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Myer Holdings Ltd & #39;s first-half profit declined 74.4 per cent as the store owner says it remains cautious about the outlook for the second half of fiscal 2010. Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has conceded that the cost of fixing the Government's failed home insulation program will be "expensive" and may result in cuts to other government programs. Perth, Australia, Mar 11, 2010 - (ABN Newswire) - Iron Road Limited (ASX:IRD) is pleased to announce that all approvals are in place for commencement of the Company's maiden drilling programme to investigate potential for direct shipping ore (DSO) at the Gawler Iron Project. The start date for the programme is scheduled for 16 March 2010. WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is unhappy with the current framework of the Doha Round of negotiations to forge a global trade accord, a key lawmaker said Wednesday after talks with WTO chief Pascal Lamy. MADRID (AFP) - Unions at General Motors' Opel plant in Spain said negotiations with management on a restructuring plan for the factory collapsed late on Wednesday. An Access Economics report is talking up the international competitiveness of Tasmania's call centre industry. Bank and technology shares lifted Wall Street on hopes the sectors may be poised for a recovery as the U.S. economy improves. It could be weeks before a central Queensland coal mine is able to reopen. More figures on China's economy out later today, but already the flow of early data suggests & #160;still strong growth.China's exports and imports jumped in February from a year ago, but there a couple of points that mean the figures are unreliable.Firstly the rises are from February 2009, which is when demand for Chinese exports and demand from industry for imports, was slashed by the GFC and credit crunch.Secondly, the Lunar New Year was in & #160;January last year, this year it was in February.China shuts down for more than a week, and the impact of the long break is hard to work out when making comparisons especially when the basis is a very weak month as February was last year (and January as well).That all helped the trade surplus shrink to the lowest level in a year, especially coupled with the strong rebound in the economy since & #160;February 2009.The export import figures were released yesterday in China, ahead of a bigger release today of data on inflation, production, retail sales and urban asset growth.Reports yesterday suggested that Chinese car sales rose strongly again last month, but at a slower rate than January, while bank lending halved from January in February as the central government ordered banks to lend less.And real estate prices accelerated last month, rising by their fastest pace in two years despite government efforts to cool the market amid fears of a looming property bubble.Figures released last night showed prices of commercial and residential property in China's 70 largest cities rose by 10.7% in February from the same month in 2009, up from the 9.5% year-on-year gain in January.That got western commentators once again yelling 'bubble', 'bubble' and warning of collapse.Exports rose 45.7% in February, from a year ago imports jumped & #160;44.7% percent from a year ago as well.The trade surplus almost halved to & #36;US7.6 billion from & #36;US14.2 billion in January.Exports were down 2.2% from January.That may have resulted from & #160;the timing difference with the Lunar new Year Festival, but omitted to point out that February 2009 had been among the low points for China's economy (along with January and November-December, 2008).Commerce Minister Chen Deming said last weekend that the & #160;country's trade surplus fell 50.2% in January and February from a year earlier.Chinese banks made loans for about 700 billion Yuan ( & #36;102.6 billion) in February, around half the 1.39 trillion Yuan worth of loans issued in January.Media reports in China said that & #160;China's four largest lenders together lent about 294 billion Yuan of the total loans made during the month, with unlisted Agricultural Bank of China leading with total loans of 82 billion Yuan.China has set the official loan target for 2010 at & #160;7.5 trillion Yuan, after record loans of 9.6 trillion Yuan in 2009.And China's car sales slowed last month, with the Lunar New Year holidays the culprit.China's Association of Auto Manufactures said overnight that 2.88 million vehicles were sold in January and February.February saw 1.2 million units sold, which was a fall from the very strong 1.66 million sold in January.February's sales were 46% above the depressed February figures of a year ago, but the Lunar New Year holiday fell in January 2009 and not February as it did this year.Sales for January and February were up 83.8% from the same months of 2009. & #160; & #160; The gulf between Australia and the US has again been underlined.Australia is booming, America is struggling.And yet the US market jumped nearly 70% in the past year, Australia by just over 50%.Both were a bit short of the global market index which was up 73%.Wall Street had its best rise since the days