Dust off those rain jackets ☔️

February 15, 2023

Good Morning,

New Zealand experiences its 'worst weather event' as the country experiences its third-ever State of Emergency, hundreds displaced as the storm ravages throughout the night, China’s new top diplomat to visit Russia as tensions with the US mount, the US claims Chinese balloon sensors are recovered from ocean, Earthquake-hit Syria to open two more border crossings for aid delivery.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 376.66 points higher, or 1.11%, to end the session at 34,245.93, its best day in February. The S&P 500 climbed 1.14% to close at 4,137.29, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.48% to 11,891.79 (CNBC)

  • The S&P/ASX 200 nudged up 0.2 per cent, with tech and communications stocks leading gains (AFR)

  • The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.9% higher provisionally, with most sectors and major bourses finishing in positive territory. Household goods led gains with a 2% increase, while oil and gas stocks slipped 0.2% (CNBC)

Earnings and Data

  • Cadence Design Systems came out with quarterly earnings of $0.96 (USD) per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.91 (USD) per share. This compares to earnings of $0.82 (USD) per share a year ago (NASDAQ)

  • Vulcan Steel has reported a steady first-half net profit of $54m (USD), with trading from the newly acquired Ullrich Aluminium partly offsetting weaker volumes. The sharemarket clearly did not react well to the result, the stock dropping 84c or 8.8 per cent to $8.72 (USD) in afternoon trade (NZH)

News Summary

  • Cyclone Gabrielle: 'This is a significant disaster with a real threat to the lives of New Zealanders' says Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty as New Zealand wakes up to more reckoning (RNZ)

  • A person was found dead on shore in Napier late last night, formal identification is yet to take place (Stuff)

  • China’s top diplomat will visit Russia this month, according to its Foreign Ministry, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine (CNN)

  • Search crews for the Chinese 'spy balloon' found "significant debris from the site, including all of the priority sensor and electronics pieces identified", said US Northern Command. The FBI is examining the items, which the US says were used to spy on sensitive military sites (BBC)

  • An eight-year-old Australian boy has died from suspected electrocution while on holiday in Fiji. The boy, identified by family as Cairo Winitana from Sydney, was staying with his parents at the Club Wyndham Denarau Island Resort on the west coast of Fiji's main island (BBC)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

  • Vodafone Group Plc shares gained as much as 2.4% on Tuesday after Liberty Global Plc said it had acquired a 4.9% stake in the rival British telecom group, in a surprise bet on Vodafone’s plans to revamp its business (BBG)

  • Norma Group SE, a German maker of hose clamps and pipe connections for everything from cars to washing machines, rejected several takeover approaches in recent months from bidders including Carlyle Group Inc (BBG)

  • Initial public offerings by small private biotech companies are poised to stage a comeback later in 2023 as the pace of interest rate hikes slows, but tougher economic conditions will make investors more inclined to pick firms which have drugs in human trials (RT)

  • Orange is set to secure EU antitrust approval for its bid for a majority stake in Belgian peer VOO SA after the French telecoms provider signed a deal with Liberty Global's Telenet to address the regulator's concerns (RT)

  • NatWest Group Plc is set to acquire an 85% stake of Cushon for $174 million (BBG)

  • Teddy Sagi has offered to buy the remaining shares of Kape Technologies Plc at a $1.51 billion valuation. Sagi currently owns a 54.8% stake of Kape Technologies (BBG)

Equity Raises

  • Brokers have raised the prospect of a $400 million to $500 million equity raising at casino owner The Star Entertainment Group, in a bid to recapitalise the group (AFR)

Debt Raises

  • Emirates NBD has raised A$450 million through an issuance of 10-year Australian dollar bonds (RT)

Daily Picks

  • Massey University professor in innovation and economics Christophe Schumacher said judging by the cost of similar events overseas, he would not be surprised it the storm ended up costing the country tens of billions of dollars.... Could this number grow over the next few days? (Stuff)

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