Overseas Market Report – U.S. Stocks End Sharply Lower after Jobs Report
U.S. stocks sank on Friday, led by losses in the tech sector, after a jobs report came in below expectations.
The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs last month, below the 175,000 jobs expected by economists. The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, fell to 4.9%, which is the lowest rate since early 2008. Wages also showed good growth, rising 2.5% year over year.
The trade deficit rose by 2.7% in December as a strong dollar and slowing global growth held down exports again. Imports were also up 0.3% in the month. For the full year, the deficit rose by 4.6%.
At market close the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ were down 1.3%, 1.9% and 3.2%, respectively.
Shares of LinkedIn (LNKD) plummeted after management provided weaker-than-expected 2016 guidance on both the top and bottom lines. LinkedIn posted strong double-digit growth in all three segments (talent solutions, marketing solutions and premium subscriptions) for the fourth quarter, growing total revenue by 34% (37% excluding currency effects) to US$862 million. But those strong results were not enough to outweigh the full-year guidance that was well below expectations.
For Australian ADRs listed on the NYSE, BHP Billiton slipped 31 cents (1.35%) to $22.58, ResMed lost 40 cents (0.69%) to $57.42, Telstra Corporation lost 37 cents (1.83%) to $19.89, Spark New Zealand slipped 9 cents (0.80%) to $11.15 and Westpac declined 63 cents (2.88%) to $21.25.
At 7:45 AM (AEDT), the 10-year Treasury note yield was 1.84% and the 5-year yield was 1.24%.
European markets turned lower after the U.S. jobs report.
Germany's DAX, the FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 were down 1.1%, 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
Asian shares finished mixed.
The Shanghai Composite was down 0.6%, the Nikkei 225 was off 1.3% and the Hang Seng was up 0.6%. India's Sensex finished 1.1% higher.
Australian Market Report – Local Market Expected To Open Lower
Ahead of the local open, SPI futures were 56 points lower at 4,867.
Friday 05 February – close. The local market quickly fell this morning and continued to slide with disappointing December retail sale figures. There was a rally during the afternoon with mining stocks rising after a jump in commodity prices but the market could not recover previous losses and closed slightly lower. There were mixed results from the sectors; materials gained most significantly whilst health care were the biggest laggard. The Australian dollar fell against most major currencies.
The All Ordinaries fell 3.70 points (-0.07%) to 5,025.60 while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 4.20 points (-0.08%) to 4,976.20.
In This Issue
M2 Group Ltd (MTU)
M2 Group announced that on 5 February 2016 the Supreme Court of Vic made orders approving the merger of Vocus Communications and the Company via Scheme of Arrangement through which Vocus will acquire all of the shares of the Company. It is expected that a copy of the court orders will be lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on 8 February 2016, at which time the Scheme will become effective and that will be the last day that its shares trade on ASX. The Implementation Date is expected to be 22 February 2016. Eligible Company shareholders holding shares at the Record Date of 15 February 2016 will receive the Scheme Consideration of 1.625 New Vocus Shares per Company share, in accordance with the terms of the Scheme. The New Vocus Shares are expected to be issued on 22 February 2016. MTU added 8 cents to $12.32.
TPG Telecom Limited (TPM)
TPG Telecom confirmed that it was a successful bidder in the auction for spectrum in the 1800MHz band. It will pay $84.7m for the lots that it has purchased, with $15m to be paid in the current financial year and the balance to be paid in early 2017. The Company successfully bid for two 2x5MHz lots (i.e. 10MHz of spectrum) in each of the following regions: Darwin, South Qld, Northern NSW, Canberra, Southern NSW, Regional Vic, Regional SA and Tasmania. In addition, it was the winning bidder for one lot of 2x5MHz (i.e. 5MHz) in each of Adelaide and Western NSW. TPM added 1 cent to $10.15.
MYOB Group Limited (MYO)
MYOB Group announced at its annual roadshow MYOB INCITE that it has reached 170,000 online users for FY2015, up 46% year on year. This milestone was supported by research and development expenditure in 2015 of more than $45m and a rapid growth in active Application Programming Interface partners to 3,500 in December 2015 (up from 2,000 in December 2014). Commencing in Melbourne on 5 February 2016 and visiting all major capital cities across Australia and NZ over the coming weeks, MYOB INCITE is on track to have a record number of attendees, with registrations trending above last year's record 10,000. MYO added 2 cents to $3.02.
Recent Contacts & Presentations
Troy Resources (TRY), Northern Star Resources (NST), Regis Resources (RRL), Medusa Mining (MML), Doray Minerals (DRM), Beadell Resources (BDR), Red 5 (RED), Kingsgate Consolidated (KCN), OBJ (OBJ), Sino Gas & Energy Holdings (SEH), TFS Corporation (TFC), Paragon Care (PGC), Austal (ASB), Orbital Corporation (OEC),Energia Minerals (EMX), Berkeley Energia (BKY) , Finders Resources (FND), 4DS Memory Ltd (4DS) , Bionomics Ltd (BNO)
