New Zealand’s corporate earnings season picks up the pace this week with Contact Energy, Freightways and a2 Milk Co poised to start the reporting week, with a little bit of something for everybody, while a clutch of annual meetings this week will keep investors on their toes with heavyweights Infratil and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare among those gathering.
Meanwhile, central bankers are in view ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s annual conflab at Jackson Hole in Wyoming, and New Zealand's Reserve Bank has a meeting on Wednesday with a quarter-point rate cut pencilled in by all and sundry.
Wall Street had a mixed Friday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite on the red side of the ledger, while Berkshire Hathaway’s increased holding of health insurer UnitedHealth Group helped propel the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fresh records.
And European leaders are throwing their weight behind Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as he prepares to meet Donald Trump after the US president’s talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin last week.
Season’s greetings
New Zealand’s corporate earnings season hits its stride this week with analysts looking for signs of life in the economy after a protracted downturn.
Among those slated for today, Contact Energy is expected to deliver an upbeat outlook as it starts to bed in its recently acquired Manawa Energy generator, while a2 Milk’s come hot on the heels of some soft Chinese retail sales data and New Zealand’s sluggish economy isn’t expected to do courier operator Freightways any favours in its result.
Annual meetings for Infratil on Tuesday and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare on Thursday are set to offer some insight into the US federal government’s impact on some of the local heavyweights, while Rakon’s Friday meeting will likely be a feisty affair as the New Zealand Shareholders’ Association finds itself at odds with a large shareholding bloc seeking to overhaul the board.
Australian futures are pointing to a 0.6% decline when the S&P/ASX 200 index opens today, following a mixed Friday session on Wall Street where the Nasdaq dipped 0.4% and the Dow Jones edged up 0.1%.
Unitedhealth Group led gainers on the blue chip index, climbing 12%, after Berkshire Hathaway’s latest filing showed it’s been adding to its position in the health insurer, while paring its stake in Apple.
Money supply
Investors are turning their sights on Jackson Hole in Wyoming for the Federal Reserve’s annual meeting of central bankers for clues on the global interest rate path, with chair Jerome Powell set to speak on Friday. The Fed is increasingly expected to cut the federal funds rate next month.
New Zealand’s Reserve Bank will review the official cash rate on Wednesday and is expected to lower the benchmark rate 25 basis points to 3%, with questions as to whether the monetary policy committee will pencil in further reductions.
“The real focus this week will be the RBNZ – in particular, its OCR track and the committee’s judgements and/or forward guidance,” ANZ New Zealand economists said in a note. “The data will ultimately decide where the OCR ends up, and we still have 2.5% pencilled in, but we’re not sure the RBNZ is ready to pivot just yet.”
The kiwi dollar traded at 59.31 US cents at 7.30am in Auckland from 59.21 cents last week.
Brent crude oil futures were up 0.4% at US$66.13 a barrel ahead of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, following Trump’s talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Friday.
European leaders are travelling with Zelensky to support the Ukrainian leader in seeking to limit Russia’s expansion in negotiating an end to the war.