Here’s what Australian investors need to know Thursday morning. The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) is expected to open higher.
Markets remain as volatile as can be expected given the uncertain conditions, with most markets posting gains after two days of losses:
- The Dow Jones up 2%
- S&P 500 2.3%.
The Eurostoxx also recovered, ignoring weak consumer confidence numbers as there are signs of restrictions being lifted in Germany.
The result was a general rally including French oil major Total (+5%), ING Groep (+4%) and BNP Paribas (+4%).
The biggest beneficiaries remain gold bullion which hit USD$1,700 and remains above AUD$2,700; in fact, Bank of America is predicting it could rally as high as USD$3,000.
The global search for a coronavirus vaccine took another step forward overnight, with Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech, both securing German approval for human trials of their research, shares were up 4% and 63%, respectively.
This couldn’t come at a better time with Singapore’s confirmed cases hitting 10,00 amid their own return to work strategy.
More COVID-19 related news:
- Sycamore Partners is seeking to can its $500m+ takeover of Victoria’s Secret lingerie citing breaches of its contract including non-payment or rent.
- Social media platform Snap Inc, which is seeking to monetise similar to Facebook, rallied over 30% as ad revenue grew strongly (+58%) in February before slowing to 25% in March. This could be a negative sign for the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
The ASX 200 staged another remarkable mid-session recovering, all but recovering the 12 points it lost in the morning to finish flat for the day.
Battered private hospital operator, Ramsay Healthcare, was the latest with their hands out to raise capital, seeking $1.2bn investors.
The new Ramsay shares will be priced at a 13% discount of $56 and used for both cash flow funding and growth opportunities. Management also announced the interim would be suspended, given that all elective surgeries had been cancelled, but successfully waived all major debt covenants with their lenders. The offer closes on the 20th of May.
This morning report was written by Drew Meredith. Drew is a Partner at Wattle Partners.
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