U.S. Stocks Little Changed as European Shares Slip on Opening

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1 senmorgn 1 U.S. Stocks Little Changed as European Shares Slip on Opening U.S. stocks were little changed, after the Standard & Poor s 500 Index neared a record. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 2, at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier rising within 0.3 percent of its record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 6.84 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 18, The Nasdaq Composite Index also fell less than 0.1 percent. About 6.3 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 6 percent below the three-month average. We re right up near the alltime highs in the S&P, and sometimes you take a breather before you break through those levels, said Matt Maley, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in Newton, Massachusetts. Energy shares in the S&P 500 erased a drop of 1.1 percent to rise as much as 0.5 percent before slipping again. The group s 6.5 percent rally in April -- its best month since January has underpinned the S&P 500 s latest run at its first record since March 2. Netflix said its video-streaming service topped 62 million subscribers worldwide. U.S. subscribers jumped by 2.28 million in the first quarter, while international accounts rose 2.6 million, both beating the company s earlier forecast. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 1.9 percent to The gauge, known as the VIX, declined 14 percent last week to its lowest level of In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index has rallied 20 percent this year, bettering all-time highs as equity gauges in Denmark, Portugal and Italy surged more than 24 percent. The gauge slipped from a record Thursday, as chemical makers and banks led declines among 19 industry groups. Germany s DAX Index dropped 1.9 percent and Portugal s PSI-20 dropped 2.4 percent. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery added 0.6 percent to $56.71 a barrel, while Brent crude gained 66 cents to $63.98 a barrel in London.

2 ASX Jumps as Commodities Gain The ASX was up 39.1pts, or.7 per cent, at pts on Thursday. Many important commodities to the Australian market made gains overnight. Crude oil for May delivery was up 5.8 per cent while iron ore prices flirt with the US$50 per tonne range. The Metals and Mining industry led the charge, rising 1.79 per cent. The Energy sector also performed well, rising 1.48 per cent. International markets were mostly up. The Dow Jones was up.42 per cent while the S&P 500 was up.51 per cent. In Europe, the DAX was up marginally at.03 per cent while the FTSE 100 rose.30 per cent. The Nikkei 225 fell in the opening hours of trading before recovering and flattening out in the afternoon. Chinese markets continue to soar. The Hang Seng is up.12 per cent while the Shanghai Composite is up 2.19 per cent so far on Thursday. Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC) was up 7c, or 3.26 per cent, at $2.22 per share. The company announced it was selling its live events and ticketing business Nine The Metals and Mining industry led the charge, rising 1.79 per cent. Live. The business will be sold to the Hong Kong-based Affinity Equity Partners for $640m Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) was up 66c, or 7.90 per cent, $7.70 per share. The company reported a 12 per cent drop in first quarter revenue and a 24.4 per cent drop in production. Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) was up 10c, or 5.39 per cent, at $1.96 per cent. Fortescue had previously announced its iron ore breakeven price to be US$52 per tonne. The company s new March quarter report showed a reduction in operational and labour costs could potentially reduce its breakeven price to US$39 per tonne. BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) was up 72c, or 2.44 per cent, at $30.23 per share. Iron ore and oil prices have been recovering in the past few days, leading to a boost in the mining and energy sectors. Whilst oil prices have stabilised in April, iron ore remains in a downfall. Most other commodities have gained, pushing shares higher. ^XJO ASX (0.66%) 2

