The COB from ausbiz

The local bourse followed a robust lead in from Wall St, which saw the NASDAQ and S&P500 crack record highs thanks to an 18% pop in Netflix stock and excitement around the Biden presidency. The ASX200 closed up 0.8% with the tech, financials and miners the leaders. BNPL provider, Zip, surged 23% after releasing a quarterly update which revealed an 88% increase in revenue. Check out our intervi...

With all eyes on Washington for the inauguration of the 46th President at 4am tomorrow morning AEDT, incoming Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, joined the party with comments about even more stimulus being required to kickstart the US economy. This pushed US markets higher and gave us a strong lead in today with the ASX 200 closing up 0.4%. All sectors closed in the green except real estate and fi...

Broker upgrades, M&A activity and low volumes combined for a surprisingly strong Tuesday trading session. The major index closed up 1.19%. Goldman Sachs and UBS upgraded the banks, while Rio Tinto closed up 0.65% after a quarterly update. Meanwhile Asian markets were also up with the Hang Seng the outstanding performer thanks to optimism around US/China relations... Our top three VODs are: The...

A sluggish start to the week with pressure on the banks and miners. Given they represent around half the market, they dragged the ASX down 0.8%. Medical imaging company Pro Medicus (PME) was up another 12% today after excitement around its US contract wins rolled on. Consumer discretionary, healthcare, tech and communications sectors were also up today. Meanwhile, market darling, Afterpay (AP...

A flat day for the ASX 200, closing up 0.0015% with the Afterpay juggernaut the story of the day - closing up 10% after broker upgrades and today's stimulus announcement from Joe Biden. The hot IPO from US competitor Affirm also helped legitimise the BNPL concept in that market. Tech and materials were up while industrials, healthcare, financials and energy took a hit. Our top three VODs today are...

After a shaky start, the ASX 200 index came home strongly to close up 0.4% on positivity around Joe Biden's planned announcement tonight on his economic stimulus package. It was tech's day with the sector up 4.7% and Afterpay up 9.1% after an upgrade by Morgan Stanley. Healthcare, industrials, financials and utilities were also up while energy and miners were down on falling commodity prices. Our...

After a morning dip, the ASX 200 came home with a wet sail to close up 0.1% and break its three day losing streak. All in all a fairly uneventful day as the market looks for the next catalyst to break higher. With the US stimulus package already largely priced in, attention turns to the Fed and its take on the US recovery which will ultimately determine the path of further stimulus. Our top t...

A choppy day for the ASX with the major index closing flat after being up 0.5% around midday. The banks led the gains (up around 1%) while tech, energy, healthcare and utilities were all down. The iron ore miners slipped again after the price of the red dirt dropped further overnight. Meanwhile, greater Brisbane is now out of lockdown with just one new case reported this morning... Our top three V...

It was all downhill for the local bourse today despite a record night on Wall St on Friday. The ASX 200 dipped below 6,700 mid afternoon to close at 6,697.2. Energy and utilities were the bright sparks while tech, gold, mining, healthcare and consumer staples weighed. A reality check for bitcoin traders, with the crypto dropping around 15% over the past 24 hours, at the time of writing, amid profi...

A solid week of gains for the Australian market; today's session closed on the day's high with the BNPL darlings leading the infotech sector higher. Utilities and property trusts came under some pressure, but it was the big miners that were the biggest drag after Thursday's stellar gains. That was a big first week #2021 - what else ya got? Enjoy your weekend. Our top three VODs are: Anth...

What a day! The ASX 200 closed up 1.6%, pushing aside concerns that Democrat-controlled US Senate and chaos in Washington would be a negative for equities. The benefits of stimulus clearly overrode fears about higher corporate taxes and tighter regulation. Energy and materials up over 4% and Rio Tinto climbed 9%. Healthcare, tech and REITs finished in the red. Catch our interview with fo...

Markets fretted at the prospect of a Democrat controlled Congress today which ushers the way for higher taxes and increased regulation. The XJO index closed down 1.1%. Yield sensitive sectors were particularly hard hit, as were companies with high valuations i.e. tech and healthcare. Energy stocks were the exception to the rule following Saudi Arabia agreeing to cut oil production through Mar...

