We are pleased to confirm that Marcus Bogdan has joined Prime’s Investment Committee in the capacity of an Australian Equities specialist.

Marcus brings to Prime 25 years of experience and an enviable track record of performance managing Australian Equities in his capacity as Chief Investment Officer of Blackmore Capital, where he leads a team of 6 people.

Marcus will work closely with Prime’s Investment Committee and Advisory Team to construct and deliver best of breed portfolio outcomes across Australian Equities.

Please find following some additional information on Marcus;

Education

• Graduate of the University of Melbourne holding undergraduate and post graduate qualifications from the Arts (History, Philosophy), Business & Economics (Economics & Finance) and Law faculties
• Marcus has a Law Master’s Degree specialising in Competition and Corporate Law from the University of Melbourne
• Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment

Experience

• 25 Years in Equity Investment Management
• Commenced investment career as a Graduate Research Analyst at McIntosh/Merrill Lynch in 1992
• Research Analyst for 8 years covering Chemical, Logistics & Transport & Industrial sectors
• Joined Credit Suisse in 2000 as Equity Advisor to Family Offices
• Joined Citigroup in 2002 as Senior Vice President (Equity Investment)
• Portfolio Manager at Herschel Asset Management in 2006 covering financial services, healthcare and industrial sectors
• Portfolio Manager at Cooper Investors in 2007 as Portfolio Manager for the Australian Equities Fund with coverage of healthcare, industrial, REIT, and telecommunications sectors
• Chief Investment Officer at Canaccord Genuity in 2013, where Marcus established two Australian Equity Funds
• In 2017 established Blackmore Capital, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer

In the normal course of business, Marcus’s investment approach involves extensive travel undertaking company visits both domestically and internationally, including rigorous investment analysis of Australian companies operating in foreign jurisdictions.

Marcus believes analysis provides deep insights into the Australian company’s operations, competitive industry dynamics and understanding of regulatory environment. The analysis also provides insights into emerging global operating trends in different markets, such as financial services, logistics, technology and supermarket sectors.

Company and industry visitation programs have been a core element in Marcus investment process that provides insights to the opportunities and risks facing companies that are invested in. The company and industry visitation process provide an iterative process of knowledge gathering of companies and industries.

On behalf of the Prime Investment Committee and Research Team (listed below) I’d like to welcome Marcus and we look forward to his contribution.

• Mark Johnson (Chair of Committee & Partner – Wealth Management)
• Cameron Morcher (Partner – Wealth Management)
• Guy Silbert (Investment Manager), and
• Jordan Lisle (Dealer & Research Assistant)

If you have any questions on this announcement please do not hesitate to contact your Adviser, Angelina Rigoli (General Manager – Wealth Management) or simply give me a call on 0412 304 033.

Regards,
Simon Madder – Managing Director & CEO
Prime Financial Group Ltd

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

Not wanting to sound like a broken record but tech-stocks once again drove our market higher last week rising +4.4% followed by financials +2.4% as the ASX200 climbed +1.2%.

Investors are continuing to price longer term growth assumptions into markets which since the GFC has seen ‘growth’ stocks outpace ‘value’ stocks by a considerable margin.

Further driving and adding to this strength and investor optimism is the resounding message shared by central banks globally that interest rates are either at record lows, going lower or entering negative territory.

From an investor standpoint the lower rates move, the lower the discount rate applied to future cash flows meaning investors are discounting future earnings by a lower figure. Ultimately this means corporate earnings are higher, hence the optimism.

You only have to look at the US equity market to illustrate this point given its size compared to our local market. The NASDAQ which is a heavily-weighted tech index is +30% for the 2020 calendar year compared to the S&P 500 +8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average which is virtually flat.

Equity markets thrive on optimism and investor sentiment and the idea that interest rates are likely to remain low for years to come is part of the reason we are becoming slightly more positive in our outlook.

Melbourne Cup & Interest rates

It’s unlikely to steal too much attention away from the Melbourne Cup but the RBAs meeting on Cup day is likely to support the above theory, with rates anticipated to contract a further 15bps.

We will get some better context this week with the RBA minutes released tomorrow and a speech from deputy governor Guy Debelle on Thursday.

But it is looking increasingly likely we will get a rate cut in two weeks’ time with the RBA seeking to further stimulate the economy in light of the coronavirus impact on the economy.

RBA Governor Philip Lowe indicated the prospect of easier monetary policy last Thursday stating “the RBA board is considering what more it can do to support jobs, incomes and businesses as Australia gets on the road to economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Markets have virtually factored  in with the 3-year Commonwealth Government bond currently yielding 0.12%. If this proves to be accurate then rates are likely to be cut from 0.25% to 0.10%.

Yields on longer dated bonds such as the 10-year Commonwealth Government bond fell to 0.72% last week as speculation mounts the RBA will broaden its Yield Curve Control policy to also target the longer end of the market which are now trading back near their March/April lows.

Economic data

Unemployment climbed slightly higher in September as anticipated rising from 6.8% to 6.9% but came in ahead of forecasts of 7.0%.

Despite the ‘beat’ there remains ongoing concerns over the coming month’s data given the strict lockdown in Victoria and the reality that those on JobKeeper are not included in the data. If and when individuals on JobKeeper move to JobSeeker the unemployment rate will undoubtedly rise

Also disappointing was the increase in underemployment (those with work looking for more hours) which rose to 11.4% and the participating rate decreased to 64.8%.

The Federal Budget handed down a fortnight ago projected that unemployment will reach 7.25% in 2020-2021, so whilst this looks on track given the above figures the diminishing JobKeeper stimulus payments and the pace of our economic recovery will determine this.

Stock specific

Unibail Rodamco Westfield (URW) was the best performer on the ASX last week rising +23% after it entered into an agreement with a consortium of French institutional investors to sell its SHiFT office building for 620m euros which represented a premium to its June 30 book value.

