ASX200 adds 25bps for the week - feels like a win!

It’s been one of those weeks with a lot happening under the hood – lots of volatility – however when we look at the actual moves overall, we’ve simply edged slightly higher which actually feels like a win! Today, the market was positive, more so in the morning, however we booked a gain none the less. Healthcare the main driver today with both Cochlear (ASX: COH) and CSL Limited (ASX :CSL) finishing up more than 2%

Overall, the index closed up +23 points or +0.42% today to 5681 and was up +0.25% on the week. Dow Futures are trading down -36 points / -0.14%.

ASX 200 Chart

ASX 200 Chart

Catching our eye

Broker Moves; Aurizon Holdings Ltd. shares rose to the highest in almost four months on Friday after the regulator in Australia’s Queensland state revised up the amount it can charge customers on its monopoly coal network. Citigroup analysts said the outcome was “marginally better than our forecasts,” but added that “there is still a step-down likely to occur in Aurizon Network earnings” over the four years.

• Asaleo Care Upgraded to Buy at Citi; PT A$1.05

• Oceania Healthcare Cut to Neutral at First NZ Capital

• AP Eagers Upgraded to Hold at Wilsons; Price Target A$6.53

• HT&E Downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley; PT A$1.60

• Nine Entertainment Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

• Rio Tinto Upgraded to Buy at CLSA; PT Set to A$87.45

• Gold Road Upgraded to Buy at Baillieu Holst Ltd; PT A$0.80

Sectors this week;

Stocks this week; Poor old IOOF….Harry wrote a quick piece on it today – click here

Some of the specific events we covered during the week…

Market Matters Webinar; This week I presented two Webinars, one early on in the week with a quick run-down on the current state of play while I’m just back from a conversation with Peter Switzer and Paul Rickard which I’ll send out next week. Click here to view No 1

Yield Curve – you’ll start to hear a lot about this; On Wednesday we covered the dynamics of an “inverted yield curve” and why we should be conscious of it. On Monday, the US yield curve produced its first inversion with the 2 – 5-year bond yield gap turning negative for the first time in over a decade. Here’s what it can mean – click here 

Overseas Financial Stocks; We look globally to assess trends that could impact stocks in Australia – this week I covered some of the major global banks for clues on what could come next for Macquarie (ASX: MQG) – click here

At MM, we are short-term bullish the ASX200 while being overall concerned around what comes next in 2019 /2020. We looked at 5 defensive stocks that performed well since the market rolled over this August – click here 

Forming a view for the future, often involves looking at the post;In this post we look back over November, a very weak month for the ASX – click here

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