Good Evening,

Welcome to Equity Espresso’s Daily Recap. 

It was all about Uranium stocks on the ASX today, with futures prices breaking through the US$100/lbs mark for the time since 2007, which sent locally listed producers’ share prices higher today. Despite the Energy bump, the ASX 200 index ended the day flat, falling by 0.03% or 2pts to 7,496.30 after a sluggish start to the day.

Unsurprisingly, Energy (+2.11%) was the best-performing sector today after Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium miner, warned it was likely to fall short of its production targets over the next two years. Uranium futures climbed 6.7% to $US104/Lbs, the highest in almost 17 years. Paladin Energy (+7.4%), Boss Energy (+9.6%), Deep Yellow (+11.5%) and Energy Resources Australia (+34.0%) were some of the big movers today. Telco (+1.06%) was another positive mover today, while Materials (-0.81%) and Health Care (-0.57%) stocks dropped.

In company news, Super Retail Group shares rose 5.7% after the company reported robust Christmas trading, with a 3% rise in first-half sales, but warned rising wages and rents will dent its profit margin. Santos received some positive news, with a court ruling in its favour that a $5.8 billion gas project in the N.T. can go ahead. Zenith Minerals rose 6.5% to $0.16 after it appointed Azure Capital to run a review of its lithium business.

Wall Street

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ notched their first weekly gain of the new year, as U.S. stocks edged higher despite underwhelming banking earnings and a fall in airline stock prices. Data from LSEG released on Friday revealed that Q4 earnings for the S&P 500 companies are expected to increase 4.4% from a year earlier - down from the 5.2% increase estimated last year, following a 7.5% rise in Q3.

Markets in the U.S. will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Economic Data

• U.S. Producer Prices declined 0.1% month-over-month in December, the same fall as in November, with this month’s forecast below estimates of a 0.1% rise.

• Indonesia reported a Trade Surplus of US$3.3 billion for December, beating estimates of US$1.9 billion forecast.
  

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Quick Singles

🪃 Local News

• According to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the value of new owner-occupier loans grew by 0.1% and the number of such loans increased by 1% during November. Despite the Reserve Bank raising its interest rate benchmark from 2.85% to 4.35% over the year, new owner-occupier loans increased by 7.3% in the 12 months to November.

🌎️ Around The Globe

• Chesapeake Energy is set to become the largest U.S. natural gas producer as it plans to buy smaller rival Southwestern Energy in a deal valued at $7.4 billion.

• Google will reportedly lay off several employees from its Google Assistant division as it explores ways to integrate A.I. chatbots into its products. The company also plans to restructure its ad sales department, which employs 30,000 people.

• U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw $4.6 billion worth of shares trade hands as of Thursday, according to LSEG data, after the U.S. securities regulator approved the products on Wednesday.

• Wolverine World Wide has sold its brand Sperry to Reebok owner Authentic Brands Group as the footwear retailer looks to focus on better-performing assets.

• Discord is laying off 17% of its staff, with the cuts announced today to employees in an all-hands meeting and internal memo.

   

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A Little Extra

📉 Going Down?

Top-10 shorted stocks on the ASX - as of January 9

👨‍💼 Director Transactions

What are the insiders doing? (On-market trade only)

DISCLAIMER: None of the information provided in this newsletter should be constituted as financial advice. This newsletter is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be taken as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell assets or make financial decisions. Please do your research.