Meanwhile Link Administration Holdings (LNK) rose +22% after receiving a conditional non-binding indicative proposal from Pacific Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and their affiliates to acquire all the outstanding shares in LNK.  

Of the key stocks we are continuing to look at Telstra (TLS), Challenger (CGF) and CSL (CSL) all had positive news flow last week.

TLS had its biggest weekly gain since July rising +2.5% on the back of its AGM reiterating FY21 underlying EBITDA guidance of $6.5-$7.0b. As a general rule TLS pays a dividend of 70%-90% of its underlying earnings and whilst not a guarantee the board said it was committed to exceeding this threshold if necessary to maintain its current 16c per share dividend.

CGF reported stronger Q1 figures driven by record quarterly annuity sales and strong funds management net flows during the September quarter. Assets under management rose +4% to $89 billion during the quarter while life investments assets also rose +4%.

And CSL raised the lower end of its full year profit guidance to reflect growth expectations of 3% – 8% having previously guided to growth of between 0%-8%. Expectations for strong demand for its plasma and recombinant therapies over FY21 driven by strong demand for flu vaccines were the primary reason for the slight upgrade. 

International markets

Looking offshore China reported a strong increase in exports in September despite the figures falling slightly short of analyst expectations.

Exports rose +9.9% year-on-year in September versus expectations of a +10% increase whilst iron ore imports climbed +8.2% month-on-month to 108.5 million tons and crude oil imports rose +2.1% to 48.5 million tons.

The major theme to emerge last week was reports that China has suspended purchases of Australian coal amid ongoing political tensions between the two nations. Initial reports indicate that Chinese power stations have been told to stop using Australian coal which would add to recent bans and tariffs imposed on Australian barley, wine, wheat and beef.

BHPs chairman confirmed at its AGM that some Chinese customers had asked for deferrals of their coal orders with some Chinese ports not accepting incoming Australian coal.

US equities were broadly flat last week with the S&P 500 +0.2%. Major catalysts for US equities in the next few weeks will be the upcoming election and Q3 earnings season which kicked off last Tuesday with JPMorgan (JPM) and Citigroup (C) reporting. Netflix (NFLX), Tesla (TSLA) and American Express (AXP) are all due later this week whilst Amazon’s (AMZN) Prime Day and Apple’s (AAPL) unveiling of the new iPhone 12 model created a buzz last week.

Looking ahead

Monday 19th October – Friday 23rd October

• Monday: AU RBA Meeting Minutes, CN Retail Sales (SEP)
• Tuesday: US Building Permits (SEP)
• Wednesday: AU Westpac Leading Index (SEP), UK Inflation Rate (SEP)
• Thursday: US Weekly Jobless Claims (OCT)
• Friday: AU Manufacturing PMI (OCT), JP Inflation Rate (SEP), UK Retail Sales (SEP), US Existing Home Sales (SEP)

Friday 16th October, 5pm values

Friday 16th October, closing values

Key dividends

Monday 19th October – Friday 23rd October

• Monday: Div Pay-Date – Kogan.com (KGN)
• Tuesday: Div Pay-Date – Nine Entertainment (NEC), XARO (XARO)
• Wednesday: Div Pay-Date – Charter Hall Social Infrastructure REIT (CQE)
• Thursday: Div Pay-Date – Austal Limited (ASB)
• Friday: Div Pay-Date – Capitol Health (CAJ)

Contact

If you would like to discuss your situation, please speak to your adviser or email clientservices@primefinancial.com.au

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

Well it was certainly a Federal Budget that made you take notice.

We knew the Government was going to spend up big because it was largely pre-announced and because our economy needs a big cash injection to stimulate growth by way of job creation and spending.

But the sheer scale and size of this Budget really does make you stop and think that the current Government is committed to growth.

The firepower the Government has launched at the economy is a big positive and whilst net debt is forecasted to peak at $966b in 2024 and will take decades to pay back, this level of spending is absolutely necessary to reignite our economy in the midst of our greatest challenge since the Great Depression.

Sure, there are always winners and losers to come out of every budget with childcare and retail missing out on additional funding this year and those on JobSeeker aged over 35 likely to face greater competition in re-entering the workplace.

But there are plenty of winners.

Income tax relief for individuals, cash payments to seniors, disability support recipients and carers are all designed to promote spending whilst greater deductions for businesses on depreciable assets and the ability to offset current year losses against previous profits are aimed at softening the blow caused by coronavirus.

Treasurer Frydenberg began the Budget on Tuesday night by stating “this budget is all about jobs” and the $4b JobMaker Hiring Credit incentivising businesses to take on additional employees aged between 16-35 and boosting the Apprenticeship Wage subsidy by $1.2b reinforces this.

It is a big deficit, but we think there is cause to be a bit more optimistic for the economy in FY21 and beyond.

RBA

The RBA sat only hours before the budget was handed down and took what we believed was the prudent approach.

Why cut the official rate only hours before seeing what level of stimulus the government was likely provide?

Markets continue to rate the chance of a rate cut better than 50-50 before the end of 2021 and you only have to look at the current yield on the 3-year Commonwealth Government bond to get a sense for what markets are anticipating.

The current yield here is 0.14% so the bond market is foretelling wider markets that we are likely to see a rate reduction when the RBA next sit on Melbourne Cup day.

A growing number of economists are predicting the RBA will consider buying bonds with longer maturities (5-10 year bonds) to signal a long term commitment to lower rates.

With the currency currently trading above 72c any such move may provide some support to weakening the AUD back to the 70c level. The RBA have been very vocal about lowering the AUD in order to make our exports more attractive to international buyers, so given the sharp rally from March onwards this remains a key objective.

Global equities

Global equity markets largely shrugged off news surrounding the President’s COVID-19 infection with markets rallying close to +2% last Monday.

