Around the world (especially the US, Asia and Europe), many of the major share markets did not perform very well overnight. On Wednesday, Wall Street fell as the recent rally it enjoyed over the last few weeks continues to ease.
Once again, the story is that oil prices have gone down after investors digested economic data suggesting an oversupply of oil. The US data from last night shows crude oil inventories increased by 1.1 million barrels last week, against analysts’ expectations that inventories would drop by 1 million barrels.
But there is some positive economic news for the US. The Labor Department released data which shows job openings increased in June by 110,000, to a seasonally adjusted 5.6 million - which is a rise of 3.8%. Also, layoffs fell by 1.1% - from 1.7 million in May, to 1.6 million in June. This is its lowest level in almost 2 years as labour market conditions tightened further.
Now turning the focus closer to our borders, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points -- to an all time low of 2%. The New Zealand central bank is trying to weaken the NZ Dollar (NZD), but after that rate cut, it actually strengthened the NZD actually against the US Dollar.
MarketsWall Street finished lower on Wednesday: The Dow Jones lost 0.2% at 18,496, the S&P 500 was down 0.3% at 2,175 and the NASDAQ was down 0.4 per cent to close at 5,205.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE was up 0.2 per cent, while Paris and Frankfurt both lost 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets finished mixed as well: Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.1 percent, and the Shanghai Composite down 0.2 per cent.
The Australian share market finished weaker yesterday: The ASX 200 closed 9 points lower to finish at 5,544. On the futures market the SPI is down 5 points.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.7709, 59.26 Pence, 78.04 Yen and 68.96 Euro cents.
Earnings seasonSome of the Australian companies releasing their earnings results today are Telstra, James Hardie and the Goodman Group. We will provide you earnings updates as soon as we hear them.
Company newsBell Financial Group Ltd
(ASX:BFG) has announced an after tax net profit of $5.7 million for the half year ended 30 June 2016 – which was steady with the same period last year. In other words, it was a flat performance. The company announced an interim dividend of 1.75 cents per share – fully franked.
Shares in Bell closed 15.34% lower at 69 cents.
Devine Ltd
(ASX:DVN) reported a loss after tax of $28.6 million for the six months ending 30 June 2016. The property company says this was due to inventory impairment within its communities business, and the timing of project completions in its construction business.
Shares in Devine closed 3.03% lower at 48 cents.
Ex-dividendsFinbar Group will pay a dividend of 4 cents per share, Milton Corporation will pay 9.9 cents per share, and Rio Tinto will pay 59.13 cents per share. All those dividends are fully franked.
Westfield will pay a dividend of 12.55 cents per share, unfranked.
CommoditiesGold has gained $5.20 to $US1,352 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.32 to $20.17 for September.
Copper is up $0.02 to $2.17 a pound for September.
Oil has lost $1.06 to $US41.71 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
