The Australian share market is expected to open lower after global equity markets and commodities slumped overnight on concerns that the economic recovery will take longer than expected.
US stocks fell as a strong dollar and questions about China's lending practices put pressure on commodity prices and stocks.
In economic news out of the US, Building permits, a measure of confidence, rose to 653,000 in December, up from 589,000 in November.
But housing starts fell to 557,000 from 580,000 in November. Economists thought starts would fall by much less than that.
The Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, rose 0.2% in December after climbing 1.8% in the previous month.
Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was flat versus forecasts for a gain of 0.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122 points to 10,603. The S&P500 Index lost 12 to 1,138 and the NASDAQ is down 29 points at 2,291.
European markets were lower. London’s FTSE dropped 92 points and Paris is down 81, and Frankfurt fell 125 points.
Asian markets were also weaker: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 392 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 27 points and China’s Shanghai Composite is down 95 points.
On the local share market shares gains were limited. The S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 7 points higher at 4,868 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 27.
Looking at currencies; the Aussie Dollar at 8:40AM is buying 90.95 US cents, 83.01 Yen, 64.49 Euro cents and 55.85 Pence Sterling.
Coming up in economic news: China will be a big focus today for our region, with Chinese authorities scheduled to release economic growth figures at 1 pm, Sydney time.
In local economic news: the Melbourne Institute releases its survey of Consumer Inflationary Expectations for January.
The Westpac and the Melbourne Institute survey of Consumer Unemployment Expectations for January is being released.
And the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases new vehicles sales data for December.
In company news about this morning: National Australian Bank (ASX:NAB) shares are steady at $27.45. The Australian Financial Review is reporting that National Australian Bank (ASX:NAB) will register interest in bidding for some of the assets owned by Royal Bank of Scotland ahead of this month’s deadline. Without quoting any sources, AFR said that despite the likely expression of interest it wasn’t an obligation for NAB to bid. The National Australian Bank achieved a $2.5 billion net profit in 2009.
Country Road (ASX:CTY) shares are trading at $3.70.Fashion retailer Country Road (ASX:CTY) has moved against a developing trend of corporate profit upgrades in Australia, warning that its profit before tax would be slashed by up to 12 per cent to $12.8 million for the half to December 31. The company blamed its performance on heavy discounting by other retailers in December and "significant set-up costs" of its recently launched Trenery brand. Country Road posted a $15.6 million net profit in 2009.
Taking a look at ex-dividends, and Mirrabooka Investments is going today with a 3.5 cent fully franked dividend. Tomorrow Contango Microcap with a 2 cent fully franked dividend.
To metals: Gold plunged $27.40 to about US$1,112 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. For the March contract silver fell 92 cents to US$17.88 and copper is down 9 cents at US$3.36.
And the price of oil fell $1.97 at US$77.15 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
