The Australian share market will open lower this morning, following weak leads from the US.
Wall Street finished mixed this morning, after the Federal Reserve released meeting minutes hinting that an interest rate hike will happen "fairly soon" to avoid overheating the US economy. Currently, the chances of a rate hike next month are priced in at around 27%.
The Dow Jones posted its ninth straight record close, while the S&P and NASDAQ finished lower. The US market was dragged down by falling oil prices overnight, which impacted Energy stocks and, indeed, they were the worst performers on Wall Street.
US economic newsDemand for housing is on the rise, with existing home sales up by 3.3% in January. However, that is not showing in the mortgage market.
Lacklustre refinancing was evident by the fact that mortgage applications fell by 2% at the end of last week (seasonally adjusted). Refinancing applications have dropped with a pickup in mortgage interest rates.
Local economic newsLater today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its December quarter figures on business investment or private capital expenditure.
MarketsWall Street finished mixed this morning: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.2% higher at 20,776 points. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,363 and the NASDAQ lost 0.1 per cent to 5,861.
European markets finished higher yesterday: London’s FTSE rose 0.4 per cent, Paris added 0.2 per cent, and Frankfurt was up 0.3 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: the Nikkei was flat, the Hang Seng rose 1 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.2 per cent.
The Australian share market finished higher yesterday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 14 points to finish at 5,805. On the futures market, this morning the SPI is down 12 points.
Company newsLast night, after the Australian share market closed for business, Webjet
(ASX:WEB) posted its 1H FY17 results. Webjet’s half year profit rose 268.7% to $39.4 million. The company also declared a fully franked interim dividend of 7.5 cps (which is 15% higher than its previous interim dividend). Yesterday afternoon, before the release of its results, Webjet shares closed 0.09% higher at $11.53.
Reporting seasonSeveral companies are reporting their results today. They include: Ardent Leisure
(ASX:AAD), Asaleo Care
(ASX:AHY), Crown Resorts
(ASX:CWN), Flight Centre
(ASX:FLT), Macquarie Atlas
(ASX:MQA), Nine Entertainment Co
(ASX:NEC), Qantas Airways
(ASX:QAN), Ramsay Health Care
(ASX:RHC), and Westfield Corporation
(ASX:WFD).
Ex-dividendsSeveral companies are going ex-dividend today. They include: AGL Energy
(ASX:AGL) who will pay 41 cents (80% franked), GWA Group
(ASX:GWA) who will pay 7.5 cents (fully franked), JB Hi-Fi
(ASX:JBH) which will 72 cents fully franked and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) who will pay 163.6 cents, fully franked.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 8:30AM was buying $US77.06 cents, 61.85 Pence Sterling, 87.22 Yen and 72.94 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $2.60 to $US1,239 an ounce.
Silver was up $0.01 to $18.08 an ounce.
Oil Light crude was down $0.76 to $US53.57 a barrel.