However, as we have stated in past months volatility will continue to impact market movements running into the US election.

Evidence of this was clear on Tuesday when Trump announced that further stimulus talks would be halted until after the election given the inability between the Democrats and Republicans to come to terms. Whether or not stimulus talks are indeed halted or not, the market reacted swiftly and sold off -2% peak-to-trough.

Ultimately, the US equity market ended up rallying close to +4% for the week to post its best weekly gains since July.

Once again, the NASDAQ drove the market higher with tech stocks rallying +4.5% as EBay (EBAY) and Netflix (NFLX) led the way+7%.Both stocks are due to provide third quarter financial updates in the next fortnight.

Elsewhere, the UK gained +2% to close the week at a three-week high, as a new jobs support plan and progress in Brexit talks outweighed the surge in COVID-19 infections.

Meanwhile China added +1.7% on Friday with the market having been shut for most of the week due to Golden Week. Interestingly Golden Week showed the strongest signs yet that China’s tourism sector is recovering from the global pandemic with 637 million tourists travelling within China over the week.

ASX climbs for 5 consecutive days

The ASX had its best week since mid-April, rising more than +5% and posted five straight days of gains for the first time since June.

Gains were recorded across all major sectors with energy +9%, financials +8% and IT +8% faring best. Oil stocks were well bid as a Norwegian oil strike that threatens to wipe out nearly a quarter of the country’s petroleum output. The downward pressure on supply saw Brent oil and WTI climb +9% during the week.

Locally, the best performing stock was engineering and industrials group CIMIC (CIM) which rose +20% after a third quarter update revealed strong Q3 revenue growth and a positive market outlook. Demand for its services looks likely to remain strong following the Federal Budget announcing heavy investment in infrastructure.

Gold miners Northern Star Resources (NST) and Saracen Mineral Holdings (SAR) both climbed +15% on the back of news the two companies would enter into a $16b merger. The deal is expected to create $2b in synergies and create a top 10 global gold mining powerhouse.

Time to reflect

Over the past five years, we have tactically moved to increase our exposure to international equities which has served portfolios well.

One only has to look at the outperformance of US equites relative to Australian equities in this time period to see how well this has worked.

We are extremely pleased with how our two most recent international fund manager recommendations have performed throughout the 2020 period.

The T.Rowe Price Global Equity Fund has returned a staggering +19.6% outperforming its benchmark return of 0.04% and the Trinetra Emerging Markets Growth Trust has delivered a more modest but still impressive outperformance of 4%.

We added both funds to the International Equity SMA in December last year.

In the fixed income space listed investment trusts (LITs) Metrics (MXT) which provides direct lending and private debt and Qualitas (QRI) which provides direct exposure to the commercial real estate market continue to distribute attractive monthly income.

MXT has returned 5.1% income to investors over the last 12 months based on its issue price of $2.00 and likewise QRI has delivered 6% income on its $1.60 issue price.

Whilst both LITs were met with heavy selling in March and at their lows traded 35% below their respective Net Tangible Asset (NTA) value, much of this has since been recovered. For a defensive component of portfolios, we believe the income from MXT and QRI remains attractive.

Disappointingly Australian equities have lagged. Much of this underperformance came from being overweight cyclicals which were the first stocks sold in Q1 and from being overweight diversified financials.

The impact of the pandemic on markets has reinforced the idea that high quality, blue chip stocks survive market down turns better than most due to their robust balance sheets and ability to generate ongoing cash flows.

We used the market correction back in April to boost the quality of portfolios by adding Coles (COL) and Spark Infrastructure (SKI) and we continue to think this quality approach will deliver the best risk-adjusted returns moving forward. As such we are revisiting a list of top 20 stocks which we believe are likely to emerge from the pandemic in better shape.

Potential considerations include BHP, CBA, CSL, WES and WOW.

Looking ahead

Monday 12th October – Friday 16th October

• Monday: CN M2 Money Supply (SEP)
• Tuesday: CN Trade Balance (SEP), UK Unemployment Rate (AUG), US Core Inflation Rate (SEP), NFIB Business Optimism Index (SEP)
• Wednesday: AU Westpac Consumer Confidence (OCT), New Home Sales (SEP), US Core PPI (SEP)
• Thursday: AU Unemployment Rate (SEP), CN Inflation Rate (SEP), US Weekly Jobless Claims (OCT)
• Friday: US Retail Sales (SEP)

Friday 9th October, 5pm values

Friday 9th October, closing values

Key dividends

Monday 12th October – Friday 16th October

• Monday: Div Pay-Date – Chorus Limited (CNU), Orora Limited (ORA)
• Tuesday: Div Pay-Date – Coca-Cola Amatil (CCL), Seven Group Holdings (SVW)
• Wednesday: Div Pay-Date – BlueScope Steel Limited (BSL), FlexiGroup Limited (FXL), News Corp (NWS)
• Thursday: Div Pay-Date – Healius (HLS), Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (QRI)
• Friday: Div Ex-Date – Newcrest Mining Limited (NCM), Vanguard Australian Fixed Interest (VAF), Vanguard Australian Shares Index (VAS)

Contact

If you would like to discuss your situation, please speak to your adviser or email clientservices@primefinancial.com.au

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

COVID-19 has resulted in the most severe global economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The 2020/21 Federal Budget is an attempt to lift the Australian economy, gain fiscal strength and provide support to keep Australians in work and businesses in business.

The Budget further highlights additional support in response to the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and implements the next phase of Australia’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan to create jobs, drive sustainable, private sector led growth while continuing to deliver the essential services on which Australians rely.

Australia’s economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of the original and extended JobKeeper scheme, the cashflow boosts and the enhanced JobSeeker payment has come at a significant cost, Mr Frydenberg said, resulting in a budget deficit of $213.7b, falling to $66.9b by 2023/24.