of the depression in the last year; & #160; & #160;the market was up 68% from the low on March 9 last year, to yesterday.That will no doubt please the more than 15 million people out of a job, including the 8.4 million Americans who have lost their jobs since December 2007 and the 38 million people on food aid from State and Federal Governments.Despite this recovery, American consumer confidence remains weak, unlike Australia where figures out yesterday showed business confidence and conditions are solid levels and approaching the best for several years.Our market was up 51% in the past 12 months.But our economy is far better placed than the US.Consumer confidence figures here out yesterday & #160;confirm the & #160;upturn & #160;in business from the NAB on Tuesday.The Westpac/Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment Index rose 0.2 per cent in March to 117.3 points, from 117 in February, a reading also supported by the most recent weekly Roy Morgan poll.Last week's rate rise didn't seem to have an impact on confidence, but then many people haven't seen the rise translated to their mortgage payments.The Australian stockmarket is up around 51% since its lows on March 6, 2009. But more & #160;our economy is growing, but with dangerous pressures emerging in the housing sector from rapid price rises.And yet, despite this high level of confidence, there's been a noticeable fall in new housing commitments (for new and existing homes) in the past few months.There was a 7.9% fall in the number of home loans in January, the biggest fall for a decade.That was after a fall of 5.5% in December and follows the ending of the most generous elements of the first home buyers' scheme.The Australian Bureau of Statistics figures out yesterday & #160;showed the fall in housing finance commitments in January & quot;In seasonally adjusted terms, the total value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and additions decreased 3.3%, & quot; the ABS reported. & quot;In fixed terms, the number of commitments for the purchases of established dwellings fell 4.0%, the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings fell 3.5% and the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings decreased 1.4%. & quot;In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments decreased from 21.0% in December 2009 to 20.5% in January 2010. & quot; & quot;The seasonally adjusted series for the value of owner occupied commitments fell 5.0% in January 2010. & quot;But much of this would have been falling demand from first home buyers, although demand for finance for the purchase of existing homes was also weak.That should & #160;normally ease some of the concerns about the housing price surge, but it has to be pointed out that the Reserve Bank sees the raw figures that go to the ABS (and would have a good idea of what happened last month) and & #160;draws its own conclusions.So the & #160;speech yesterday by the Deputy Governor in charge of economic analysis, Phil Lowe, would have been written in the knowledge that bank home lending was weakening.And yet he still warned: & #160; & quot;We will need to keep a strong focus on improving the supply side of the economy so that demand can grow solidly without putting upward pressure on inflation. & quot; & quot;We also face the significant challenge of increasing the supply of housing at a time when business investment is also very high. & quot; & #160; & #160;They would be that the danger is in the & #160;steep fall in the value and number of new financing commitments in recent months, as the economy improves, unemployment falls (the wealth effect from rising property and share prices makes people feel more comfortable) & #160;there's growing unmet demand from consumers.No. of dwelling commitments, Owner occupied housingThe question to be asked if whether the fall in housing finance represents a fall off in demand from home buyers (existing and potential) or rationing by banks already heavily committed to the sector because of their home lending splurge in 2009.And & #160;the improvement in general business confidence and conditions in the National Australia Bank survey for February has been felt by & #160;small and medium businesses.On the survey was the bets result for the sector in two years.The NAB SME survey showed SME business conditions strengthen further in the December quarter. But SMEs performed slightly weaker than their larger counterparts. & quot;Business conditions among Australia's small to medium sized businesses improved strongly in the December quarter, according to NAB's business survey of SMEs (small & #38; medium enterprises), following the very sharp increase in the previous quarter. & quot;NAB's SME business conditions index rose by 8 points to 13 index points in the December quarter (with 30% of SMEs reporting good or very good conditions and 17% poor or very poor conditions). Larger businesses also increased by 8 points, but were a touch stronger at 14 index points. & quot;By size grouping, all SMEs improved, but reported disparate results. Small SMEs (annual turnover between & #36;2-3m) were the best performing at 17 index points, followed