The Australian share market will open lower this morning, following a weak lead from Wall Street.
Last Thursday, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed at record highs. Something like this hadn’t happened since New Years Eve in 1999 (which you may recall was when fears of the ‘Millenium Bug’ were at its peak).
However, last Friday, there was a reversal of fortune on Wall Street as 2 out of the 3 major indexes fell on the back of disappointing economic data.
US economic newsThe Commerce Department released figures showing that Americans are cutting back on spending as retail sales for July were unexpectedly flat. This was below expectations as economists were expecting it to rise by 0.4 percent.
The Labor Department also released figures, which showed that the Producer Price Index fell by 0.4 percent in July. Again, this fell below expectations as economists were predicting a 0.1 percent gain.
The other key piece of economic data was from the University of Michigan. Its Index of Consumer Sentiment reached 90.4 in August. However, it was expected to reach the higher level of 91.5 this month.
MarketsWall Street finished mostly lower on Friday: The Dow Jones lost 0.2% to close at 18,576, the S&P 500 was down 0.1% at 2,184 and the NASDAQ was up 0.1 per cent to close at 5,233.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE was flat, while Paris was down 0.1 percent and Frankfurt lost 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets finished higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 1.1% higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.8 percent, and the Shanghai Composite was down 1.6 per cent.
The Australian share market finished higher on Friday: The ASX 200 closed 23 points higher to finish at 5,531. Over the week, the ASX200 was up 34 points.
The SPI is down 11 points.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.7661, 59.30 Pence, 77.57 Yen and 68.61 Euro cents.
Earnings seasonThere are a number of companies releasing their financial results today. Some of them include Ansell, JB Hi-Fi, and Newcrest Mining.
Company newsNewcrest Mining Ltd
(ASX:NCM) has announced two changes to its Board of Directors. Richard Knight, who has been on the Board for 8 years, will resign as Non-Executive Director effective 16 August. He will be replaced by Vickki McFaden, from 1 October 2016.
Shares in Newcrest closed 1.55% higher at $25.53.
Bougainville Copper Ltd
(ASX:BOC) has released its financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2016. The company reported a net operating loss of $1.7 million – which was an improvement over last year (when their loss totalled $3.3 million). The company has not declared a dividend for this period.
Shares in Bougainville Copperclosed 10% higher to 16.5 cents.
Ex-dividendsFour companies going ex-dividend today -- Advanced Share,K2 Asset Management, 8I Holdings and Katana Capital.
CommoditiesGold has lost $6.80 to $US1,343 an ounce for the December contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.32 to $19.70 for September.
Copper is down $0.05 to $2.15 a pound for September.
Oil has gained $0.95 to $US45.18 a barrel for September light crude in New York.