The government has proposed to bring forward by two years individual tax cuts legislated to start in 2022/23, meaning as of the 2020/21 income year the 19% threshold will be lifted from $37,000 to $45,000 and the 32.5% threshold lifted from $90,000 to $120,000. The low and middle income tax offset will also be retained for an additional year.

In a major boost to business investment, immediate deductions for asset purchases of any value will be available to businesses with a turnover of up to $5b, until June 2022. Other measures include further refinement of proposed changes to the R&D tax incentive, FBT and CGT exemptions. The Budget papers also list in an appendix, measures and policy decisions previously announced and published in the July 2020 Economic and Fiscal update.

Find out below what this means for you, your family, or your business.

Tax relief for individuals

As part of the 2020/21 Budget the Government will bring forward Stage two of the Personal Income Tax Plan by two years. From 1 July 2020:

• the low income tax offset will increase from $445 to $700;
• the top threshold of the 19 per cent tax bracket will increase from $37,000 to $45,000; and
• the top threshold of the 32.5 per cent tax bracket will increase from $90,000 to $120,000.

In 2020/21, low-and middle-income earners will continue to receive an additional benefit of up to $1,080 from the low and middle income tax offset (LMITO). More than 7 million individuals are expected to receive tax relief of $2,000 or more for the 2020/21 income year compared with 2017/18 tax settings. Low and middle income tax payers will receive relief of up to $2,745 for singles and $5,490 for dual income families.

The Government also announced that it will provide a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemption for granny flat arrangements where there is a formal written agreement for a family member to reside on the relevant property.

Tax relief for business

• Businesses with a turnover of up to $5 billion will be able to immediately deduct the full cost of eligible depreciable assets acquired from 7:30pm (AEDT) on 6 October 2020 and first used or installed by 30 June 2022.
• Small businesses using simplified depreciation pools can deduct the entire balance of the pool at the end of the income year while full expensing applies. This means that effectively, the small business depreciation pools may have up to 30 June 2022 to access this asset write-off concession.
• The Government will temporarily allow companies with a turnover of up to $5 billion to offset tax losses against previous profits on which tax has been paid. Losses incurred to June 2022 can be offset against prior profits made in or after the 2018/19 financial year.
• The Budget provides $105 million in tax relief to expand access to a range of small business tax concessions by lifting the aggregated annual turnover threshold for these concessions. Businesses with an aggregated annual turnover between $10 million and $50 million will be able to access up to ten small business tax concessions. The expanded concessions will apply in three phases, with the first phase starting from 1 July 2020. The concessions include:
• From 1 July 2020, immediate deductions for certain capital start-up expenses and certain prepaid expenditure.
• From 1 April 2021, FBT exemptions for car parking and work-related portable devices, that currently only apply to small business employers with aggregated turnover of less $10 million will be extended to those with aggregated turnover of up to $50 million.
• From 1 July 2021, access to simplified trading stock rules, a two year period for amendment of income tax assessments (excluding entities that have significant international tax dealings) and simplified accounting method to apply for GST.
• The Government will also enhance previously announced reforms to invest an additional $2 billion through the Research and Development Tax Incentive. These changes will commence from 1 July 2021. For companies with aggregated annual turnover of less than $20 million, the refundable R&D tax offset will be set at 18.5 percentage points above the claimant’s company tax rate, and the $4 million cap on annual cash refunds will not proceed. Companies that qualify for the refundable R&D tax offset will continue to receive 43.5% for the current tax year and into the foreseeable future as the company tax rate is proposed to reduce to 25% from next financial year.
• Taking effect from 2 October 2020, there will be a new FBT exemption for employers who provide retraining or re-skilling benefits for their employees whose roles are being made redundant.
• Victorian Government business support grants for small and medium businesses will be non-assessable-non-exempt income for income tax purposes. This will extend to all States and Territories on an application basis. Eligibility will be limited to grants announced on or after 13 September 2020 and for payments made between 13 September 2020 and 30 June 2021.
• Companies that are incorporated offshore will be treated as Australian tax residents where there is a “significant economic connection to Australia”. The test will be satisfied where both the company’s core commercial activities are undertaken in Australia, and its central management and control is in Australia.

JobMaker Hiring Credit

A $4 billion JobMaker Hiring Credit will be payable for up to 12 months for each new job and is available from today to employers who hire eligible employees aged 16-35. The Hiring Credit will be paid quarterly in arrears at the rate of $200 per week for those aged between 16-29, and $100 per week for those aged between 30-35.

Eligible employees are required to work a minimum of 20 hours per week. To be eligible, employers will need to demonstrate an increase in overall employee headcount and payroll for each additional new position created.

Superannuation

Commencing 1 July 2021, the Your Future, Your Super package will improve the superannuation system by:

• Having your superannuation follow you: preventing the creation of unintended multiple superannuation accounts when employees change jobs.
• Making it easier to choose a better fund: members will have access to a new interactive online YourSuper comparison tool which will encourage funds to compete harder for members’ savings.
• Holding funds to account for underperformance: to protect members from poor outcomes and encourage funds to lower costs the Government will require superannuation products to meet an annual objective performance test. Those that fail will be required to inform members.
• Increasing transparency and accountability: the Government will increase trustee accountability by strengthening their obligations to ensure trustees only act in the best financial interests of members. The Government will also require superannuation funds to provide better information regarding how they manage and spend members’ money in advance of Annual Members’ Meetings.

