Wall Street shared dipped on Friday and, following this lackluster lead, the Australian share market looks set to open lower today.
Energy was the worst performing sector in the US as oil prices dropped. Over the weekend, the world’s major oil producers attended the OPEC meeting in Qatar, and were unable to reach a deal on freezing global oil production as talks broke down, particularly due to tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia – which does not bode well for future oil prices.
US Economic News
Consumer confidence has fallen unexpectedly this month. A report released by the University of Michigan notes that consumer confidence fell from 91 to 81.7, its weakest level in 7 months. It has been suggested that this was due to unsatisfactory wage growth and concerns about the impact of the upcoming Presidential elections on the US economy.
Markets
Wall Street closed lower on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 per cent to close at 17,897, the S&P 500 lost 0.1 per cent to close at 2,081 and the NASDAQ was down 0.2 per cent to close at 4,938.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE was down 0.3 per cent, Paris was down 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt fell by 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower : Tokyo’s Nikkei was lower by 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.1 per cent.
The Australian share market closed higher on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 39 points up to finish at 5,157, which was 220 points up on the week. On the futures market, the SPI is down 4 points.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying $US0.7670 cents, 54.10 Pence Sterling, 83.06 Yen and 67.92 Euro cents.
Company news
Telstra
(ASX:TLS) has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Ping An Insurance Group for the sale of 47.7% of total issued shares in Autohome, a Chinese online business, for $2.1 billion.
Shares in Telstra closed 1.55% higher on Friday at $5.24.
Pilbara Minerals Limited
(ASX:PLS) has entered an underwriting agreement for a share purchase plan, which has been executed with Blue Ocean Equities Pty Ltd, and will be fully underwritten for the full offer of $15 million.
Shares in Pilbara closed flat on Friday, $0.60 per share.
Ex-dividends
3 companies are going ex-dividend today. They are New Hope Corporation, Sandon Capital, and TPG Telecom:
| Name | Code | Date | Amount (cents) | Franking |
| New Hope Corporation | NHC | 18/04/16 | 2 | 100 |
| Sandon Capital Ltd | SNC | 18/04/16 | 2 | 100 |
| TPG Telecom Limited | TPM | 18/04/16 | 7 | 100 |
Commodities
Gold has gained $8.10 to $US1,235 an ounce for the June contract on Comex.
Silver has gained $0.14 to $16.31 for May.
Copper has lost $0.02 to $2.16 a pound.
Oil has fallen $0.96 to $US41.71 a barrel for May light crude in New York.
