How Are Aussie Stocks Riding The Corona-Wave?

Pull up a chair, grab your morning coffee, your trading preview of the week is here! This week, we’re going to take a little trip Down Under to see what kind of 2020 some of the biggest stocks in the Land of Oz are having — has it been pretty devo, hard yakka or totally gnarly? (We promise we won’t do that the whole way through). After that, we’ll give you a brief overview of all of the top trading events coming up this week for your calendar.

Weathering the COVID-19 storm

For a country with a population of 29 million, Australia’s experience of coronavirus has, so far, been relatively mild, with just over 7,400 confirmed cases. So, how has that impacted some of the biggest stocks in the country? Let’s have a squiz! (that’s the last one, we promise!).

Rio Tinto (RIO)

Stock price on 02.01: 105.15 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 96.28 AUD

YTD high: 107.38 AUD

YTD low: 77.40 AUD

YTD % change: -8.44%

Source: Google

Westpac Banking Group (WBC)

Stock price on 02.01: 24.19 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 18.17 AUD

YTD high: 25.81 AUD

YTD low: 14.10 AUD

YTD % change: -24.89%

Source: Google

CSL Limited (CSL)

Stock price on 02.01: 275.04 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 288.25 AUD

YTD high: 341 AUD

YTD low: 270.88 AUD

YTD % change: +4.8%

Source: Google

ANZ Banking Group

Stock price on 02.01: 24.55 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 18.75 AUD

YTD high: 27.74 AUD

YTD low: 14.10 AUD

YTD % change: -23.63%

Source: Google

National Australia Bank (NAB)

Stock price on 02.01: 24.57 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 18.67 AUD

YTD high: 27.41 AUD

YTD low: 13.88 AUD

YTD % change: -24.01%

Source: Google

Macquarie Group (MQG)

Stock price on 02.01: 137.53 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 121.53 AUD

YTD high: 151.77 AUD

YTD low: 72.02 AUD

YTD % change: -11.63%

Source: Google

Woolworths Group (WOW)

Stock price on 02.01: 36.28 AUD

Stock price on 19.06: 36.55 AUD

YTD high: 43.60 AUD

YTD low: 34.16 AUD

YTD % change: +0.74%

Source: Google

Summary

In all our weeks assessing the impact of COVID-19, from booming social media platforms to nose-diving airlines — this is the first report to feature not one, but two green charts, signifying that stock prices right now are better than they were at the start of the year, pre-COVID-19. That’s cause for celebration in itself!

One of the standout performers in this list is Woolworths, whose stock price has only dropped 6% from new year levels at its worst. The company itself has, in fact, attributed this buoyant display to adaptive consumer behaviour during the crisis, “…sales growth across the Group’s retail businesses has been strong… reflecting unprecedented demand for a range of products as customers have consumed more at home and stocked their pantries.”

Australian stocks paint a pretty stark picture of the pandemic, globally. Some companies have ridden the wave better than others, with consumer product suppliers, biotech/science and entertainment companies benefiting, and those dealing with financial services and commodities losing out.

Key trading events this week

Here are all the trading events you need to be on top of this week.

● We kick-off the week on Tuesday with the US’ Markit Manufacturing PMI Flash (USD).

● NZD traders will want to keep an eye out for the RBNZ Press Conference and Interest Rate Decision (NZD) on Wednesday.

● On Thursday, we’ll take a peek at the ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts (EUR). We’ll also get an understanding of the US’ GDP Growth Rate QoQ Final (Q1), which is expected to see a drop of around 5%.

● We’ll finish the week Stateside with the Core PCE Price Index YoY (May) release, as well as the PCE Price Index YoY (May) (USD).

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Speak soon,

The Contentworks team