Social Security

• The Government will make two separate $250 economic support payments from November 2020 and in early 2021 to eligible benefit recipients and health care card holders.
• The Coronavirus Supplement paid to eligible benefit recipients has changed to $250 per fortnight from 25 September 2020 and continues to 31 December. The income free area changes to $300 with a 60c taper rate.
• Announcement of the 2020 Women’s Economic Security Statement providing $240.4 million over 5 years from 2020/21 to support women’s economic security and increased female workforce participation.
• Extension of the work test period for Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay for those whose employment was interrupted by COVID-19.
• Provision of $2.0 billion over four years from 2020/21 to further support older Australians accessing aged care by providing additional home care packages as well as continuing to improve transparency and regulatory standards.
• A further $812.8 million over four years from 2019/20 to support older Australians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic including additional access to short-term home support services, guaranteeing supply of food for older Australians who are frail or self-isolating during COVID-19, and additional support to residents of aged care facilities who temporarily leave care to live with their families.

The full Budget papers are available atwww.budget.gov.au and the Treasury ministers’ media releases are available atministers.treasury.gov.au.

The Prime team are here to help you through this journey and help you achieve the best outcome for you, your family group and business. If you would like to discuss further on the proposed Federal Budget, please contact ushere.

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

The Australian equity market closed weaker falling -2.9% as month end and quarter end provided fund managers with the opportunity to rotate and update portfolios.

After staging an impressive intra-day rally on Friday, the market gave back all its gains and more in the final hour as US futures sold off when news of Donald and Melania Trump’s COVID-19 infections hit the headlines.

September was the first month of negative returns (-4%) since the COVID crisis hit our market in Feb-Mar this year.

Driving this weakness in September were energy stocks which fell -11% for the month on the back of falling oil prices which resulted in heavyweights Woodside Petroleum (WPL) sliding -10%, Oil Search (OSH) -19% and Santos (STO) -14%.

IT stocks also reversed a five-month winning streak dropping -7% as the tech-heavy NASDAQ index finally saw some profit-taking falling -5%. Investors took the opportunity to book profits on account of recent strength with local tech-stocks Afterpay (APT), Wisetech (WTC) down roughly -10% mirroring the falls in global giants Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Google’s parent company Alphabet.

Big week ahead locally

The RBA meeting tomorrow and Federal Budget tomorrow evening are major catalysts for the ASX this week.

With the size of the FY21 deficit anticipated to be in the vicinity of $200b many expect the government to announce the fast tracking of its proposed stage two income tax cuts which are legislated to begin in July 2022.

Such a move would go some way towards addressing weak household consumption which fell a whopping

-12% in the June quarter.

Fiscal spending is also set to play a key role in the Budget with the Government pre-announcing a $1.5b investment in manufacturing to kickstart the economic recovery.

Financial markets are now anticipating a 50% chance that the RBA will cut the official cash rate before the end of the 2020 calendar year. Forecasts suggest any rate cut will likely be a “micro easing” with the cash rate likely to be cut from 0.25% to 0.10% and the RBA to commit to similarly managing the three-year Government bond yield better known as Yield Curve Control (YCC.)

With the unemployment rate predicted to deteriorate further it is likely a further easing of monetary policy will need to be implemented. However, the likelihood of the RBA doing this on Tuesday is falling. RBA Governor Phil Lowe, a strong advocate for fiscal policy, would ideally want to see and assess the outcome of Tuesday evening’s Federal Budget before committing to a rate cut.

Economic data

Last week we saw private sector credit come in flat month-on-month while building approvals fell -1.6% vs last month which was discouraging but not surprising.

Given the more subdued business activity locally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the complete closure of certain industries in Victoria new consumer and business credit is likely to remain under pressure until 2021.

Retail sales were also weak falling -4% month-on-month in August. While most states were down, the setback was disproportionately driven by sales in Victoria which fell -12.6% due to the strict lockdowns.

Offshore saw encouraging economic data out of China with the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for September better than expected. Manufacturing PMI improved to 51.5 from 51.0 in August, ahead of market forecasts. Services PMI was also strong at 55.9 indicating manufacturing and service sectors are expanding.

The strong data was due to a strong recovery in both demand and supply and a positive boost for the Chinese economy ahead of its week-long Golden Week holiday.

Iron ore added +2% to trade $US120/ton after a decrease in steel inventories supported expectations for increased demand in iron ore. China’s strong PMI print was another positive signal for iron ore given its heavy reliance on the commodity.

Friday also saw the US release its September jobs report with nonfarm payrolls rising by 661,000 (forecasts were 800,000) which translates to an unemployment rate of 7.9% compared to estimates of 8.2%.

At a headline level the numbers continue to move in the right direction but there remain some inconsistencies in the data. The labor force participation rate for September fell 0.3% to 61.4% meaning that because many unemployed people stopped looking for work, the labor force contracted and the remaining unemployed people represented a smaller percentage of the workforce.

With September’s monthly job gains the lowest since May we are starting to see signs that the pace of the recovery is slowing.

The (great?) debate

With one month to go ahead of the US Presidential election equity markets continue to trade with a lack of conviction. This is understandable given the different investment thesis under a Biden Presidency which would see corporate taxes increase alongside minimum wages.

You would think some of these policies may have featured in last week’s debate between the two candidates but that was clearly not the case.

It was somewhat surprising that equity markets took any notice given the ineffectiveness of the debate, but they did. Despite a lack of any material policy discussion equity markets rallied initially as Trump attacked Biden before reversing course and sliding as Biden managed to withstand the verbal bout.

All in all, it was quite disappointing with key topics on healthcare, racial justice, COVID-19, the economy and climate change barely scratching the surface. Biden firmed further in the polls following the debate and hopefully a second debate provides voters with a little more clarity.

Interestingly, 90% of surveyed US voters came into this debate saying their minds were already made up with many having already submitted their ballots.

It’s unclear but unlikely this debate would have done much to change that.

