The local share market may be in for a weaker start this morning following falls on Wall St overnight and a slide in commodity prices.
US stocks closed the session down on Tuesday on a sharp drop in consumer confidence reflecting growing concern for the state of the economic recovery in the US.
According to CNN Money the Volatility index, Wall Street's so-called fear factor, rose 9% Tuesday as investors nerves frayed and concern grew for the strength of the recovery.
In more economic news the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price index fell 3.1% in December compared a to a year ago an improvement on the 5.3% recorded the month before.
And on Monday the Senate agreed to move forward on a $15 billion jobs creation bill that would see businesses get a tax break for hiring new staff.
Checking the figures the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 101 points to 10,282 points. The S&P500 Index lost 13 points to 1,095 and the NASDAQ dropped 29 points to 2,213.
To other international markets, European stocks also fell. London’s FTSE declined 37 points, Paris slipped 50 and Frankfurt fell 84 points.
Asian stocks closed mixed on Tuesday with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 246 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 48 and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 21 points lower.
The Australian share market closed flat on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index added almost a point to 4,718 and on the futures market the SPI200’s down 54 points.
On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8:55AM was buying 89.14 US cents, 57.8 Pence Sterling, 80.43 Yen and 65.99 Euro cents.
In economic news out today: The ABS is to release its labour price index for December 2009 as well as construction work done for the December quarter.
There are a number of Australian companies reporting today including: APA Group, Mortgage Choice, Pacific Brands, Transfield Services, Virgin Blue release first half results. Suncorp Metway and Transpacific half year results are due out and Woodside Petroleum releases its annual results.
To company news around this morning: Shares in Specialty Fashion Group Ltd (ASX:SFH) dropped 1.42% to $1.38 yesterday. The women’s apparel retailer says it expects tougher trading conditions in the second half despite posting a 90.3% rise in profit to $26.6 million for the six months to December 31, 2009. The company also began paying dividend’s again after halting payments during the global financial crisis, declaring a dividend of 4 cents a share. Looking to the second half the retailer says the group’s trading for the first eight weeks has been impacted by aggressive discounting over the Christmas period, saying it expects a tougher trading environment in 2010 compared to 2009. Specialty Fashion Group reported net profit after tax of $22.56 million for the 2009 financial year.
Shares in Southern Cross Media Group (ASX:SXL), formerly run by Macquarie Group, fell 1.05% to $1.88 yesterday. The company reported a loss of $148.07 million for the six months to December 31, 2009 reflecting a more challenging economic environment for both Australia and the US during the six month period. In Australia the company says radio markets remain challenging; however it has seen the rate of revenue decline slow significantly in the December quarter, down only 1.4%. Southern Cross says there has been some evidence that the market is gaining momentum and the company is well placed as it moves into the second half of fiscal 2010. Southern Cross Media Group posted a loss of $84.57 million for fiscal 2009.
Taking a look at ex-dividends: Among those companies going ex-dividend today we have Australian United Investment Company with an 11.5 cent fully franked dividend, Rio Tinto with a 51.56 cent fully franked dividend, Santos with a 20 cent fully franked dividend and WorleyParsons with a 35.5 cent fully franked dividend.
To commodities: Gold is down $10.10 to US$1,103 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. For the May contract, silver fell 34 cents to US$15.91 and copper declined 9 cents at US$3.24.
And finally the price of oil is down $1.45 to US$78.86 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
