares

Note to self, short Perpetual!

Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets We close out the month of February with a mixed picture in Asia after what has been a massive month for traders.

It’s BTFD day, whatever it is!

by Chris Becker A mixed Friday characterised another volatile week on risk markets with two important prints accelerating the divergence between the European and US economies.

A couple of IB takes on the ASX profit season are worth a look today.

From Societe General: …forward earnings expectations are now falling fast, so whilst MSCI World has fallen by around 15% since May last year, 2016 EPS levels are now down 12% over the same period.

Angus Nicholson for Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets G20 in Shanghai: Morning Zhou After a few months out of the media, People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Zhou Xiaochuan made his second appearance in a week.

By Leith van Onselen Australia’s housing bubble has delivered Harvey Norman a bumper 30.7% jump in first half profit.

The share market is one nervous Nelly again today ignoring positive overnight leads as banks can’t catch a  bid.

by Chris Becker Its a divergence of risk story last night as Chinese stocks swoon, US stocks lift to a new daily high as oil rebounds.

Angus Nicholson for Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets The weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventories release gave an unexpected boost to oil prices overnight, which raised expectations for today’s Asian session.

by Chris Becker Winter maybe finishing in the northern hemisphere, but that cold chill that is the Mining GFC is still being felt across risk markets.

Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets After six consecutive days of the VIX (US volatility index) falling we have seen volatility come back with a vengeance.

Hoocoodanode? From McGrath Real Estate: February 24, 2016 – Leading residential real estate group, McGrath Limited (ASX: MEA) today announced its maiden half year results as a listed company. Delivering to plan, McGrath continued to grow on a pro forma basis over the six months ended 31 December 2015 (1H16).

by Chris Becker It was all about OPEC shenanigans again last night as Iran rebuffed the feeble attempts by failing states Russia and Saudi Arabia in trying to curb production to put a floor under the plummeting oil price.

No ASX today but a nice post on the Aussie dollar to fill in, from Mr Weston.

The screaming dead cat bounce of the last few days is finding resistance today as key prices weaken.

by Chris Becker Last night saw a continued recovery in stocks, with oil leading energy stocks higher across both sides of the continent, and lower growth expectations in Europe leading to speculation of more ECB easing to follow.

Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets For all the drama surrounding Boris Johnson’s move to the ‘Leave’ Camp, the volatility has been well and truly confined to the currency market with equity markets not showing any duress.

The share market is having a good day as iron ore offers false hope to the feeble-minded.

by Chris Becker Last week saw stock markets around the world try to clawback some gains amid the bear market downtrend as the US dollar stabilised and commodities remained volatile, particularly oil but also copper and of course iron ore.

by Chris Becker A relatively calm night on global markets as risk absorbed the fallout from yesterdays Chinese CPI print as a mammoth jump in oil inventories in the US – a near century high – saw the bottom fall out of energy stocks and dragged correlated bourses down with them.

Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets Asian stocks have flown out of the gate and there almost feels like we could be seeing the start of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) trading.

We’re in full melt-up today with everything flying on the back of the OPEC non-deal. Banks are up firmly as CDS prices come off (CBA 130bps this morning) and the looming rate cuts aren’t hurting, either, as ABS numberwang goes into reverse.