February 18, 2024

Earlier this month, hearing implant giant Cochlear (ASX:COH) surprised investors with a significant upgrade to revenue growth and earnings for the six months to December, along with higher guidance for the year to June 30. Today, it has followed up with the actual figures for the six months to December, along with a higher dividend. […]

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) has attributed a slight decrease in its unaudited first-quarter net profit to accounting rules governing financial hedges. The country’s second-largest bank stated that while these hedges will reverse over time, their adjustment impacted the first-quarter figures, resulting in a lower performance compared to the preceding six-month quarterly average. The bank reported

Last week, the global plumbing supplies and services group RWC (ASX:RWC) revealed its $160 million purchase of the Australian company Holman Services, which operates in adjacent sectors. On Monday, RWC reported lower revenue and earnings for the December half-year and maintained guidance for similar performance over the year to June. However, it announced a significant

Kiwi dairy group A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) announced on Monday that its first-half profit surged by a solid 15.6%, driven by increased demand in China, other Asian markets, and the US. The company has revised its full-year revenue growth forecast slightly upward, attributing it to sustained growth in China, which now constitutes about 80% of its

Ahead of the key quarterly report from Nvidia later this week, US markets turned cautious on Friday, ending a month of rises. While US shares initially reached new record highs, they fell 0.4% for the week for the S&P 500, while the Dow and the Nasdaq also dipped, concluding the nice little start-of-year run of

Stocks slid Friday after yet another hot inflation report stoked fears that Federal Reserve rate cuts may not arrive until later than anticipated this year. The producer price index for January, a measure of wholesale inflation, increased 0.3%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had anticipated a gain of 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, core PPI

Small weekly gains were seen in oil prices last week, despite challenges such as a firmer US dollar, higher US bond yields, and a significant increase in weekly US inventories (up 12 million barrels). However, uncertainties loom regarding the sustainability of these gains, as concerns about US inflation and the prospect of prolonged higher interest

The second and biggest week of the Australian December half and full-year earnings reporting season will be dominated by major resource companies, both domestically and offshore. The world’s biggest miners—BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale, Glencore, and Fortescue—will be the major reporters this week, with other companies also releasing their figures in Australia. Nearly 80 companies in

US markets will be closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday, but after that, investors face a big test with the quarterly earnings from AI figurehead Nvidia and retail giant Walmart dominating the dying days of the December reporting season. Besides Walmart and Nvidia, department store retailers Dillard’s and Macy’s are also due to

On the agenda this week: more earnings, especially from AI giant Nvidia, from around the world; wages data in Australia; continuing worries about inflation and central bank interest rate policies; and the final estimate for German 4th quarter and 2023 economic growth. Globally, it’s the release of early data from monthly surveys of economic activity