A flat finish on the local bourse, with the major index closing down just 0.03%. Materials led the way with iron ore miners back in favour. Consumer staples and tech were also up a touch while financials, energy and industrials all took a hit. Join us live at 10am AEDT tomorrow for Nadine and Scutty's interview with President Trump's former Communications Director, Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci....

And hello 2021! It was a strong start to the New Year with the ASX up 1.4%. Materials (we're looking at you gold miners & Fortescue) and consumer-related companies led the charge. Commodities extended gains on hopes for a Democratic win in Georgia's run-off elections, which could see bigger stimulus cheques and infrastructure spending fast-tracked in the first quarter. The energy sector k...

The ASX brought a bit of Christmas cheer today, with the major index closing up 0.3%. Volume was predictably light in a shortened Christmas Eve session. The local bourse was helped by an overnight rebound in energy and materials after a bounce in base metals, iron ore and crude futures. Live programming on ausbiz.com.au resumes at 10am AEDT on January 4. Until then, we'd like to wish all of o...

Markets rallied for no particular reason today with the ASX up 0.66%. The market drifted higher in thin trade boosted by gains across every sector except materials. REITs led the way with a 2% gain. However, the big miners came under some pressure after Chinese iron ore futures fell sharply. Investors are continuing to assess concerns around a new virus variant, shutting cities as large as London...

Improved COVID numbers in Sydney but that positivity didn't translate to the ASX, with the major index down 1.05%. Maybe too much good news has already been priced in. REITs and healthcare were the only gainers while materials and energy weighed. Bumper preliminary retail sales figure from the ABS today - up 7% on October and 13.25 on November 2019. We're obviously still feathering our nests,...

A flat day for the local bourse (down 0.1%) with negative sentiment around the COVID cluster on Sydney's northern beaches, Brexit negotiations breaking down and a more virulent strain of the virus emerging in the UK. On the upside, the US Congress finally got its US$900 billion stimulus package across the line, but that has been well priced in by markets. Volume was thin on the ASX with consumer s...

The local market closed down 1.2% today despite a strong lead in from Wall St - which was full of positivity after Congress moved closer to a deal and agreement on Brexit also got closer, save for fishing. Gold, materials and utilities were the bright sparks today, while all other sectors closed in the red. Our top three VODs for today are: The coal version of #staybullish Two software microcap na...

The Santa Claus rally rolls on with a 10-month high for the ASX200 today - up 1.2% to 6756.7. A strong lead in from Wall St thanks to the US Congress edging closer to a $1.2 trillion stimulus deal. The unemployment rate for November was better than expected at 6.8%, with the participation rate at 66.1%. And Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, delivered the MYEFO with this year's budget deficit foreca...

Hope springs eternal! At least that's what the market seemed to think today; boosted by Congress in the US last night inching closer to a deal on stimulus. The ASX 200 closed up 0.7%. Tech was a on tear (again) with Afterpay hitting an all time high of $115.69. BNPL challenger, Openpay, jumped 27% after announcing it would expand into the US. Gold also had a big day while energy and healthcare wer...

The local market limped to the close, falling away with the miners and energy names proving the biggest weight. Iron ore miners took a hit across the board with coal companies damaged by the escalation of trade tensions with China. The war of words continues with the PM warning an out-and-out Chinese ban would break WTO rules. As APRA lifts its cap on bank dividend payouts, we prep to hear fr...

Tech led the gainers (up 3% and Afterpay up 8.8% to $109.93!) while the banks, consumer discretionary (Wesfarmers up 2.7% to $50.94) and REITs also performed strongly. Healthcare, gold, materials and energy weighed. Our top three VODs today are: There are a lot of new kids on the block, but here are Ron's top three Intelligent picks from Gaurav Cracking the COVID vaccine storage market Catch us li...

A second red finish in a row for the ASX 200 with healthcare, industrials and consumer discretionary weighing. The index closed down 0.61%.CSL was down more than 3% after its coronavirus vaccine in development at the University of Queensland returned false-positive results for HIV in trials! Energy, gold, tech and materials were the bright sparks with the iron ore miners continuing to enjoy their...

Profit takers took the heat off the market with all sectors down. Tech led the falls and gold and communications also took a hit. The surging iron ore price continues to grease the rails for Fortescue - the stock closing up 3.3% today and now up 102% since the start of 2020. Our top three VODs today are: Huge, lucrative holes and the small caps that help them get dug Three stocks - and a Tesl...