The golden age of iron ore profits is ending for Australia. Europe’s banking system is slowly going bust because of the government debt crisis. Europe is a big customer of China’s. China is a big customer of Australia’s.
February 8th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "bhp"
Natural Gas: The Big Transition in Energy
Today we look at why energy is becoming a flash point in Europe and how natural gas is taking centre stage. First, though, we’d like to announce a changing of the guard in the leadership of the resources market.
February 6th, 2012 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
On the Edge of Evolution: An Investment Story in Three Acts
Today’s story is how the investment world you live in came to be…and how we’re on the edge of a great leap forward…or a great leap into a deep abyss. If you don’t have time to read it, go over to Facebook and tell everyone you’re too busy to read about the most important investment story of your life.
February 1st, 2012 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Stealing Calories From the Future
Hmm. Let’s see. Last time BHP Billiton made a tilt at a high-profile, big money acquisition, the whole world went pear-shaped. As the statisticians say, correlation is not causation. But M&A activity seems to pick up when company directors have run out of other ways to increase earnings. It does not always work out well for shareholders. Case in point, BHP’s shares are down today by 3.5%. In case you missed it, Marius Klopper’s outfit made a $43 billion bid for Canadian firm Potash.
August 18th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
To Trade the Resources Rent Tax or Not?
Let’s leave off with the underlying economic debate about the resource rent tax and talk about the market. It’s getting shellacked. Our colleagues Kris Sayce and Alex Cowie are finding many of the positions they’ve recommend in their publications since the March lows are declining and hitting suggested trailing stop levels.
May 5th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
Property and the Big Four Australian Banks
There is an increasing amount of focus on the Australian residential property market. Last week, outgoing BHP Chairman Don Argus said: ‘I think the Australian Banking Sector has gone too far. You can look at some of them now as giant building societies.’ He was referring to the large exposure that the big four Australian banks have to residential property.
April 7th, 2010 | Greg Canavan | 42 comments | Continued
Proposed China Boycott of Aussie Iron Ore Majors
But we asked him via email if the proposed boycott of the Aussie iron ore majors (BHP and Rio) by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) was having effect on the smaller iron ore stocks he’s recommended. Incidentally, we wouldn’t expect the move to stick.
April 7th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
Merger and Acquisition Activity in Coal, Iron Ore and Gold
That brings us to the merger and acquisition activity in Australia. You may have seen that gold producer Lihir received a $9.2 billion takeover offer from Newcrest over night. Lihir says the offer undervalues the company’s assets. But whether it does or doesn’t, does the bid remind you at all of the BHP and Rio Tinto shenanigans a few years ago?
April 1st, 2010 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Reality Sovereign Debt Finance Theatre
The European monetary family is in crisis. It meets on March 25th and 26th to discuss whether to kick Greece off the island (survivor style) or to intervene and save the prodigal son. The problem, from a German perspective, is that Europe is full of prodigal children. To save Greece means to save the rest of the economies troubled by rising public debt-to-GDP ratios.
March 19th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
Your Garden Variety Global Financial Crisis or Something Wilder?
But first, why are companies hoarding cash? Bloomberg reports that companies in the S&P 500 have increased their cash holdings to an aggregate US$1.18 trillion dollars. The big blue chip multinationals have cut spending, frozen new hires (not literally), and generally kept cautious until more details emerge about the economic landscape.
February 12th, 2010 | Dan Denning | 121 comments | Continued
Surge in Chinese Bank Lending in 2009 Leads to Fall in Bank Capital
And while we’re on the subject of China we should relay that Citic Pacific Ltd, which is an arm of China’s largest state-owned company, is set to spend more on magnetite iron ore projects in Australia. Magnetite is a lower grade ore than the hematite ores that BHP and Rio have all but locked up in the Pilbara.
November 26th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
Speculators and Chinese Firms Accumulating Australian Resource Companies and Commodities
And while China and America bicker over currencies, Chinese firms are scrambling to buy real assets. And while Aussie banks source foreign borrowing to lend in local real estate, Aussie mining firms go begging for bits of capital that would bring world-class ore bodies (and key strategic resources) into production…by local producers and owners.
November 19th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
A Deep-water Oil Find Off the Coast of West Africa
About twenty minutes later we found ourselves tucked away in Café Paradis reading about the latest deep-water oil find off the coast of West Africa. The positive drilling results in the Venus well off the coast of Sierra Leone are not far from the Jubilee field Ghana, which is Africa’s largest deep-water oil field. It could be, so the experts say, the next big off-shore oil bonanza.
September 18th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
Gorgon LNG Deal with China a Really Big Deal
Well just a day after highlighting the size and scope of the Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia, we have news that it really is a big deal. It is so big, in fact, that Martin Ferguson, the Federal Minister for Energy and Resources, said Australia is emerging as an “energy superpower.”
Shazzam!
August 19th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 5 comments | Continued
Banks or BHP?
Are Australian banks going to be able to sustain their dividends? Over the last ten years, bank fee income has become a big driver of bank profitability (and the source of the dividends paid by banks). The credit crunch has crunched the amount of money banks make lending money.
August 13th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