Looking ahead

Monday 5th October – Friday 9th October

• Monday: AU NAB Business Confidence (SEP), Services PMI (SEP)
• Tuesday: AU RBA Meeting, FEDERAL BUDGET, Job Advertisements (SEP), Balance of trade (AUG); US ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Activity (SEP), Balance of trade (AUG)
• Wednesday: US Fed chair Powell Speech
• Thursday: US Jobless Claims (Oct)
• Friday: AU Home Loans (AUG); UK GDP MoM & YoY (AUG)

Friday 2nd October, 5pm values

Friday 2nd October, closing values

Key dividends

Monday 5th October – Friday 9th October

• Monday: Div Ex-Date – Nick Scali Limited (NCK); Div Pay-Date – Invocare Limited (IVC)
• Tuesday: Div Ex-Date – Reece Limited (REH); Div Pay-Date – Cleanaway Waste Limited (CWY), NIB Holdings Limited (NHF), Woolworths (WOW)
• Wednesday: Div Pay-Date – Adbri Limited (ABC), Carsales.com (CAR), NABPD (NABPD), Pact Group Holdings (PGH)
• Thursday: Div Pay-Date – Bingo Industries Limited (BIN), Breville Group Limited (BRG), BWX Limited (BWX), Costa Group Holdings (CGC), South32 Limited (S32)
• Friday: Div Ex-Date – Harvey Norman (HVN), MFF Capital (MFF); Div-Pay Date – CSL Limited (CSL), MCP Income Opportunities Trust (MOT), MCP Master Income Trust (MXT), Reliance Worldwide (RWC)

Contact

If you would like to discuss your situation, please speak to your adviser or email clientservices@primefinancial.com.au

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

And just when you think tech is driving the market the banks remind you otherwise.

Friday made for fascinating watching as ANZ +6%, CBA +3%, NAB +7% and WBC +7% drove the ASX +1.5% higher for the day posting a weekly gain of +1.7%

Hardly surprising when you consider 16% of the ASX200 Index is made up entirely of the four banks above.

What was surprising was the Government’s decision to dump the responsible lending laws that were imposed by Labor in 2009 following the American subprime loan crisis.

The volte-face announced by Treasurer Frydenberg on Friday will remove ASIC from enforcing the responsible lending rules for banks and other mainstream authorised deposit-taking institutions meaning banks and other lenders will be subject to less onerous and prescriptive lending standards.

A relaxation in these credit lending rules is set to boost the flow of credit from lenders and means applicants will qualify for loans more easily, a positive for both lender and borrower.

As a result of falling interest rates and the Hayne Royal Commission, banks have become overly conservative when writing and assessing loans. This deregulation aims to undo some of this red tape and boost economic recovery following the covid-19 contraction.

Federal Budget

The Federal Budget will be handed down in Parliament next week with the Treasurer stating the Budget will remain in deficit for the “foreseeable future.”

The ‘foreseeable future’ is an ambiguous term but economic and financial modelling indicates this might be a decade or even longer.

The Government’s current focus is the unemployment rate which it says needs to be “comfortably below” 6% before it would consider stabilising debt and returning to surplus.

With the unemployment rate currently at 6.8% and forecast to rise in the coming months because of the lockdown in Melbourne the deficit is more likely to widen in the short term.

Current budget forecasts expect gross debt to exceed 45% of GDP which equates to more than $1trillion with the deficit for this FY21 expected to be above $200b.

This is following the announcement last week that the FY20 budget deficit came in at $85.3b as Government spending soared by $57b over what was expected driven by JobKeeper stimulus payments and increased welfare payments.

For context, the Treasurer had forecast a budget surplus last year of $4.1b so this is a $90b turnaround.

AUD + RBA

The AUD fell -3.6% last week to trade just above 70c – its lowest level since late July.

A stronger USD in recent weeks has been part of the reason but the main driver for last week’s weakness was RBA deputy governor Guy Debelle flagging the central bank was assessing currency market intervention and negative rates to meet its inflationary and employment targets.

This was quite surprising given these comments came only one week after RBA governor Phillip Lowe said negative rates were “extraordinarily unlikely.”

Calls for a rate cut when the RBA meet next Tuesday (ahead of the Budget that evening) are gaining traction after Westpac’s chief economist updated the bank’s forecasts. Bond markets are now pricing in a 40% chance the cash rate target, three-year bond yield target, and the interest rate on the Term Funding Facility (TFF) will be reduced to 0.1% next week.

Nufarm (NUF)

Nufarm (NUF) shares fell -3.5% for the week after posting FY20 results that show signs group momentum is starting to turn.

NUF posted a net loss of $456m amid weaker earnings from its North American business and a large writedown against its underperforming European unit which suffered as covid-19 weakened demand and led to higher manufacturing costs.

Stripping out one-off items, NUFs underlying EBITDA fell to $236m with a decline in European Seed and Technologies the major driver. Pleasingly, FY20 revenues rose +6.5% to $2.85b and NUF stated that all business ex Europe were showing positive momentum and good revenue growth in second half of 2020.

NUF is very much a 2nd half driven business with a significant portion of earnings derived in the July half given the planting seasons in Europe, America and Australia so we remain hopeful crop conditions leading into Summer locally are favourable.

Second-wave fears

Concerns over rising daily case numbers in Europe and the potential for a widespread second wave saw European equity markets end the week lower.

As the northern hemisphere moves towards Winter UK PM Boris Johnson told a Parliamentary hearing last Tuesday gatherings would be limited to six people or less and work from home orders reinstated along with restrictions on trading hours for restaurants and cafes.

Such measures could be necessary for up to six months with predictions of up to 50,000 new cases per day by October if the current rate does not slow.

With more than 41,000 deaths and the highest covid-19 death toll in Europe a deadly second wave will likely see much of the UK economy shutdown, similar to what many in Australia experienced throughout the Winter months.

United States

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US economy needs further support in a speech to the House Financial Services Committee.

Employment and overall economic activity remain well below pre-pandemic levels and the path ahead remains uncertain, particularly given the upcoming US Presidential election. Whilst the US Treasury Secretary said he and the White House continue to seek an agreement with both parties in Congress on another fiscal relief package the likelihood of this occurring before the election continues to fall.

