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Body recovered after man jumps from crane into Wellington Harbour
Maren Ishak
January 29, 2024
Good Morning,
Last week, global markets witnessed varied trends. The US achieved new record highs for major indices, while Europe surged due to positive corporate results and Chinese stimulus. Conversely, Japan saw a slight decline. Noteworthy updates in earnings, data releases, and news headlines also garnered attention.
Let’s jump in!
Before The Bell
Markets
Stocks rose again last week, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index to new record highs. The S&P 500 has now seen gains in 12 out of the last 13 weeks. However, the small-cap Russell 2000 Index remains around 20% below its all-time high. (TRP)
European stocks surged on strong corporate results and China's stimulus, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index up 3.11%. The European Central Bank's unchanged rates and dovish tone bolstered markets, with major indexes like France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX, Italy's FTSE MIB, and the UK's FTSE 100 also rising. (TRP)
Japanese stocks fell slightly as the Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.6% and the TOPIX Index fell 0.5%. Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments on progress toward sustained inflation hinted at potential changes in monetary policy. (TRP)
Earnings & Data
Accenture NZ revenue up 18% to $239m (NBR)
Pacific Edge reports drop in test volumes (NBR)
Employment confidence has edged higher, but people are mindful of the cost of living and job security. The Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index rose by 1.4 points to 99.7 in the December quarter. While higher, the index remained down from a peak of 115.2 in the 2022 September quarter. (NBR)
Power companies are cranking up their investment in new generation, with a survey by Concept Consulting showing commitments for renewable energy developments have almost doubled in the past 18 months. Results of the survey for the Electricity Authority showed 4979GWh of new generation in the pipeline for construction, up from 2600GWh in the previous July 2022 survey. (NBR)
Stocks gained as investors rewarded companies for positive earnings updates and as China’s latest move to stimulate its economy boosted resources shares. (BBG)
Intel slumped nearly 12 per cent on Friday reeling from a bleak first-quarter revenue outlook. (RT)
News Summary
Monday
Tuesday
New Zealand is deploying a six-member NZ Defence Force team to protect shipping in the Red Sea. (Stuff)
A Chinese warship repeatedly ignored requests from the crew of HMAS Toowoomba to turn its sonar off and stay away, closing to within 1.4 kilometres of the immobilised Australian frigate before injuring divers. (AFR)
Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s private company has drawn up a policy wishlist to save the nickel industry, amid a warning from Swiss resources giant Glencore about the plight of the sector in Australia. (AFR)
Wednesday
A social media content creator who drove a powerboat into a flock of endangered birds at speed - then boasted of the likely fatal collision on Instagram - argued today that he shouldn’t be convicted of the crime because it might damage his professional rugby prospects. (Herald)
The father of an Australian woman Hannah Clarke who was brutally killed by her Kiwi ex-husband, a former rugby league player, says there were signs of “coercive control” in their relationship. (Stuff)
Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire primary, likely cementing his place as the Republican presidential nominee. (Guardian)
Thursday
Friday
Weekend
Deal Flow
Investments / M&A
Australia & New Zealand
New Zealand-based Tourism Holdings (THL) has lined up a strategic acquisition of Camperagent RV Centre, a top Adelaide RV dealership, marking its expansion in the Australian market. (NBR)
In Australia over the last year, more than A$38 billion worth of mergers and acquisition deals were either cancelled or now seem very unlikely to complete because of regulatory concerns or shareholder pushback. (NBR)
Australian private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners has pushed back against speculation it’s looking to acquire MediaWorks. (NBR)
Street Talk understands Global Power Generation Australia’s bankers at Morgan Stanley will formally launch a sale process this week, after meeting potential bidders over the past fortnight. The preparations were revealed by this column in December. (AFR)
Central West Pumped Hydro, a 2.6 gigawatt hours electricity generation project in NSW that wants to feed into the National Energy Market by 2027, is gearing up to bring in a new investor as it stares down a hefty construction bill. (AFR)
One of the founders of customer research start-up Dovetail, last valued at $960 million, has hit the road. (AFR)
Gilbert + Tobin has lured back two of its top M&A partners. Street Talk understands White & Case partners Chris Flynn and Nirangjan Nagarajah are headed back to their old shop. (AFR)
Jefferies Australia has secured a sell-side role and is expected to tap into its global franchise to help find a buyer for the $4 billion homegrown success story. (AFR)
Key Global
Amer Sports to weigh raising up to $US1.8 Billion in US IPO (BBG)
Other Global
UK Caterer Compass in talks to buy rival CH&Co for over £400M (BBG)
Sandoz to buy eye drug Cimerli in $US170 million deal (RT)
Axiata’s Indonesian internet provider, Link Net, considering sale of stake in Indonesia fiber business (BBG)
Consumer banking corporation, Credit Agricole, takes 7% stake in Worldline to bolster payments (BBG)
Newmark manager gets lucky; MS, Highbury stitch up big-premium merger. (AFR)
Newmark shareholders agitate against BWP property merger (AFR)
Haleon to Sell ChapStick to Suave Brands for $510 Million (BBG)
SPAC
AI Startup Strikes $200 Million SPAC Deal to List on Nasdaq (BBG)
VC & Fundraising
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up xAI is in talks to raise up to $6 billion at a proposed valuation of US$20 billion. The start-up has been in talks with family offices in Hong Kong and is targeting sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East for the funding. (RT)
SEEK, Blackbird-backed wellness start-up Sonder banks $16m (AFR)
India’s Captain Fresh, a business-to-business harvest-to-retail marketplace for animal protein, is in talks to raise $50 million in new funding (TC)
Kenyan agtech Shamba Pride raises $3.7M to grow its merchant network (TC)
Deep tech startup Marama Labs has raised €1.75 million ($3.1m) in an over-subscribed seed-plus round to help it scale up hardware manufacturing capacity in New Zealand for its patented CloudSpec spectroscopy instrumentation. (NBR)
Willow’s high-profile shareholder register has stumped up again, Street Talk can reveal. The property and infrastructure software start-up, which is backed by ex-Macquarie Group boss Nicholas Moore, raised over $US12 million ($18.2 million) of ordinary equity from existing shareholders in mid-January to strengthen its balance sheet. (AFR)
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will seek to stop his ruling party’s factions from fundraising and competing for leadership positions, after a money scandal sent its public support to the lowest on record in one poll last week. (BBG)
Equity Raises
Key Global
Other Global
Shenzhen Gantang Mingshan Catering Co., the company behind popular Chinese restaurant chains including grilled fish diner Tanyu, is weighing an initial public offering in Hong Kong as soon as this year, according to people familiar with the matter. (BBG)
Debt, Restructuring & Bankruptcy
There are some big bank bond deals in the market this week with Westpac and ANZ putting the finishing touches to multi-billion dollar raisings. (AFR)
The Daily Deck is sponsored by Industrial Equity, LLC
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