Christmas has come early for the bank’s shareholders with the decision to slightly increase the 2024 dividend – despite a single-digit decline in the net profit and cash earnings.
Beating the market benchmark is never easy, with 72 per cent of Australian actively managed global equity general funds trailing the S&P World Index in the six months to June 30, 2024. Domestic equity funds performed slightly better, albeit against a significantly lower bar set by the S&P/ASX 200 Index.
ASX falls 1.5 per cent, energy stocks soar
ASX falls 1.5%, Origin’s Octopus win, energy boom
The S&P/ASX200 (ASX: XJO) fell another 1.5% on Tuesday as a spike in bond yields in the US and a lack of clarity on the US debt ceiling put markets into a tailspin.
Every sector was lower with healthcare the hardest hit, dragging down over 3% on the back of a 3.8% fall in CSL (ASX: CSL) despite the lack of any announcement. This suggests it may be portfolio rebalancing ahead of the end of the quarter.
Materials were similarly weak with Fortescue (ASX: FMG) falling 5.6% even though the iron ore price gained strongly.
The highlight by far was the energy sector with Brent crude hitting US$80 per barrel making it the only gainer, up 4.3%.
The sustained rally comes amid an impending energy shortage with many countries now seeking to hoard their own resources.
The biggest beneficiary of the rally was Beach Petroleum (ASX: BPT) which gained over 10%, along with Woodside (ASX: WPL) and Santos (ASX: STO), which both hit multi-year highs.
Retail sales hit by lockdowns, WAM bids for PM Capital, Origin’s big profit
In an extremely predictable event, retail trade fell 1.7% in August, the third consecutive decline.
NSW and Victoria were the biggest detractors with extended lockdowns sending spending over 3% lower with little hope of a short-term rebound.
Temple and Webster (ASX: TPW) and Redbubble (ASX: RBL) both fell over 3%.
Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) announced that their initial $134 million investment in one of the world’s leading energy retailer Octopus Energy had tripled in value in less than 12 months with Generation Investment taking a 7% stake that values the company at GBP$3 billion.
Shares finished 5.2% higher on the news. Geoff Wilson’s WAM Capital (ASX: WAM) has continued its acquisitive ways, making a takeover offer for PM Capital’s Asian Opportunities (ASX: PAF) listed investment company.
The $50 million fund was in the process of merging with PM Capital’s other LIC with the deal offering one WAM share for every 1.99 PAF shares; the LIC finished 4.3% higher and in line with their NTA.
Sell off continues on yield bump, energy prices create stagflation concerns, debt ceiling to be breached
It was another rough day for US markets with the US bond yield hitting a 3 month higher, finishing over 1.5%.
The result, as expected, was a selloff in highly valued technology companies, dragging the Nasdaq down 2.8% and the S&P 500 2% lower.
The Dow Jones outperformed by comparison, falling 1.6% as the financials and energy sectors outperforms.
Shares in vaccine maker Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Wells Fargo Bank (NYSE: WFC) and NVIDIA (NYSE: NVDA) were especially hard hit.
Exacerbating the risk and causing a spike in volatility was more grand standing over an impending government shutdown and the nearing of the debt ceiling.
However, the government has never defaulted on its debt and on every previous occasion both parties have come to the table.
Spiking gas and oil prices in Europe and Asia are contributing to the risk of stagflation, which cost increases reduce consumers propensity to spend, hitting growth at the same time the pandemic policy support is removed.