US tech once again seesawed with the NASDAQ adding +1% for the week on the back of Friday’s +2% climb. Despite the gains the index is still down -7% month to date with a lack of conviction and profit taking the cause.

The much-hyped Tesla (TSLA) ‘Battery Day’ took place last week and ultimately failed to excite investors. Shares were marked down -10% with investors disappointed by its strategy to bring its own battery cell to mass production.

Coupled with the news the TSLA network, app and website were all experiencing network outage issues the ‘Battery Day’ underwhelmed.

Looking ahead

Monday 28th September – Friday 2nd October

• Monday: N/A
• Tuesday: US Wholesale Inventories (AUG)
• Wednesday: AU Building Permits (AUG), Private Sector Credit (AUG), CN Caixin Manufacturing PMI (SEP), US ADP Employment (SEP), GDP Growth Rate QoQ
• Thursday: AU AIG Manufacturing Index (SEP), US Pending Home Sales YoY (AUG), Personal Spending (AUG), Weekly Jobless Claims
• Friday: US Non Farm Payrolls (SEP)

Friday 25th September, 5pm values

Friday 25th September, closing values

Key dividends

Monday 28th September – Friday 2nd October

• Monday: Div Ex-Date – NABPD (NABPD), NRW Holdings Limited (NWH); Div Pay-Date – Bravura Solutions Limited (BVS)
• Tuesday: Div Ex-Date – Cromwell Property Group (CMW), Charter Hall Long Wale REIT (CLW), Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (QRI); Div Pay-Date – Coles (COL), Tassal Group Limited (TGR)
• Wednesday: Div Pay-Date – ANZ Bank (ANZ), ASX (ASX), CBA (CBA), Jumbo Interactive (JIN), Northern Star (NST), Regis Healthcare (REG), WBCPG (WBCPG), Worley Limited (WOR)
• Thursday: Div Pay-Date – AMP Limited (AMP), Wesfarmers (WES)
• Friday: Div-Pay Date – Fortescue (FMG), Monadelphous Group (MND), Origin Energy (ORG), Wisetech (WTC)

Contact

If you would like to discuss your situation, please speak to your adviser or email clientservices@primefinancial.com.au

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

Given recent changes in investment markets which have seen cash rates and the ability to generate income returns from cash dramatically decrease, investors have had to consider actively managing cash balances like never before. Therefore, we have dedicated this session to improving your returns on cash and how to best manage your cash objectives.

Presenters:

• Mark Johnson, Partner – Chairman of Investment Committee & Partner – Prime
• Dr Laura Ryan, Head of Research – Ardea
• Alex Stanley, Research Analyst – Ardea

Slide decks:

• Returns on Cash – Mark Johnson (Prime’s Chairman of Investment Committee) on Prime’s approach and strategy to improving cash. He also discussed the ash equivalent returns and how we will personalise this to individual clients.
• Ardea Real Outcome Fund – Dr Laura Ryan and Alex Stanley (Ardea Investment Management) on the current market conditions and what this means for Ardea’s current strategy.

The information in this recording and article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this recording and article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this recording and article. Information in this recording and article is current at the date of this recording and article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.

Vanessa Mathews (Founder – Mathews Family Law) and Matt Murphy (Managing Director – Prime Accounting & Business Advisory) discuss some really interesting topics on achieving business & life aspirations, including:

• Vanessa’s journey as a business owner, including the challenges and rewards she experienced on the way
• how to balance professional and personal aspirations
• how Prime helped her navigate through her business journey
• family law during the COVID-19 period

If this content is helpful and you’d like to access more videos & resources like this, please click below.
Resources

This video and post are provided by Prime Accounting and Business Advisory Pty Ltd. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation. This post is not a substitute for independent professional advice. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information or material in this post. All information is subject to change without notice. We and each party providing material displayed in this post disclaim liability to all persons or organisations in relation to any action(s) taken on the basis of currency or accuracy of the information or material, or any loss or damage suffered in connection with that information or material. You should make your own enquiries before entering into any transaction on the basis of information or material in this post. Please ensure you contact us to discuss your particular circumstances and how the information provided applies to your situation.

The week that was

Finally, the ASX snapped a four-week losing streak driven by strong gains in the resources and energy sectors.

Having spoken at length about the volatility impacting tech stocks both globally and locally in the past fortnight it was some sector rotation back into miners (+2.5%) and oil stocks (+1.2%) that led the market higher.

BHP (BHP) +3.4% was the major contributor with RIO (RIO) also advancing +0.7%, however Fortescue (FMG) and Mineral Resources (MIN) both saw -5% declines following a broker downgrade to ‘underweight’ on the back of concerns over the implied long-term spot price for iron ore.

With both FMG and MIN rising +50% so far in 2020 and the iron ore price +35%, this feels more like a call to book some profits than it does anything else, particularly given the same broker retains a ‘neutral’ view for the iron ore market in general.

Central bank policy was a key focus for markets with the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan all sitting and the RBA minutes reiterated the need for ongoing fiscal and monetary support to assist the economic recovery.

Interest rates

With global interest rates already at record lows and the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns continuing to stunt global growth it was more a case of what central banks would ‘say’ rather than what they would ‘do’ when they met last week.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero and signalled it would hold them there through at least 2023 to help the US economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Reserve confirmed its intention to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until it achieves 2% inflation over time with the 2023 forecast an indication of when it thinks inflation (currently 1.3%) might be back closer to its target.

The Bank of England (BoE) opened the door to negative interest rates in 2021 as it seeks to stimulate growth.

With the current cash rate set at 0.1% any cut would certainly see the base rate turn negative.

However, there is little likelihood of a cut this year given formal talks between the BoE and the Prudential Regulators on how to implement potential negative rates are only set to occur late in Q4.

