The Good Morning Report – 20th December

5 Things that Grabbed my Attention

1. Bank of Japan kept interest rates on HOLD @ negative 0.1%....This insane monetary policy is not going to end well.

2. Containerized Freight Index futures surged by around 12% in Shanghai due to tensions in the RED SEA.

3. More mega M&A....Japan's Nippon Steel is buying US steel for $15bn.

4. Buy Now Pay Never operator ZIP Co (ZIP) borrowed $150 mil on an interest rate of 15% from a US fund manager. Hard to make a buck when your cost of finance is that high. Maintain AVOID.

5. AGL is spending $750mil on building a 500 MW, 2 hour duration battery. Serious people are not in charge of this company - AVOID....The woke energy model, being solar/wind to battery storage, cannot support an economy and is guaranteed to fail. Plus it is  way worse for the natural environment which is the most shocking part.

ASX Market Update

ASX 200 added 62 points to 7489

The traditional Santa Claus rally continues....I think the market is very excited about the flurry of M&A we are seeing all around the world. It seems executives and bankers are foaming at the mouth over potential rate cuts. A few take over targets off the top of my head are BGA, DGL, RRL, RHC, STO, AWC, ILU, LYC , PFP & BPT.

Random Observation

With the world becoming more unstable by the day I just thought about this event: Remember when that 60,000 pounds of Incitec Pivots (IPL) ammonium nitrate just magically vanished?

The investigators concluded that there was a hole in the railcar that was carrying the explosive cargo and the pellets just dribbled out on the 800 km journey; HAHAHA as if!....I'll leave you to think about what organization could get away with steeling something like that. (I certainly won't be surprised if we see a major attack on US soil in the run up to the 2024 Presidential election as the establishment is unhinged.)

For those that don't know - this is the damage ammonium nitrate can do:

https://twitter.com/MadVidss/status/1735347991945306164

The Day Ahead

• Our SPI is up 40 points
• Bitcoin up 1.2% to $42,289
• BHP in US up 1.69%
• Newmont in US up 1.65%
• Block Inc in US up 4.5%

Movements affecting our resource stocks today (USD)

• Gold up 0.63% to $2053
• Paper Silver up 1% to $24.35
• Platinum up 0.8% to $962
• Copper up 1.36% to $3.90
• Brent Crude up 2% to $79.55
• Iron ore FLAT @ $132.40

Asian Market Update

Japan up 1.41%, Hong Kong down 0.75%, China FLAT

Got exposure to COAL stocks in your Super? Demand for energy looks like it will surge in China.

Temperatures in parts of China, including in the provinces of Shanxi, Hebei and Liaoning, hit their lowest levels since records began, state broadcaster said on Sunday, as a cold snap gripped large swathes of the country. https://t.co/SBwYY0UdQO

— The Japan Times (@japantimes) December 17, 2023

Global Market Update

US Market

DOW up 251 points to 37,557

DOW rallied for the 9th consecutive session which is all thanks to Jerome Powell sending out a Christmas card to the market with an IOU of 3 interest rate cuts in it.

European Markets

Germans up 0.56%, Brits added 0.31% and Frenchies were FLAT

European investors were not bothered in the slightest by the recent surge higher in OIL prices due to tensions in the RED SEA....Kind of funny how TRAVEL stocks were the best performers overnight!