Next Week At A Glance – 3-7 March 2025

This story features RIO TINTO LIMITED, and other companies. For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: RIO

For a more comprehensive preview of next week’s events, please refer to “The Monday Report”, published each Monday morning. For all economic data release dates, ex-div dates and times and other relevant information, please refer to the FNArena Calendar.

The week that was in Australian Finance:

-Is it the big momentum unwind, a growth scare, or both? Investors accelerated the dash for the door over the last week, notably in US markets and specifically the Nasdaq.

-The Trump bump or trade has unwound, and Australian stocks have not been immune from the selling, with possibly much more going on beneath the surface than the ASX200 index suggests.

-A glance over sector performances shows a clear trend shift: the Information Tech sector is down circa -8% over the last month, Healthcare off -5.5%, and Energy down almost -4%.

-In contrast, investors have been rotating into Consumer Staples, up over 3%, and Industrials, up around 2.5%. Utilities joined the defensive positioning last week, rising over 4.5%.

-Reporting season has not been too flash. Costs remain an issue for many companies and share price responses have been, in numerous cases, harsh to the downside. Not an easy week for investors if a company missed expectations.

-Other notable trends include the sell-off in the US 10-Year Treasury from a January high of 4.8% to 4.26%, levels last seen in August 2024. The AUD has suffered a sharp sell-off in the last 24 hours, signalling a decidedly risk-off environment

-Trump’s tariffs are coming, while President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer have been trying to prevent Ukraine from falling under a pro-Russian peace settlement.

-Markets don’t like uncertainty, and investors are struggling to price in macro changes, including weakening US economic data, amid daily, sometimes hourly, shifts in policy from the US Administration. Back home, the lead-up to an election adds further uncertainty.

-While February is normally a weaker month for markets, the proverbial Sell in May might have been shifted forward. Will President Trump blink on any of his reforms if markets take a tumble?

-More research responses to corporate results will be forthcoming into next week. To stay up to date on the Beats, Misses and In-Line assessments and commentary, refer to the daily updated Corporate Results Monitor https://fnarena.com/index.php/reporting_season/

Have a great weekend from the FNArena Team

Corporate news in the week that was:

-AFR reports Rio Tinto’s ((RIO)) CEO is considering a share sale to shift investor power back to Australia, challenging the company’s London dominance

-Westpac’s ((WBC)) AI agents, built with Accenture, are slashing coding times from six days to one hour and may soon reshape how mortgages are processed

-Krispy Kreme is exploring a sale of its Australia and New Zealand operations through JPMorgan

-More (murky) revelations continue to be revealed about WiseTech Global’s ((WTC)) Richard White

-A public conflict is brewing between Iress ((IRE)) and local stockbrokerages with the latter rejecting Iress’ tech upgrade fee, citing no legal basis, risking financial impact on the company

-Perpetual ((PPT)) has rejected renewed KKR bid over tax costs, plans business split

-APA Group ((APA)) brings in consultants as it prepares for cost-cutting and potential job cuts

-HMC Capital ((HMC)) hires Macquarie ((MQG)) for Healthscope takeover bid

-Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure ((DBI)) eyes acquisitions, with BHP Group’s ((BHP)) Hay Point Coal Terminal and Port of Newcastle as possible targets

-Ramsay Health Care ((RHC)) intends to refocus on its Australian operations and sell its European businesses

-Oaktree, TA Associates, and FirstCape reportedly all vie for Perpetual’s ((PPT)) wealth unit

Corporate Calendar

For a calendar of earnings result releases and a summary of earnings results to date, refer to FNArena’s Corporate Results Monitor (https://www.fnarena.com/index.php/reporting_season/)

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