03 Feb EARNINGS KICK OFF; OFFICE COMEBACK
Welcome to this week’s round up of insights and commentary, brought to you by Team Cannings.
EARNINGS KICK OFF
Just as we are packing up the Christmas tinsel, here comes the February reporting season.
While the big hitters are yet to unveil their earnings, we have already had strong trading updates from companies such as JB Hi-Fi, Myer and Fortescue. Combined with expectations of mega profits from the big banks, this has helped lift earnings projections for the ASX 200 from 4.6 per cent to 7.3 per cent – something that’s sure to put smiles on investors’ faces.
Banking giant UBS believes companies stand to benefit from a better global economic outlook, stronger Aussie dollar, an easing of supply chain pressures, oil price falls, and China’s much-anticipated re-opening.
Across the road, at Macquarie, analysts are also upbeat although they are warning that some companies will have to issue earnings downgrades as a result of the delayed effects of global interest rate hikes.
OFFICE COMEBACK
The US market for remote workers is rapidly shrinking as fewer companies feel the need to tempt prospective talent with the promise of working from home.
LinkedIn reported the number of job ads purely for remote work dropped to 13.2 per cent of all advertised roles last month from 20.6 per cent in March 2022, prompting some job seekers to readjust their expectations.
Meanwhile, for those still working remotely, many are continuing to work when they’re sick instead of taking time off because they are worried about a mounting workload or feel to guilty to ask if they can take leave to recover.
TIME FOR A DIGITAL DETOX?
Is your email inbox overflowing? Have you lost track of how many text messages and photos you have on your phone? If the answer is yes, there’s a good chance you’re a “digital hoarder”.
While many people take pride in cleaning out their work emails and deleting text messages, others struggle, and this has some experts worried about the amount of “digital hoarding” that’s going on – and the toll it’s taking on our mental health.
Darshana Sedera, the director of Southern Cross University’s Digital Enterprise Lab, has been researching “digital hoarding” and told ABC Radio he believes it’s just as big a problem as the peer pressure associated with social media.
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