How did you sleep?
As Victoria closes in on getting out (hopefully Sunday), Europe emerges with 100,000 daily-cases…
It certainly is a worry but will there be a “vaccine” in time, a “pill”, or…. will “heard Immunity” simply take us out of this mess?
Across markets…
Last night, stocks dropped after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin down played the chances of striking a stimulus deal before the election.
Traders also parsed earnings from big banks, with Wells Fargo & Co. tumbling 6% after reporting a 56% plunge in profit and warning that net interest income could “get a little bit softer” in 2021.
Bank of America Corp. slid amid an increase in trading revenue that was just a fraction of its competitors’ gains, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. outperformed after earnings per share jumped to a record that was almost twice as high as analysts predicted.
Energy stocks joined a rally in oil and as Concho Resources Inc. soared 10% on a news report that ConocoPhillips is in talks to acquire the company. The dollar fell.
Mnuchin said at a conference that getting a stimulus agreement “before the election and executing on that would be difficult.” His remarks came after another in a long series of calls with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that have failed to seal a deal.
While he hoped for bipartisan support for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s latest idea — a vote on a narrow bill next week to help small businesses — Democratic leaders have no appetite for piecemeal measures now.
“This has been an ongoing drama,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management. “They’re getting close, they’re not getting close, we’re still talking, we’re not talking. The latest twist I heard is nothing is going to get done until the election. That’s why I think you’re getting the market selling off a little bit.”
The SPI is down 15 points this morning.
Source: Bloomberg

Stocks
The S&P 500 dipped 0.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1%.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.1%.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2%.
The euro advanced 0.1% to $1.1753.
The Japanese yen appreciated 0.4% to 105.08 per dollar.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 0.72%.
Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to -0.58%.
Britain’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to 0.22%.
Commodities
The Bloomberg Commodity Index advanced 0.6%.
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $41.03 a barrel.
Gold added 0.6% to $1,903.40 an ounce.
Source: Bloomberg
HR tech platform Xref (ASX:XF1) is off to a strong start in the 2021 financial year.
The company booked $2.4m of credit sales in the September quarter, which flowed through to $2.5m of cash receipts.
The result demonstrated Xref’s ability to generate durable cashflows, after successfully navigating the impact of COVID-19 in the June quarter.
Shares in Xref rose more than five per cent in morning trade as investors responded to the result.
Discussing the numbers, CEO Lee-Martin Seymore said Xref said client usage has already bounced back to “pre-Covid levels”.
At the same time, Xref has achieved that top line growth while also reducing costs by almost 50 per cent.
“Our business is starting to benefit the system-based efficiencies we have strived to implement. And as we start to leverage the opportunity ahead, our ability to break even is within reach,” Seymour said.
Xref’s cash outflows for the September quarter were down 48 per cent to $2.85 million, down from $5.4 million in the same period last year.
Sector: Consumer Discretionary
Year: 2019
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $2.2m
Price Change: $0.061 -1.61%
Sector: Consumer Discretionary
Year: 2018, 2019
Deal Type: Seed, Bridging and IPO
Raise Amount: $10m
Price Change: $0.18 -2.70%
Sector: Technology
Year: 2018
Deal Type: Seed and IPO
Raise Amount: $10m
Price Change: $0.11 Unchanged
Sector: Mining
Year: 2017
Deal Type: Seed & IPO
Raise Amount: $5m
Price Change: $0.19 Unchanged
Sector: Mining
Year: 2017
Deal Type: IPO & Placement
Raise Amount: $6m
Price Change: $0.074 +1.37%
Sector: Healthcare Equipment and Services
Year: 2016
Deal Type: IPO
Raise Amount: $8m
Price Change: $0.068 +13.33%
Sector: Materials
Year: 2016
Deal Type: IPO
Raise Amount: $9m
Price Change: $0.024 +9.09%
Sector: Biotechnology
Year: 2015, 2017, 2018
Deal Type: Placements & IPO
Raise Amount: $5m
Price Change: $3.08 +4.41%
Sector: Media an Entertainment
Year: 2016
Deal Type: Reverse Takeover
Raise Amount: $4m
Price Change: $0.034 Unchanged
Sector: Mining
Year: 2018, 2019, 2020
Deal Type: Placements & Rights Offer
Raise Amount: $1.5m
Price Change: $0.010 Unchanged
Sector: Discretionary
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $1.3m
Price Change: $0.0070 Unchanged
Sector: Gaming
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $1.25m
Price Change: $0.059 Unchanged
Sector: Mining (Gold)
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $982k
Sector: Mining (Gold/Silver)
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $2.3m
Price Change: $0.015 Unchanged
Sector: Hemp & CBD
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Pre IPO
Raise Amount: $2.5m
Sector: Psychedelic assisted therapy
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $2.5m
Price Change: CAD $0.055 Unchanged
Sector: Mining
Year: 2020
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $330k
Price Change: 0.049 +8.89%
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