[ad_1]
The retarded
Telx Pharmaceuticals was the biggest decliner among large-cap stocks (down 5.9 percent), followed by Ramsay Healthcare (down 4.4 percent) and New Zealand broadband provider Spark (down 4.3 percent).
Fortescue lost 1% despite posting an 18% rise in net profit to $US5.7 billion ($US8.4 billion). The company declared a final dividend of 89 cents a share. BHP shares fell 1.4%, while Rio Tinto lost 0.9%.
Tabcorp shares fell 15 percent after the betting company revealed a $1.36 billion loss for the 2024 fiscal year, worse than analysts had expected.
New CEO Gillon MacLachlan has pledged to overhaul the company's strategy, saying previous savings targets were unrealistic and that he expects the macroeconomic environment to remain challenging for the company.
the details
download
The Australian Bureau of Statistics' July CPI report showed a “welcome slowdown in annual inflation,” said David Passanisi, chief economist at BitShares.
But he said the data, which showed consumer prices rose 3.5 percent in the 12 months to July, down from 3.8 percent the previous month, was still “slightly above” market expectations and appeared to be heavily influenced by the provision of energy price subsidies by the federal government and some state governments.
“The RBA is unlikely to be overly enthusiastic about the outcome, nor does it strengthen the case for a rate cut any time soon,” he said.
Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro, said Woolworths’ results, which showed the supermarket giant lagging behind rival Coles on some metrics, remained positive in a “challenging consumer environment”. He said the company had been successful in attracting customers with its own-brand products, “which helped drive sales”.
download
“Many expected the outlook to be weak this year, but we did not achieve that. Although the next fiscal year will not be easy, it gives investors room for cautious optimism,” he said.
The big four banks ended trading today higher, with the Australian dollar at 67.94 US cents.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each ended up 0.2% after trading between small gains and losses for most of the day. The S&P 500 is now about 0.8% shy of its record highs from last month. The Dow Jones rose less than 0.1%, enough to hit its second-highest level in two days. The index extended its eight-day winning streak.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones have been hovering around all-time highs since last week amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates.
Investors are looking ahead to Friday, when the U.S. government releases its latest inflation data with the July personal consumption and spending report.
This is the preferred measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, which has signaled that long-awaited interest rate cuts are coming.
Tweet of the day
Quote of the day
“Customers changed their attitude when they walked into the store, suddenly they saw us as frauds, and so we had an urgent need to prove that we were not,” said former Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci as he presented his latest set of earnings results, marking the end of eight years in the role.
You may have missed it.
Fortescue Inc. has boosted its full-year dividend despite a modest jump in earnings, delivering a $2.24 billion windfall to the iron ore miner's biggest shareholders, Andrew and Nicola Forrest.
with dad
[ad_2]
Source