Google Develops Breakthrough Quantum Computer

Good Morning,

U.S. shares have kicked off the new quarter on a bullish note, new home consents in New Zealand have fallen back to 2021 levels, electric car manufacturer Tesla delivered a record number of vehicles in the second quarter and Google has developed a quantum computer that can instantly make calculations which would take the best existing supercomputers 47 years.

Let's jump in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• The NZX50 index edged up 0.4 points on the first day of the winter school holidays on Monday (Stuff)

• There has been a strong rebound of tech stock prices on global markets, particularly from some of the big tech stocks that were down about 35% to 40% last year, Forsyth Barr investment strategist Zoe Wallis says (NBR)

• U.S. stocks kicked off the new quarter on a bullish note, with electric-car makers Tesla Inc. and BYD Co. climbing on record quarterly sales (BBG)

• Australian shares followed Wall Street higher to post their third straight day of gains on Monday as a bounce for the miners and retailers helped offset selling across the technology sector (AFR)

• Oil and gas companies have intensified the hunt for new deposits in a long-term bet on demand, as they reinvest some of the record profits from the fossil fuel price surge driven by the Ukraine war (RT)

• China’s factory activity growth slowed in June, a private sector survey showed on Monday, with sentiment waning and recruitment cooling as firms grew increasingly concerned about sluggish market conditions (RT)

Earnings and Data

• New Zealand-based, privately owned tech company Datacom Group has had an 80.5% drop in net profit after tax for FY23, to $8 million from the $41m the prior year, after investing more into its strategic product businesses (NBR)

• Australian resource and energy exports climbed 9% to a record A$460 billion in the financial year just ended, but are forecast to slide over the next two years as some energy prices have dropped back to levels last seen before Russia invaded Ukraine (RT)

• Tesla Inc on Sunday said it delivered a record number of vehicles in the second quarter, topping market estimates as price cuts an U.S. federal credits helped make its electric vehicles more affordable (RT)

• Fewer than 90% of people returned individual census forms by Friday’s deadline, based on “raw data” collated by Stats NZ (Stuff)

• The number of new home consents has fallen back to 2021 levels, with just 45,159 new homes consented nationwide over the year to May, according to Stats NZ’s latest figures (Stuff)

News Summary

• Elon Musk’s move to temporarily cap how many posts Twitter users can read on the social media site could undermine efforts by the company’s new Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino to attract advertisers, marketing industry professionals say (RT)

• An Australian project management firm has filed a lawsuit against Twitter Inc in a U.S. court seeking cumulative payments of about A$1 million over alleged non-payment of bills for work done in four countries, court filings showed (RT)

• Australia’s second largest pension fund, Australian Retirement Trust, has slashed the value of its local office assets by as much as 20% as commercial property woes hit the country’s biggest landlords (BBG)

• Petrol price monitoring app Gaspy has had a surge in membership numbers as fuel taxes were reintroduced (Stuff)

• ASB and Kiwibank have pushed up some of their fixed-term home loan rates, in some instances more than appears justified by rising funding costs (Stuff)

• Singapore home prices fell for the first time in three years in the second quarter, suggesting the market is cooling on the back of the latest property curbs (BBG)

• Google has developed a quantum computer that instantly makes calculations that would take the best existing supercomputers 47 years, in a breakthrough meant to establish beyond doubt that the experimental machines can outperform conventional rivals (Stuff)

Deal Flow

Investments / M&A

• Listed insurer Tower is selling its Solomon Islands business to TransPacific Assurance for about $3.3 million NZD (NBR)

• All the pieces have fallen into place at Vector Metering, the smart metering play now half-owned by Queensland Investment Corporation. QIC Infrastructure and New Zealand-listed Vector, which owns the other half, have closed a A$1.6 billion green loan which will fund part of the deal and an ongoing rollout of meters in Australia and New Zealand (AFR)

• Canada's OMERS and Dutch pension investor APG have agreed to buy Netherlands-based energy infrastructure solutions firm Kenter, according to a draft announcement of the deal (RT)

• Australia’s United Malt Group said on Monday it agreed to a A$1.5 billion takeover offer from Malteries Soufflet, a branch of French agribusiness InVivo, in a deal aimed at building the world’s top malt producer (RT)

• Britain’s biggest sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion will open about 50 stores in the Middle East after agreeing its first ever franchise deal with Dubai-based GMG, it said on Monday (RT)

Equity Raises

• Chemicals distributor Redox’s $1.3 billion AUD initial public offering on Monday was the first ASX listing north of $100 million in more than a year, leaving bankers hopeful the deal with coax more floats from Australia’s capital markets pipeline (AFR)

Daily Picks

• Check out Stuff’s review of all the changes that occurred in New Zealand on July 1st, including the end of the fuel excise tax cut

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