ASX Drops; Qantas Shares Down 2%
The blog was last updated eighteen minutes ago at one fifty in the afternoon. Now, it will be rewritten using shorter sentences. The blog was last updated 18 minutes ago at 1:50 PM.
Wall Street Stock Pickers Bet Big On Recession
Big money managers aren't waiting to find out if and when the US economy will slip into a recession, while Wall Street economists and central bankers continue to debate.
Pro stock pickers move cash. They leave banks. They choose sturdy stocks instead. Utilities and consumer staples are popular.
Hedge funds that bet on good and bad outcomes have lowered their investments in cyclical stocks compared to defensive stocks. This is the smallest it has been since at least 2012, according to data collected by Bank of America. For managers who only buy stocks, their proportion of investments in companies that depend on the business cycle is close to being the lowest it has been since 2008.
People are becoming more pessimistic about active investing. This is despite the fact that the market has grown by $7.5 trillion since October.
The blog section was updated 58 minutes ago at 1.09PM. The text should be rewritten in short sentences.
Takeovers Panel Seeks Court Extension For Market Herald Investigation
The Takeovers Panel wants more time for their investigation. They're looking into HotCopper's parent company, The Market Herald. They've asked the court for an extension.
The takeover panel wanted the Federal Court to give them two more weeks. They wanted to use section 657B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This would help them make a decision about the media company's situation. The decision would be a "declaration of unacceptable circumstances in relation to the affairs."
The inquiry needs to continue until May 19. They have asked for an extension.
The blog section was updated one hour ago, at 12:27 PM. We need to rewrite this section in free English, which means using shorter sentences that are easier to understand for non-native speakers. Here's a possible rewrite: One hour ago, the blog section was updated. It's now 12:27 PM.
Macquarie's Pivotal Conference: 5 Crucial Takeaways
Rob Scott, CEO of Wesfarmers, attended the Macquarie Australia Conference. He presented a pitch that was broad enough to interest foreign investors but didn't reveal much before the upcoming strategy day.
He spoke about the "Wesfarmers way" and its capital allocation framework. The speech was pre-written and delivered word for word. He emphasized the importance of strong leadership teams in underlying businesses. He also discussed the company's investment in its new lithium and health arms.
Fund managers in their home country had already heard it all. The focus would likely be on offshore funds this year due to international travel and in-person events returning. Offshore funds may have gained some knowledge from the conference.
The Q&A had valuable information. The employer talked about the labor market and cost inflation. They also discussed Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart, and lithium. Nothing surprising was said, but it gave insight into the economy.
The blog was posted three hours ago, at 12:01 PM. Now, it will be rewritten in free English, using short sentences to make it easier for non-native speakers to understand. The blog was posted three hours ago. It was posted at 12:01 PM.
ASX Drops, Qantas Falls 2.5% At Noon
At noon, Australian shares dropped 0.2%. This resulted in a decrease of 17.6 points to 7313.9. The reason for this was the fall in the industrials and consumer staple sectors.
Vanessa Hudson will become the new Qantas CEO. Alan Joyce is currently CEO, but he'll be stepping down. This news caused Qantas shares to fall by 2.5%.
will become the new CEO of Jetstar. Alan Joyce will transition to a new role as executive chairman of Qantas. Vanessa Hudson has been with Qantas for over 30 years, and currently serves as Qantas International's CFO. Rhett Wyman also has a long history with the company, having worked with Jetstar since it was founded in 2003. The changes will take effect in November 2021.
Transurban's shares fell by 0.8%.
Woolworths went down by 0.7%, causing the consumer staples sector to decrease. Woolworths had a sales increase of 8% in its third-quarter trading update. Coles, Woolworths' competitor, fell 0.5%.
Endeavour's value decreased by 2.6%. This happened despite their hotels making 18.5% more in sales over three months. They earned $480 million.
The energy sector lost value. BHP Group shares decreased by 0.7%.
I wrote this blog four hours ago at 10:55am. I am rewriting this section using short sentences. I wrote this blog four hours ago. The time was 10:55am. Now I am rewriting it. I will use short sentences.
Pub Schnitzel And Socializing More Important Than Rate Increases
Endeavour Group's boss said many people are visiting their 353 pubs. Food sales are strong. People want to socialize after COVID-19. They don't mind spending money.
