This year’s top 10 stories included a peek into AustralianSuper’s international equities build out in London, AMP’s move to slash employee benefits, and plenty of hard-hitting analysis of the issues that matter in institutional investment. But the real story is how readers helped shape all of that coverage.
Orbis’ Stuart Place is riding from Melbourne to the Moon and Back to fund a treatment for the “monster of a disease” that his youngest son was born with. The investment industry is rallying behind him.
Commodities, State of the Union ballast volatile markets, tale of three themes
President Biden delivered his annual State of the Union address during the session, with strong commentary around Ukraine and targeted investment into domestic manufacturing capacity supporting US futures and ultimately pushing the S&P/ASX200 up another 0.3 per cent.
Despite the positive day, seven of the 11 major sectors were down with cyclical companies in the property and the banking sector the hardest hit.
ANZ Bank (ASX: ANZ) fell 2.2 per cent and Vicinity (ASX: VCX) 1.9 per cent as a falling bond yield is expected to crimp their profit margins and rent increases.
Fund managers were also on the nose with Janus Henderson (ASX: JHG) and Pendal (ASX: PDL) down 7 and 4 per cent respectively.
The news came with a positive backdrop on the economy, with GDP growth reaching 3.4 per cent and bringing Australia back where it was before the pandemic; a stunning result given immigration is all but gone.
Household spending was the primary driver, up 6.3 per cent as Victoria and NSW were released from Delta lockdowns, offsetting a weakening in property and private investment.
Even a 28 per cent fall in the value of iron ore exports wasn’t enough to slow the positive result, with a 39 per cent jump in coal offsetting the decline.
Lithium hopeful jumps on Tesla deal, Sigma upgrades on COVID tests, Telix cancels capital raise
Lithium hopeful Core Lithium (ASX: CXO) gained 15.2 per cent after announcing that Tesla (NYSE: TSLA) had entered a contract to deliver 110,000 tonnes of concentrate at market prices beginning in 2023.
Sigma Healthcare (ASX: SIG) gained 2 per cent after the company upgraded earnings guidance, confirming that profits would be 10 to 15 per cent better than last year, an improvement on their announcement in December that they would be falling by 10 per cent for the financial year.
The improved performance was put down to the massive demand for Rapid Antigen Tests in 2022.
Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX: TLX) has pulled their $175 million capital raise via a Share Purchase Plan after the share price tanked in the January selloff.
After raising capital from institutions at $7.70 per share it was retail investors turn to provide the company with fresh equity.
Yet with the share price having fallen to $5.16 today, there was no benefit at all in buying new equity at a premium to market, hence the forced cancellation of the offer.
Dovish Fed boosts markets, retailer Nordstrom jumps on upgrade, Ford split
US benchmarks benefitted from a seeming dovish turn from Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell, who announced in a press conference he would be recommending just a 25 basis point or 0.25 per cent increase in the cash rate in March.
This was a surprise given the market and many experts had been predicting a 50 basis point jump with the events in Ukraine clearly rattling policymakers.
The result was a 1.8 per cent gain in both the Dow Jones and S&P500 driven by a rally in financials, along with a 1.6 per cent gain in the Nasdaq.
The President’s State of the Union address was well-received, highlighting an ambitious investment program and banning Russian planes from domestic airspace.
The oil price rallied despite OPEC+ agreeing to an expansion in production whilst retailer Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) gained more than 37 per cent after reporting a 23 per cent jump in revenue as their omni-channel sales program continues to grow.
Ford (NYSE: F) announced they would be splitting their business into an EV and fuel focused unit after reporting a 20 per cent reduction in quarterly sales, shares gained 8 per cent.
