The latest market news, commentary and strategy by Adrian Rowney
5 Things that Grabbed my Attention
1. Buy Now Pay Never stock Splitit (SPT) is delisting from the ASX and moving to the Cayman Islands (I'm sure it's all kosher!!! hahaha) ....SPT share have collapsed 97% from its all time high back in 2020. Good thing I have had a big fat AVOID on the sector.
2. Financial Tech company Iress (IRE) tanked 35% after reporting a heavy loss of $139 mil and suspending dividends...maintain AVOID on financials..
3. India is planning to ban the export of lithium and a bunch of rare earths....protectionism is on the rise.
4. Long term money is getting expensive; US 30 year mortgage rates hit 7.48% - the highest since 2000.
5. There is a reasonable chance that Woodside (WDS) workers will go on strike this week - European GAS prices have been rising due to the threat.
ASX Market Update
ASX 200 down 32 points to 7115
Premier Investments (PMV) rallied 12% after announcing plans that it may carve the company up into 3 - being Peter Alexander, Smiggle and Apparel (Portmans, Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Jacqui E and Dotti). The current CEO quit at the same time the announcement was made - so things must have gotten heated. I maintain my AVOID on retailers.
Random Observation
Chile needs to fight back against the bankers and other traders that rig the price of copper via paper futures traded on the LME and COMEX by announcing that they are not going to sell any COPPER below $6 per pound.....It's insane that the world's largest producer is getting squeezed at a time when copper inventories are historically low and the USA just put the metal on it's critical list.
The Day Ahead
- Our SPI is up 15 points
- Bitcoin down 0.3% to $26,030
Movements affecting our resource stocks today (USD)
- BHP in the US up 0.82%
- Newmont FLAT
- Gold up 0.38% to $1923
- Paper Silver up 2.7% to $23.36
- Platinum FLAT @ $915
- Copper up 0.55% to $3.72
- Brent Crude down 0.44% to $84.44
- Iron ore up 0.6% to $107.45
Asian Market Update
Japan up 0.37%, Hong Kong down 1.8% and China off 1.24%
Growing protectionism around the world will be inflationary....
#India is planning to introduce a ban on the export of #lithium (Li), beryllium (Be), niobium (Nb), and tantalum (Ta) because of their importance in powering sectors critical to national security and technological advancements, a senior official said.
🇮🇳https://t.co/HztU5qVXyy— CN Wire (@Sino_Market) August 19, 2023
Global Market Update
US Market
DOW down 36 points to 34,463
Money was gushing into BIG TECH after the recent dip - Nvidia surged 8.47%, Tesla jumped 7.3% and Meta put on 2.3%.
European Markets
Germans up 0.19%, Brits FLAT, Frenchies added 0.47%
German inflation came in at 6.5% which was down slightly on the previous reading....The German economy is suffering from STAGFLATION as prices of stuff continues to rise while the economy is in recession; brutal cycle for the average joe.... Meanwhile it is all rainbows and lollipops for large cap stocks as the DAX (German market) trades around all time highs.
Key Market Summary