Page 2 - John Lockton News Today

A fresh calm swept across financial markets on Monday as investors reconsidered their initial fears of a new COVID-19 strain.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) share price trades at a premium to the other big four banks. But is it justified?

Company warnings about rising prices have unnerved investors and underscore the challenge posed by inflation, leaving fund managers wondering whether margins have peaked.

Cashed-up buyers are on the hunt amid one of the largest booms in global merger and acquisition activity, and almost no ASX company is safe from predators.

Companies that suffered through the pandemic have become popular sharemarket trades as Sydney and Melbourne exit lockdowns.

CBA’s record puts $100 firmly in sight Save Share Commonwealth Bank’s surge to a fresh record high takes the lender tantalisingly close to $100 a share, underscoring the ongoing depth of interest in the lender that strategists expect to fire the starting gun for sector capital returns. The bank rose 1.3 per cent to $97.79 on Monday, rallying through a record set last Friday when it broke through its 2015 all-time high. The banking giant is now worth $173.5 billion. CBA chief executive...

Budget bump to push ASX to double-digit returns this year Share The record breaking rally in Australian shares faces an extra bump from a spendthrift budget in a move that could send the market to double-digit returns this year, UBS analysts predict. The S&P/ASX 200 index reclaimed all of its losses from the pandemic on Monday to set a record high on the eve of the federal budget and is expected to grind higher with a series of new government spending initiatives. The index fell 1.06 per cent o...

Tech stocks slump as profitability awaits Share Tech stocks slumped on Thursday for the third consecutive session after a jolt in bond yields weighed on growth stocks, pulling the Australian sharemarket into negative territory. Australian tech companies were among the worst performers on the local market for the day as the S&P/ASX 200 All Tech index fell 1.9 per cent, bringing losses over the past three days to more than 3 per cent and dragging the broader market to a 0.8 per cent loss for the ...

Save Share If there’s a phrase that sums up this bumper earnings season, it probably belongs to Woolworths chief Brad Banducci. The supermarket boss talks about making “no-regret” investments. For Woolworths, which has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the lockdowns and is among the country’s biggest employers, that means investing in automation, digitisation and e-commerce. “Those are all no-regret things,” Banducci says. What he means is that Woolworths â...