62%

Natural gas prices in Asia rose 62% in the first week of October, part of the energy boom helping Woodside back into positive territory, I write: “Woodside Petroleum is up 27% since September as a global race for natural gas ahead of the northern hemisphere winter sent prices spiralling. The S&P Global Platts Japan-Korea-Marker, a widely used benchmark for spot LNG, rose to US$56 on Wednesday, up 62% in a week. UK natural gas closed at $245 on Thursday, up 92% since 1 September. The energy rally has nudged Woodside back into positive territory, with the stock up 9.8% year-to-date.”

9%

When BHP merges its dual company structure into a single headquarters in Australia, it could make up almost a tenth of the S&P/ASX 200, writes Gareth James: “It is difficult to assess BHP's likely new weighting, particularly considering recent iron ore price volatility, but we estimate its weighting in the S&P/ASX 200 index could increase to around 9% from around 5% currently.”

$3,000

Famed technology investor, Cathie Woods, expects Tesla’s share price to quadruple in the next five years to $3,000, writes Emma Rapaport: “She expects the average electric vehicle price will drop below that of the average gas-powered price in the next year or so and will continue to decline so that in the year 2025, the average electric vehicle will be 18,000 while a regular car will still be roughly $25,000. Asked what her base price target would be for Tesla in five years, Wood answered $3,000. Today, the stock is trading around $750.”

19

Graham Hand digs through the tax office’s records to find that baby boomers only make up 19 or every 100 taxpayers among other things: “For every 100 Australians lodging returns:

  • 10 are from Generation Z (born from 1996 to 2009)
  • 35 are from Generation Y (born from 1980 to 1995)
  • 31 are from Generation X (born from 1965 to 1979)
  • 19 are from Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964)
  • 4 are from the Silent Generation (1945 or earlier)

So over 75% of returns are lodged by people younger than Baby Boomers. Of the 100 people, 80 received a refund, 13 owed tax and 7 were perfectly balanced. Only 5 declared a capital gain, while 15 earned rental income (9 declared a net rental loss, 6 a net rental profit).”

Charts from last week

New Zealand hikes interest rates, joining central banks in several emerging markets (here)

Reserve Bank of New Zealand joins emerging markets in rate hike

Stock market drawdowns this year in the US and Australia are well within historical ranges (here)

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