Meanwhile Japan’s central bank stated it would maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy with the official interest rate kept on hold at -0.1% as new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga confirmed his commitment to continue fiscal spending and monetary easing.

RBA + Employment

Closer to home and the RBA was a little less directive when it released its minutes last Tuesday.

The Board stated the cash rate target would not be increased until progress is made towards full employment and inflation and that highly accommodative settings would be implemented for as long as required given wage and price pressures are likely to remain subdued.

Unlike the BoE, the RBA remains committed to stimulating growth without going down the path of negative rates with the Board stating this was an “extraordinarily unlikely” option for Australia.

On the positive front the RBA said the downturn had not been as severe as had been expected with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) updating its forecasts which would see Australia’s economic output contract -4.1% this year ahead of its -5% forecast in June.

The unemployment rate was a surprise ‘beat’ with the official rate falling to 6.8% from 7.5%, well ahead of forecasts which had August unemployment climbing to 7.7%.

With 111,000 jobs being created during the month Treasury forecasts for 10% unemployment by year’s end look less likely which is positive. But the negative is the total number of hours worked only rose 0.1% and remains down -5.1% on this time twelve month’s ago. So, the underemployment rate (people looking for more hours of work) remained steady at 11.2%.

We expect the unemployment rate to increase in the coming months as the number of JobKeeper recipients shift to JobSeeker when reductions to fortnightly payments commence next Tuesday September 29.

Stocks in focus

Notable movers in the Australian equity piece last week were Seek Limited (SEK), Challenger Limited (CGF) and CSL (CSL).

SEK gained +5% after confirming its Chinese jobs platform Zhaopin was engaging in conversations with various investment firms with a view to better supporting Zhaopin’s long term growth aspirations.

Further boosting SEKs market move was a report speculating e-commerce giant Alibaba was considering investing in Zhaopin.

Elsewhere, CGF closed the week flat after a broker upgrade to outperform which saw the stock rally +4% on Wednesday. Central to the upgrade thesis is the view that CGF is trading at a discount to book value after falling -10% since releasing its results in August.

Pleasingly the same broker also reiterated its outperform rating on CSL with a $333 target price believing the covid-19 pandemic will promote a sustained increase in flu vaccination rates over the next few years.

We hold a modest position in CSL in the Australian Equity Growth SMA given its market weight in the ASX200 Index now exceeds 7% and we would look to add to this on any short-term weakness.  

Soft demand for oil

Oil prices advanced +9% to more than reverse last week’s declines. It was also the best performing week for oil stocks in three months on the back of OPEC and non-OPEC allies meeting to review market conditions.

Whilst no further production cuts were agreed to, there was consensus amongst members that future cuts would be necessary which in turn provided some support to the oil price.

We believe this only a temporary solution. The main concern with oil prices at present is not supply. If the issue was supply-side related OPECs task would be far more straightforward because OPEC can control supply. To that end production cuts would go a long way to stabilising the market.

But the problem with oil is and remains demand. Forward projections for demand are continuing to deteriorate with current forecasts not expecting global demand for oil to recover until Q2 next year.

With airlines grounded and the automobile industry not operating anywhere near capacity demand remains soft.

We do not forecast a quick turnaround here and as such have no exposure to oil stocks in our portfolios.

Interesting observation in NASDAQ

Had it not been for Friday’s -1% fall in the US the NASDAQ was on target to post its first week of positive returns in three weeks.

What is even more interesting is that Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Alphabet (GOOG) were already all set to post heavy losses for the week.

The last time all FAANG stocks posted weekly declines and the NASDAQ rallied was 11 November 2016 which coincidentally happens to be the same week Donald Trump was elected President.

Add to the above five securities Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) which also fell -1.8% last week and just under 53% of the NASDAQ total return was negative from only 6 securities despite the index comprising 103 securities.

This highlights the concentrated nature of the index and goes a long way to show how dominant the top five or six companies have become. As these top end companies continue to grow, exposure to tech through this index is indeed becoming a more and more concentrated bet on a handful of stocks.

Looking ahead

Monday 21st – Friday 25th September

• Monday: US Fed National Activity Index (AUG)
• Tuesday: N/A
• Wednesday: AU Commbank Manufacturing PMI (SEP), US House Price Index (JUL), Existing Home Sales (AUG), Manufacturing PMI (SEP)
• Thursday: US Weekly Jobless Claims (SEP)
• Friday: US New home Sales (AUG)

Friday 18th September, 5pm values

Friday 18th September, closing values

Key dividends

Monday 21st – Friday 25th September

• Monday: Div Ex-Date – Adbri Limited (ABC) WBCPG (WBCPG); Div Pay-Date – ANZPG (ANZPG), ANZPH (ANZPH), NABPE (NABPE)
• Tuesday: Div Ex-Date – Carsales.com (CAR); Div Pay-Date – BHP Group Limited (BHP), IOOF (IFL), Platinum Asset Management Limited (PTM), Sonic Healthcare (SHL), WBCPF (WBCPF), WBCPH (WBCPH)
• Wednesday: Div Pay-Date – Amcor (AMC), VG1 (VG1), WBCPE (WBCPE)
• Thursday: Div Pay-Date – Altium Limited (ALU), ANZPE (ANZPE), ANZPF (ANZPF), Accent Group (AX1), IDP Education (IEL), Medibank Private Limited (MPL), Netwealth Group Limited (NWL), Resmed (RMD), Santos Limited (STO), Telstra (TLS)
• Friday: Div Ex-Date – Regis Resources Limited (RRL); Div-Pay Date – AGL Energy (AGL), Alumina Limited (AWC), Downer EDI Limited (DOW), Evolution Mining (EVN), Link Administration Holdings Limited (LNK), Newcrest Mining Limited (NCM), QBE Insurance (QBE)

Contact

If you would like to discuss your situation, please speak to your adviser or email clientservices@primefinancial.com.au

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.