Overseas Market Report – U.S. Stocks Finish Slightly Higher
U.S. stocks eked out small gains Monday as an advance in telecom and healthcare stocks offset declines in energy and materials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average logged its seventh straight session of gains–its longest winning streak since October 2015.
At the close, the Dow and S&P 500 were each up around 0.1%, while the NASDAQ had gained 0.3%.
In economic news, existing U.S. home sales fell 7.1% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.08 million, well below the 5.3 million expected by economists.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) announced that it will search for a new CEO to replace Michael Pearson as the company struggles with credibility issues and concerns about accounting and business practices. Pearson will remain in the leadership role until his successor is announced, but the company's corporate controller has been placed on administrative leave. Additionally, Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square, will join the board of directors.
After a sweetened offer, Starwood (HOT) says that Marriott (MAR) once again has the best offer for the firm. The new bid comes after Starwood had said that Chinese insurer Anbang's offer was superior on Friday. Morningstar sees the US$39,000 per key Marriott take-out as attractive, and will be unsurprised if Anbang counters. If Anbang wins, Marriott stands to see a US$450-million breakup fee (revised upward from US$400 million), or US$1.70 per share.
For Australian ADRs listed on the NYSE, BHP Billiton slipped 34 cents (1.24%) to $27.08, ResMed lost 15 cents (0.27%) to $56.19, Telstra Corporation declined 22 cents (1.12%) to $19.66, Spark New Zealand slipped 6 cents (0.56%) to $11.62 and Westpac declined 10 cents (0.40%) to $24.79.
At 8:00 AM (AEDT), the 10-year Treasury note yield was 1.92% and the 5-year yield was 1.38%.
European markets were mostly lower on Monday.
Germany's DAX closed flat, while the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% and the French CAC 40 was off 0.8%.
Asian shares finished mixed.
The Nikkei 225 was off 1.3%, the Hang Seng was up 0.1%, while the Shanghai Composite was 2.2% higher. India's Sensex finished 1.3% higher.
Australian Market Report- Local Markets Expected To Open Higher
Ahead of the local open, SPI futures were 11 points higher at 5,178.
Monday 21 March – close. The Australian market started the week with a flat open. However, the ASX fell into negative territory before midday, dragged down by major losses from the big banks and energy providers, to close 0.3 per cent lower. There were mixed results from the sectors; healthcare gained most significantly while energy lagged behind the rest. The Australian dollar depreciated against most major currencies, with the exception of the British pound.
The All Ordinaries dropped 14.40 points to 5,224.90 while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 16.50 points to 5,166.60.
In This Issue
Argonaut Research | Speciality Potash Products | The need for feed
Malthus may have been a bit pessimistic, but his concerns about feeding a growing global population have relevance. With three times the population of Australia being added to the world annually, each individual has to be fed off a smaller parcel of land. Improving agricultural yields, and ensuring crops have access to essential nutrients, is critical. In this report we discuss the importance of potash fertilisers, which are a key source of potassium. We pay particular attention to potassium sulphate (SOP) given the number of never before exploited potassium- and sulphate-rich brine deposits in Australia and the recent emergence of a number of specialty potash plays.
Aveo Group (AOG)
Aveo Group announced that it has been allocated 371 bed licences in the 2015 Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) released in the week starting from 14 March 2016. The 371 licences have been allocated to four villages across Qld, NSW and Vic and will enable, in part, the continued delivery of 922 aged care beds across the Company portfolio in accordance with previous announcements. This outcome allows the Company's customers the choice and diversity of services they require across its 89 existing retirement communities across Australia and the six new communities under construction or in planning. AOG added 6 cents to $3.28.
Recent Contacts & Presentations
Troy Resources (TRY), Medusa Mining (MML), Red 5 (RED), OBJ (OBJ), Sino Gas & Energy Holdings (SEH), Ausdrill (ASL), Danakali (DNK), Matrix (MCE), OBJ Limited (OBJ), Tox Free Solutions (TOX), Energia Minerals (EMX), Berkeley Energia (BKY) , Finders Resources (FND), 4DS Memory Ltd (4DS) , Bionomics Ltd (BNO), Resolute Mining (RSG), Avanco Resources (AVB), Rift Valley Resources (RVY), Kilbaran Resources (KNL), Pantoro (PNR)