3 Quiet session for the Australian market as we do not expect any important economic data. U.S. Core CPI is expected to remain unchanged at 0.2%. 3 Australia s March Unemployment Rate Falls to 6.1% as Data Beats Expectations Australia s unemployment rate fell to 6.1 per cent in March. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that the economy added 37,700 jobs, for a total of 11.72m. These positive gains beat expectations. A Reuters Poll of economists estimated the 15,000 jobs would be added in March. A Bloomberg survey also estimated the unemployment rate to stay steady at 6.3 per cent. Most of the job gains were full-time work, accounting for 31,500 of the jobs added. Employers are slowly getting their groove back, said Katrina Ell, an economist at Moody s Analytics in Sydney, before the report was released. The Australian dollar has jumped against the US dollar directly after the unemployment numbers were released. The AUD is now sitting around 0.78c. In February, the ABS rebenchmarked its estimates to include the latest population estimates. Westpac economists said the changes in estimates were unlikely to be extraneous and that we should remain prepared for the possibility of a surprising monthly print. Earlier in the month the Reserve Bank of Australia decided against an additional interest rate cut. The Australian economy has been challenged by falling commodity prices, which has led to slower growth. But the RBA announced that they would need to wait for more data before making a decision. A particular focus was aimed at the housing market and unemployment figures. With an improved labour market, many economists are now predicting that the RBA may hold off on another interest rate cut. IG analyst Evan Lucas changed the May rate cut probability from 67 per cent to 49 per cent. Click here for more: owl.com/australias-march-unemployment-rate-falls-to-6-1-per-cent/

4 1/04/2012 1/06/2012 1/08/2012 1/10/2012 1/12/2012 1/02/2013 1/04/2013 1/06/2013 1/08/2013 1/10/2013 1/12/2013 1/02/2014 1/04/2014 1/06/2014 1/08/2014 1/10/2014 1/12/2014 1/02/2015 1/04/2015 What s hot and what s not? Hot HFA Holdings Limited (HFA) HFA Holdings Limited (HFA) is an Australian holding company. HFA comprises of two wholly-owned operating subsidiaries including the Australian based Certitude Global Investments Limited, and US-based fund manager, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC. HFA provides investment management products and services to investors globally, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, New York, Chicago, Florida, London and Hong Kong. For Lighthouse, HFA seeks to diversify its distribution as much as possible, particularly in the retail network as well through deepening its institutional relationships. It plans to diversify across geographical areas, particularly Europe and Asia. HFA has recently agreed to sell its Australian subsidiary Certitude Global Investments for a total consideration of around $3m. Half year results were pleasing, lifted by tax benefits HFA Daily Candlesticks Wise-owl.com What s involved? LOV HFA Historical Historical Prices Prices HFA has recently agreed to sell its Australian subsidiary Certitude Global Investments for a total consideration of around $3m. Subscribers of wise-owl.com can now take advantage of a Full Service Advisor and Analyst Access Some of the benefits include: For more information call or visit Analyst Access 4 Contact one of our dedicated advisors for more information on SMS trade alerts Trade management

5 Dividend Portfolio: BEN Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) is an Australian publicly listed company offering a broad range of banking and other financial services. Under the Bendigo and Adelaide bank umbrella the business operates under four distinct brands and offers retail and wholesale banking, wealth management services, business and commercial lending, payments services, foreign exchange and superannuation. The company has assets under management of more than $52bn. Buy Limit $12.50 Yield 4.8% Medium to Long-Term Outlook To view the report Click Here From the Analysts: (11/03/15) The story at the moment in the Australian economy is one of contrasts. While the stock market has broadly maintained the 7 year highs it reached last week, both business and consumer confidence has fallen again, with business confidence now at its lowest since before the 2013 election. Recent interest rate cuts and declines in fuel prices have failed to have the positive impact they had in the past. Unemployment is also at 12 year highs of 6.4% but median house prices continue to climb especially in the red hot Sydney market. The two speed economy has returned, but this time it s the strength of NSW, and to a lesser extent Victoria, juxtaposed against the weakness in the resource economies of WA and Queensland. Yesterday Alan Kohler postulated that the property market and associated industries remain the saving grace for an economy being buffered by continued falls in the iron ore price and business conditions. However, while Australia s triple A credit rating one of only 8 countries to have this from all three global agencies remains secure, speculation is mounting that an overheating property market and an apparent structural budget deficit could put this at risk. Anticipation of further monetary easing by the RBA has inflated the share prices of the major banks especially, but also many of the other blue chips such as BHP and Telstra. Wise-owl doesn t foresee a change to this pattern in the near term, as the hunt for yield from both domestic and international investors continues. Overseas investors will be especially tempted by our falling AUD relative to their own currencies, especially those investing with USD and Sterling. This macroeconomic effect should give the market significant support through 2015 despite broader economic difficulties. Robert Lester Advisor at Wise-owl 5

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