Good morning, and Happy Friday. Thanks @ttward, @Ravgnome & the AM loungers.
US stocks got a strong late rally today off the back of a wall street journal article claiming the US are considering rolling back tariffs to try and spur on the trade negotiations (wait weren't the tariffs meant to do that in the first place, I won't pretend it makes any sense to me...).
I have to share this odd story about the Bank of Jamaica trying to make inflation discussion cool, by putting it to reggae!
At a time when inflation targets have eluded the central banks of major emerging markets like Turkey and Argentina, Jamaica has turned to an unorthodox method of communicating its consumer price policy: reggae.
The Bank of Jamaica launched a campaign last month that includes a series of videos featuring singers and dancers boasting "low and stable inflation" to the tune of reggae beats and telling viewers that "if it’s too high the people have a cry and if it’s too low the country nah grow."
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Commodity-based stocks have helped the ASX hit a new nine-week high, following the release of several encouraging earnings reports, while online retailer Kogan.com surged on strong Christmas trade.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 14.9 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 5,850.1 at 1615 AEDT on Thursday, while the broader All Ordinaries was 16.1 points, or 0.27 per cent, higher at 5,909.8.
The Aussie dollar has dropped, however, buying 71.52 US cents from 71.98 US cents on Wednesday.
Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said the market appeared to have taken its cues from China with little other direction, before meandering to a close.
Mr Weston said investors were most probably awaiting the start of the US financial earnings season for further clues on economic health.
"It's been a bit of a lifeless market, we've seen it spend the last two weeks absorbing political news so earnings seasons will allow people to mark what exactly is happening out there," he said.
"We're in a tighter economic situation, so it is a boost of confidence to hear from people, from CEO's about emerging markets, what their concerns are about the economy and consumer spending."
Australia's tech and property trusts had a solid session on Thursday, while shares in online retailer Kogan.com surged 22.15 per cent to $3.97 after it announced a solid Christmas sales period had offset dwindling iPhone revenue.
But it was commodity-based shares that proved the biggest lift for the market.
Woodside Petroleum, which announced a 43 per cent surge in first-quarter revenue on its Wheatstone LNG project, saw its stock gain 0.66 per cent to $33.74.
Santos lifted 0.84 per cent to $6.03, Origin was 0.56 per cent higher at $7.16, and New Hope Corporation leapt 2.25 per cent higher to $3.63.
Beach Energy was up 1.22 per cent at $1.66, and Oil Search shares rose 0.53 per cent to $7.64 after a positive progress report on its Pikka B well in Alaska.
Whitehaven Coal recovered from an early dip to rise 3.74 per cent to $4.71, after a mixed trading update that reported an 11 per cent increase in coal production, but a seven per cent decline in sales for the quarter.
Soul Pattinson lost ground, falling 0.35 per cent to $25.90, while Caltex dropped 0.19 per cent to $26.40.
Macquarie Group continued to outpace the big four banks, up 1.02 per cent to $117.18, ANZ following closest with a 0.74 per cent rise to $25.94.
Commonwealth Bank was ahead 0.3 per cent to $72.77 and Westpac lifted 0.27 per cent to $26.07.
For the miners, Fortescue Metals rose 1.79 per cent to $4.55 while South32 jumped 3.6 per cent to $3.45 after announcing it had nearly doubled its second-quarter metallurgical coal output and raised its production guidance for a major mine in 2019.
BHP was down 0.18 per cent at $32.87 but Rio Tinto rose 0.95 per cent to $80.40, and Alumina Limited was 3.06 per cent higher at $2.36.
Bluescope Steel turned around its earlier fortunes to lift 1.94 per cent higher at $12.11, but utility AGL dropped 1.99 per cent after JP Morgan downgraded it to neutral.
The energy company also suspended sales of coal ash from its Bayswater and Liddell power stations on heavy metal concerns.
Wall Street closed higher, with the S&P 500 supported by sharply higher US bank shares after some strong company earnings reports from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
Sentiment was also supported by the UK government's defeat of the no-confidence motion launched by the Labour opposition following the previous day's failure to pass Brexit deal legislation put forward by the British prime minister.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics also revealed home loan approvals fell by 0.9 per cent in November, which was better than the market expected.
A profit warning from Societe Generale and U.S. frictions over Chinese tech giant Huawei weighed on European shares on Thursday, although the worries gradually faded and a rising Wall Street helped indexes pare losses or close a shade higher.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended the day up 0.04 percent after having traded in the red most of the session.Germany's exporter-heavy DAX index fell 0.12 percent and Britain's FTSE slid 0.4 percent.
Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) shares were the biggest losers within the banking sector and on the French blue chip index CAC 40, down 5.6 percent.The French bank said its fourth-quarter results would be affected by tough market conditions and the impact of some asset sales. The warning hit European banking stocks (.SX7P), which fell 1.2 percent.“I have a preference for the U.S. banks. SocGen shows how tough things are for European banks,” said Jerome Schupp, fund manager at Geneva-based investment firm Prime Partners.
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ALP dividend tax plan is 'big risk' for bank investors. Labor's controversial pledge to revamp tax benefits on dividends has sparked a warning from a leading fund manager that the policy was a "big risk" for investors in the nation's banks. The federal opposition has vowed if it wins this year's election to end a situation where taxpayers receive a cash refund if they receive tax breaks on their dividends that reduce their tax bill below zero.
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Woodside Petroleum has flagged higher-than-expected investment costs as it steps up early work on the two big gas developments that will drive its growth in the next decade. Australia’s biggest independent gas and oil producer said its investment expenditure for 2019 will be between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion, significantly higher than a UBS estimate of $1.2 billion.
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Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME) is close to completing a gold resource estimate for the Havilah deposit within its Sandstone project in WA which will add to the existing resource of 261,000 ounces. The company aims to define at least 500,000 ounces at Sandstone this year as part of its overall strategy to delineate more than 1 million ounces and re-establish gold mining and milling operations.
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Livid minority shareholders in Flinders Mines have succeeded in getting a meeting to vote on the proposed delisting of the company postponed to February 6. The extraordinary meeting of shareholders had been scheduled to vote on the controversial proposal on the morning of Tuesday next week, but recent appeals to the Takeovers Panel have prompted Flinders to reschedule the vote to Wednesday, February 6.
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Musgrave Minerals MD demonstrates his confidence in the company’s gold strategy. Rob Waugh has today purchased 260,000 shares on-market with a total value of more than $22,000.
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Havilah Resources Ltd’s (ASX:HAV) recently appointed director Martin Janes has acquired 200,000 shares via on-market trades for a total consideration of $33,363. Earlier this month, Havilah appointed Martin Janes as an independent non-executive director to replace outgoing board member Kenneth Williams.
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Energy company AGL has suspended sales of coal ash and ash by-products from its Bayswater and Liddell power stations in NSW due to elevated signs of heavy metals in the product.
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Diversified miner South32 has nearly doubled its second-quarter metallurgical coal output and raised its production guidance for a major mine in 2019.
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After securing the business of Hungry Jack's, Red Rooster, and Oporto, Coca-Cola Amatil has signed Pizza Hut to a five-year beverage supply deal for its 285 Australian restaurants. The deal comes about 18 months after the beverage giant lost its Domino's Pizza contract to rival Pepsi-Schweppes.
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Food Revolution Group upgrades processing facility due to high Chinese demand. The company is exploring opportunities for growth in the functional food, beverage and nutraceutical markets.
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Online retailer Kogan.com says record Black Friday and Boxing Day sales have offset plunging revenue from poor iPhone sales. In an unaudited update on Thursday, Kogan told the ASX total revenue growth for the six months to December 31 was 9.7 per cent higher than the same period last year, boosted by new and store-specific products in the lead up to the peak Christmas trading period.
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Technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has hinted interest in helping solve Sydney's road congestion, quoting $1 billion on Twitter for a high-speed transit tunnel through Australia's Blue Mountains. A New South Wales MP has pitched the idea of building a 50-kilometre tunnel to Musk, who quoted "a bargain" to build it, according to tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
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Esports Mogul Asia Pacific Ltd (ASX:ESH) has extended its PC game title catalogue ahead of its Silver Slam tournament next month. Four in-demand PC game titles will be added to three current titles already integrated on Mogul, with a total of 16 PC, console and mobile titles offered in Silver Slam.
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Mining mogul Gina Rinehart retains her spot at the top of Forbes' Aussie rich list despite falling iron ore prices knocking her wealth down $US1.8 billion, to $US14.8 billion (down $A2.5 billion, to $A20.6 billion).
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With plenty of major lenders in the Australian finance sector having already fallen foul of regulators, there is continually less surprise when another goes into the mire. The industry now under investigation relates to car finance. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has raised concerns that lenders are pushing car loans on those who lack the means to pay them back.
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Please include Stock Codes in your posts out of respect for others.
Here's a nice berry smoothie pick-me-up, and some Jamaican food to get you ready to dance with your favorite stocks. And thanks for the supportive comments this week, they are all appreciated (even it's only for the free food). 
