• The Daily Deck
  • Posts
  • Markets Rise, as does the Price of Whittaker's Chocolate

Markets Rise, as does the Price of Whittaker's Chocolate

March 18, 2023

Good Morning,

West Auckland gunman dies in hospital after being shot by police, Stuart Nash demoted but keeping remaining portfolios, Whittaker's announces price rise coming next week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit Moscow in show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Credit Suisse shares fall again, sentiment remains fragile, and ChatGPT Advances Are Moving So Fast Regulators Can’t Keep Up.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • Markets were all positive on the day. The NZX 50 was up +0.2% to 11,725.62, the ASX 200 increased +0.4% to 6,994.80, the S&P 500 gained +0.7% to 3,960.28 and the Nasdaq grew +0.4%. All treasury bond yields increased as well.

  • Global money market and government bond funds obtained massive weekly inflows as investors rushed to safer assets on fears of contagion from the collapse of three U.S. banks last week (RT)

  • European stock indexes rose in early trading on Friday, extending a recovery from the previous day as fears about a banking crisis eased slightly after top U.S. authorities and banks took action to rescue First Republic Bank (RT)

Earnings and Data

  • Auckland Airport to spend $3.9b on terminals, upsetting airlines (NBR)

News Summary

  • The man at the centre of a West Auckland shooting this morning has died in hospital (1 News)

  • The Hurricanes have powered their way through a seesaw opening against the Waratahs to post a comfortable win in niggly Wellington conditions (1 News)

  • Napier MP Stuart Nash has been demoted to the bottom of the Cabinet rankings after his political implosion that saw him resign as Police Minister (1 News)

  • Whittaker's chocolate lovers might want to look away, as the Kiwi company has today announced price rises are coming next week (1 News)

  • Peter Thiel said he had US$50 million (NZ$80m) Silicon Valley Bank when it went under, even after his venture fund warned portfolio companies that the tech-focused lender was at risk (Herald)

  • Adrian Orr responds to criticism over focus and staff turnover (NBR)

  • Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit Moscow in show of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin (9 News)

  • Sydney has sweltered through another day of high temperatures as the hot weather sparked bushfires across New South Wales (9 News)

  • Shares in Credit Suisse resumed their decline on Friday, giving up early gains, in a sign that investor sentiment remains fragile in a week that has seen the troubled Swiss lender secure a $54 billion lifeline (RT)

  • At least 22 people, including three Buddhist monks, were shot dead at close range in central Myanmar last week, according to a doctor's post-mortem report, in what opponents of military rule say was a massacre of civilians conducted by the army (RT)

  • Strikes at four German airports led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Friday in the latest bout of industrial action to disrupt travel plans in recent months (RT)

  • China suspended the operations of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.’s Beijing office for three months and imposed an unprecedented fine over lapses in its auditing work of bad-debt manager China Huarong Asset Management Co. (BBG)

  • ChatGPT Advances Are Moving So Fast Regulators Can’t Keep Up. As governments try to figure out how to regulate artificial intelligence, the latest developments add new challenges (BBG)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

  • UBS, Credit Suisse oppose idea of forced merger, Bloomberg News reports (RT)

  • Shares in Hurricane Energy soared up to 31% after it agreed on Thursday to be bought by London-based oil refining firm Prax Exploration & Production, valuing the British oil producer at 249 million pounds ($300.6 million USD) (RT)

  • French oil major TotalEnergies is selling some of its European petrol stations to Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard for $3.3 billion USD as part of plans to turn them into food and services hubs, the companies said on Thursday (RT)

  • Motive Partners, the fintech-focused private equity firm, is in talks to buy payments software provider ACI Worldwide Inc., according to people familiar with the matter (BBG)

  • PLDT Inc. agreed to sell a portfolio of telecommunications towers to a firm backed by KKR & Co. for over 12.1 billion pesos ($220 million USD), as part of a program to divest digital infrastructure assets (BBG)

VC & Fundraising

  • Siemens Energy raised 1.259 billion euros ($1.33 billion USD) via the sale of new shares to help fund its takeover of wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa (RT)

Equity Raises

  • Indorama Ventures Pcl, the acquisitive Thai chemicals company, is considering a US initial public offering of its integrated oxides and derivatives business that could raise about $1 billion USD, according to people familiar with the matter (BBG)

  • The Dubai initial public offering of remittances and money exchange firm Al Ansari Financial Services received orders for all shares offered within an hour of books opening, marking a strong start for the emirate’s first listing of the year (BBG)

Daily Picks

  • Peter Thiel said he had US$50 million (NZ$80m) Silicon Valley Bank when it went under, even after his venture fund warned portfolio companies that the tech-focused lender was at risk (Herald)

Job Board

New Zealand

  • ANZ graduate roles - Apply here

  • BCG graduate roles - Apply here

  • BDO graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Bell Gully summer intern roles - Apply here

  • BNZ graduate roles - Apply here

  • Buddle Findlay summer clerkships - Apply here

  • Chapman Tripp winter and summer clerkships and clerk roles - Apply here

  • Deloitte intern roles - Apply here

  • Deloitte graduate roles - Apply here

  • DLA Piper insight programme,summer clerkships and clerk roles - Apply here

  • Duncan Cotterill summer clerkships and grad roles - Apply here

  • EY graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Forsyth Barr associate analyst (Wellington) - Apply here

  • Forsyth Barr associate analyst global equities (Wellington) - Apply here

  • Grant Thornton graduate roles - Apply here

  • KPMG graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • PWC graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Russel McVeagh summer clerkships - Apply here

  • Russel McVeagh clerks - Apply here

Australia

  • Citadel Securities graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Goldman Sachs Investment Banking Intern - Apply here

  • IMC graduate and intern roles - Apply here

  • Jarden

    • Women in banking scholarship - Apply here

    • Winter internships - Apply here

    • Graduate role - Apply here

    • Summer internships - Apply here

  • Macquarie graduate roles - Apply here

  • Optiver

    • Graduate role - Apply here

    • Internships - Apply here

Love our newsletter? Please share it with your friends, family, colleagues or anyone who needs to stay on top of the market via this link.

Also, if you have any feedback or questions, don't hesitate to hit us up via email or Instagram.

The Daily Deck is sponsored by Industrial Equity, LLC

Reply

or to participate.