Market Update & Important Indicators:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average headed toward its highest close since early February on Monday, lifted by investor optimism about the latest deal activity and trade developments. A busy year for mergers and acquisitions continued as PepsiCo agreed to buy home-carbonation company SodaStream International for $3.2 billion, the latest move by the company to diversify away from sugary sodas and salty snacks. Pepsi shares were down 0.2%, while SodaStream added 9.4%. Meanwhile, Tyson Foods said it would buy Keystone Foods, a supplier of chicken nuggets to McDonald's and other companies, for $2.2 billion as part of its strategy to bolster its protein offerings. Tyson shares rose 1.3%. The Dow industrials climbed 0.3%, on track for the highest close since Feb. 1, while the S&P 500 added 0.2%. Both indexes have climbed in three straight sessions, with the S&P 500 closing in on its January record. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was recently up 0.2%. Investors are now waiting to see if the S&P 500 can set a record after the index came within 0.5% of that level earlier this month before retreating. Stocks tied to commodities and global growth lifted large indexes Monday, with the energy, materials and industrials sectors rising. Some analysts expect strong economic and earnings figures to continue buoying large indexes and were encouraged by the latest trade headlines late last week. The US gold price gained 0.5% to record 1,190.10 US$/oz.
European shares closed 0.6% higher as hopes for U.S.-China trade talks boosted sentiment. The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 2.17 points to 383.23 as the DAX advanced nearly 1% and the CAC 40 added 0.65%. "Now that earnings season is out of the way, a clearer picture of the outlook for stocks has formed, and while we still have things to worry about, trade wars especially, corporate earnings look robust enough to support further equity gains," said Chris Beauchamp at IG. Oil-storage group Royal Vopak was the top riser, up 4.7%. Accountancy-software business Sage Group was the biggest faller, down 6.9%.
Asian equities logged another day of broad gains, with two noted exceptions: Japan and the Philippines. Japan's Nikkei was hampered by end-of-week strength in the yen. That left the benchmark down 0.3% to start what could become a fourth-straight week of declines. Meanwhile, the Philippines' benchmark lost 1.1%, its third drop of at least that much in the past six sessions. China, which saw an up-and-down session, finished with gains. Hong Kong indexes, meanwhile, rose more than 1%, and Indonesia's JSX added 1.9% following a Friday holiday.
Australian stocks were quiet Monday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving in a 20-point range around Friday's 10 1/2-year closing high. But the ASX All Ords rose a further 0.1% to 6435 as many markets in the region logged bigger gains. The standout was the materials sector rebounding 1.1%, cutting this month's decline to 4.6%. Consumer discretionary pulled back 0.9%. Meanwhile, financials retreated 0.5%, but health care rose 0.7%.
Base metal prices were mainly up on the London Metal Exchange. Lead fell 0.7% to 1,948/t, Zinc fell 0.4% to 2,382/t. Nickel gained 0.6% to 13,476/t as the 3-month copper contract gained 1.2% to 5,962/t. Aluminium added 1.3% to record 2,031/t.
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
OZ Minerals Limited (OZL), Melbana Energy (MAY), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT), Novo Litio (NLI), Classic Minerals (CLZ), OZ Minerals (OZL), Saturn Metals (STN), Antipa Minerals (AZY), SRG Ltd (SRG) Bowen Coking Coal (BCB), Birimian (BGS), Breaker Resources (BRB), Galena Mining (G1A), Valmec (VMX),Bryah Resources (BYH), Calima Energy (CE1) Genesis Minerals (GMD), Agrimin (AMN), Magnetic Resources (MAU), Core Exploration (CXO), Marindi Metals (MZN), MOD Resources (MOD), Santos (STO), Adriatic Metals (ADT) Bio–Gene Technology (BGT), Walkabout Resources (WKT), Triton Minerals (TON), Calima Energy (CE1), Peel Mining (PEX), Catalyst Metals (CYL), Vault Intelligence (VLT), Doray Minerals (DRM), Nzuri Coppoer (NZC), Bowen Coking Coal (BCB), Phosphagenics Limited (POH) Great Boulder Resources (GBR), Orthocell (OCC), Northern Minerals (NTU), ABM Resources Ltd (ABU), Vital Metals Ltd (VML), Todd River Resources Ltd (TRT), Pacific Energy Ltd (PEA), Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd (CVN), Australian Mines Ltd (AUZ), Australian Finance Group (AFG), Paladin Energy Ltd (PDN), Cooper Energy Ltd (COE), Medibio Ltd (MEB), Salt Lake Potash Ltd (SO4).
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