Here are the stories from the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO)(ASX: XJO) and Australian finance circles today. Rask Media has your financial news headlines sorted.
First, here are the data points:
Australian Dollar ($A) (AUDUSD): 72.06 US cents
Dow Jones (DJI): up 1%
Oil (WTI): $US63.54 per barrel
Gold: $US1,235 per ounce
Finance News
In overseas markets, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), the USA’s largest listed company, reported its fourth quarter financial results for 2018 showing a 20% increase in revenue year over year, with a 41% per-share profit increase.
“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said.
“We concluded a record year with our best September quarter ever, growing double digits in every geographic segment. We set September quarter revenue records for iPhone and Wearables and all-time quarterly records for Services and Mac,” Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said.
Closer to home, Australia’s largest investment bank, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) released its 2018 half-year financial results showing an 8% increase in revenue and a 5% rise in profit.
Macquarie Group’s Nicholas Moore said, “1H19 highlighted the strength of Macquarie’s global platform, the diversity of its business mix and its ongoing ability to adapt to changing conditions.”
MORE TO COME.
Orica Ltd (ASX: ORI) reported a 7% jump in revenue for its 2018 financial year but a loss of $48 million, down $434 million from last year. A final dividend of 31.5 cents was declared.
“We have returned the business to revenue growth, reflecting improved market demand, new contract wins and an increase in higher value-add product sales,” CEO Alberto Calderon said.
“While earnings in the first half were clearly disappointing, we responded quickly to the issues within our control to lift earnings before interest and tax by 46% in the second half.”
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