Wattle boost on trade news
WATTLE Health Australia shares jumped about 4 per cent early yesterday after the infant formula and milk powder supplier’s March quarter sales far exceeded those achieved in the first half of the financial year.
Shares were later suspended pending an announcement regarding the finalisation of a joint venture with Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia and a potential capital raising.
Wattle Health shares were eight cents, or 3.7 per cent, higher at $ 2.26 before the suspension midmorning.
Wattle Health shares started trading on the Australian share market in March 2017 at an issue price of 20 cents per share.
The company said its sales for the three months to March totalled $ 804,380 compared to sales of $ 661,260 for the six months to December 31, 2017. CHINA vowed yesterday to fight the US “at any cost” after President Donald Trump proposed slapping an additional $ US100 billion ($ 130 billion) in tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
Mr Trump’s surprise move on Thursday to instruct the US trade representative to consider the additional tariffs came a day after Beijing an- nounced plans to tax $ US50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a US move this week to slap tariffs on $ US50 billion in Chinese imports.
In Beijing, the Commerce Ministry said China didn’t want a trade war – but isn’t afraid to fight one.
“China will dedicate itself to the end and at any cost and will definitely fight back firmly” if the US persisted in its “protectionism,” the ministry said in a statement.
Mr Trump’s proposal intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since World War II.
Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the world’s two biggest economies squared off over Beijing’s aggressive trade tactics.
But they had calmed down on Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the US and China would find a diplomatic solution.
Instead, the White House announced after the markets closed on Thursday that Mr Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether $ US100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to.
Mr Trump also instructed his Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue “to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests”.
“China’s illicit trade practices – ignored for years by Washington – have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs,” Mr Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.