Sales in hotels business increased by 18.5% for the period ending April 2. Steve Donohue made this announcement. Sales rose to $480 million from the previous year. The increase occurred when people were still worried about COVID-19. Australians were cautious at that time.
Pubs are still doing well, but not as well as they did in January.
Endeavour Group runs 264 Dan Murphy's and 1437 BWS stores in its retail arm. This division made $2.35 billion in sales, up 1.2% in three months. CEO Mr Donohue said people are going more to physical stores to get good deals instead of shopping online.
This morning at 10:22AM, a blog post was uploaded 4 hours ago.
Energy And Industrials Stocks Drag ASX Down
At the start of the market today, Australian shares dropped by 0.3%. This equals a 21 point fall to 7313. Many sectors had a decline, and this happened before the Reserve Bank rate decision later today.
Stocks in energy and industrials went down a lot. Woodside Energy lost 0.6 per cent of its shares. Ampol's shares fell by 1 per cent. Santos lost 0.8 per cent of its shares.
Bad news for Qantas – their shares went down by 2.2%. It's because Vanessa Hudson will take over from Alan Joyce as CEO after the company's annual general meeting.
Transurban's shares decreased by 0.8%.
Woolworths went down by 0.4%. They are part of the consumer staples sector. They reported an increase of 8% in sales. Coles is a rival of Woolworths and went down by 0.9%.
The value of Endeavour went down by 2.3% to $6.62. This happened even though the company's hotels business had a good quarter. Sales went up by 18.5% to $480 million.
It's been five hours since the last post, at 9.59AM. So, what's new? Have you heard about the latest news? Let's take a quick look at what's been happening lately. There's been a lot of buzz on social media. People are talking about the latest trends. We'll keep you updated as more news comes in. Until then, stay tuned!
Liontown Halts Trading
Trading for Liontown Resources is temporarily paused. A possible takeover proposal has been received by the company from a rival bidder, as reported by The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column. This happens after an earlier attempt by NYSE-listed Albemarle in March offering $2.50 per share.
Liontown said it hasn't gotten any offers, even non-binding ones, since turning down Albemarle's proposal in March 2023. That's what the business said in a message.
This morning at 9.52AM, five hours ago, something happened. It is currently unknown what that something was, but it is assumed to have been significant enough to be mentioned in this blog. The details of this event will be updated as soon as they become available.
RBC Capital Sees Vanessa Hudson As Logical Choice
According to RBC Capital Markets, Vanessa Hudson was the best person to take over for Alan Joyce as Qantas CEO.
Owen Birrell said Vanessa Hudson was the best choice. She worked on group strategy for 5 years. She also picked new planes for the domestic fleet in 2022. This was in a broker's note.
Qantas is changing its fleet with Projects Winton and Sunrise. Vanessa is the right person to do it. She helped make the plan.
Vanessa has been CFO since October 2019. This prepared her for the public role as Qantas CEO. It's important for her to be market-facing.
The blog section was updated five hours ago at 9:48 AM.
Morgan Stanley Plans To Cut 3000 Jobs Amidst Drop In Dealmaking
Morgan Stanley plans to cut more jobs soon. This is because they want to focus on saving money. Recession fears have made it harder for them to make deals.
The big bosses want to cut 3000 jobs by the end of the next 3 months. That's about 5% of the workers in the wealth management bit of the company.
One person said the bank will have to make many cuts. Morgan Stanley, based in New York, declined to give a statement. They currently employ 82,000 people.
Blog section updated 5 hours ago at 9:27 in the morning.
Healius Sells Montserrat To Nexus Hospitals
Healius, a company that operates pathology laboratories, has sold its Montserrat facilities to Nexus Hospitals. The transaction was done for a total of $127 million.
Healius received $127 million in cash. This amount represents a $138.6 million enterprise value (adjusted for deferred contingent consideration and completion adjustments).
The company said they will keep doing pathology services at various Montserrat spots. They might make the diagnostic services bigger at Nexus Hospitals.
Healius is happy to have sold Montserrat at a good price. The sale will help us focus more on growing our Pathology and Imaging services. Maxine Jaquet, our CEO, said this in a statement.