by large SMEs (annual turnover between & #36;5-10 million) at 14 index points. & quot;Mid sized SMEs (annual turnover between & #36;3-5m) recorded comparatively weaker results, having increased by 5 points to 8 index points. & quot; & #160; It's only a tiddler of a deal, but the merger announced & #160;yesterday & #160;between & #160;Aurox Resources and Atlas Iron set off a dramatic share price surge for one of the partners.Aurox Resources shares jumped by more than 170% when trading resumed yesterday in both shares after the proposed merger was revealed.Aurox shares & #160;finished up 172%, or 46.5c to 73.6c. & #160;Atlas shares were not as enthusiastically supported, they eased, & #160; but then rose in afternoon trading, ending up 10c at & #36;2.31.Aurox traded at 27 cents when a trading halt was called earlier this week, & #160;Atlas at & #36;2.21 before its halt on Monday.The reason for the soaring share price for Aurox isn't hard to see: & #160;Aurox shareholders will receive one Atlas share for every three Aurox shares.The merger implies a price for each Aurox share of 74 cents based on Atlas' last closing price of & #36;2.21, representing a premium of 173%.No wonder the & #160;Aurox board & quot;unanimously recommends Aurox shareholders vote in favour of the merger in the absence of a superior proposal, & quot; Aurox said.The Aurox board said that its members intend to vote in favour of the scheme in relation to their own holdings in Aurox, in the absence of a superior proposal.Aurox said a merger would enable Aurox shareholders to participate in Atlas' rapidly-growing production profile, which would position the company as a globally-significant iron ore producer.Aurox shareholders would retain exposure to the Balla Balla project and also gain exposure to a large portfolio of & quot;quality & quot; iron ore projects throughout the Pilbara.Aurox managing director Charles Schaus said the proposed merger was an outstanding opportunity for the Aurox shareholders to join with and participate in an impressive diversified iron ore growth company. & quot;It reflects the high potential of the Balla Balla project, Aurox's access to infrastructure and regionally significant water resource. & quot;The merged groups port capacity of up to 33mtpa (million tonnes per annum) will allow the company to generate substantial synergies from production and development schedule optimisation. & quot;With iron ore prices expected to increase significantly in the coming year, this merger will give Aurox shareholders the opportunity to share in the benefits from immediate cashflows. & quot;Atlas CEO, & #160;was just as enthusiastic, saying in a statement & quot;This merger creates one company with an outstanding rapidly growing production profile supported by port capacity in one of the world's greatest bulk export ports. & quot;The merged company will have 187mt of DSO resources, exploration targets of 430 to 750 million tonnes at 57% to 60% Fe, two Pilbara magnetite projects and a 15,000 square kilometre, Pilbara landholding, and a production target of 26 million tonnes a year & #160;by 2014.Atlas says it is currently mining and exporting from its 100%-owned Pardoo Iron Ore Project, located 75 kilometres by road from Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.In addition, Atlas says it is progressing development at its Wodgina and Abydos & #160;Projects. & quot;When combined with additional export tonnages from its Wodgina and Abydos & #160;Projects, Atlas is targeting & #160;exports at an annualised rate of 6 million tonnes in 2010, growing to 12 million tonnes by 2012, & quot; Atlas said. & quot;The merged company will offer investors a substantial growth profile with a pipeline of assets and opportunities, & quot; the companies said.;They said in a statement that & quot;shareholders in Aurox will benefit from owning securities in an ASX200 company with strong trading liquidity; and & #160;they will own shares in a company run by a world-class management and technical team with access to a robust balance sheet. & quot;The proposed merger is subject to court and regulatory approval, approval from Aurox shareholders, and endorsement from an independent expert.As part of the scheme implementation agreement, Atlas has agreed to extend an unsecured, interest-bearing loan of up to & #36;7.7 million to Aurox to enable Aurox to redeem outstanding convertible notes that are due to mature on June 30, 2010.Aurox shareholders will be asked to approve the scheme at meetings expected to be held in late May, 2010. & #160; MIAMI (AFP) - Haiti's road to recovery took a new twist Wednesday as a trade group representing private security contractors wrapped up a conference on reconstruction in the earthquake-battered nation. The OECD anticipates that the yet to be released Henry Tax Review will provide initiatives to lift workforce participation. Forty production workers have been laid off at the bottling headquarters of Constellation Wines at Reynella in Adelaide's south. Toyota will expand a recall announced last year to fix Tundra utilities with frames that could rust and lead to spare tyres falling from the vehicle. |
