The Australian share market is likely to open lower this morning following a negative lead from Wall St overnight.
US stocks took a tumble as investors worried over the health of European banks after recent stress tests indicated that banks sovereign debt holdings are weaker than had previously been thought.
Investors fled riskier assets instead looking to safe-haven assets like the dollar and gold, according to CNN Money.
In economic news out of the US: According to CNN Money, President Barack Obama is to introduce a new $200 billion tax cut on Wednesday. The move will allow businesses to write off all new investments in equipment from now until the end of next year, says CNN.
And in a separate report from employment company Manpower, the firm says employers are less likely to increase hiring during the fourth quarter.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 107 points lower at 10,341. The S&P 500 Index is down 13 points to 1,092 and the NASDAQ dropped 25 to 2,209.
European stocks were also weaker, London’s FTSE fell 31, Paris is declined 41 and Frankfurt lost 37.
Asian markets were mixed: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 46 points on Tuesday, Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 75 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 2 points.
The Australian share market closed flat yesterday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 2 points lower to 4,573 and on the futures market the SPI200 is down 27 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 7:50AM was buying 91.1 US cents, 59.32 Pence Sterling, 76.36 Yen and 71.82 Euro cents.
In local economic news: The ABS is to release housing finance data for July and JP Morgan in collaboration with Fujitsu Australia is to release the 12th volume of their Australian Mortgage Industry Report.
In business news: Shares in project development and contracting company Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX:LEI) rose 0.78% to $32.42 yesterday. There are reports this morning that Leighton could announce CFO David Stewart as the new CEO today. An announcement on the departure of current Chief Executive Wal King is expected sometime this week as well. The top two candidates considered for the role are believed to have been Mr Stewart and David Saxelby who is head of Leighton’s subsidiary Thiess. It is unsure if Mr King will continue to have an ongoing role within the company. Leighton Holdings reported a profit of $615.13 million for the year to June 30, 2010.
Shares in gold producer OceanaGold Corporation (ASX:OGC) added 1.07% to $3.79 on Tuesday. News this morning that CEO Paul Bibby has resigned for personal reasons. The Australian Associated Press reports the company has already begun the search for a successor to Mr Bibby. OceanaGold has operations in New Zealand and the Philippines and is listed on the Australian, New Zealand and Toronto stock exchanges. OceanaGold booked a profit of $11.46 million for the 2010 financial year.
To ex-dividends: Among those companies going ex-dividend today we have BSA with a 1 cent fully franked dividend, North QLD Metals with a 0.7 cent unfranked dividend, Regional Express with a 6.6 cent fully franked dividend and Sonic Healthcare with a 35 cent 35% franked dividend.
To commodities: and the price of gold is up US$8.10 to US $1257 for the September contract on Comex, silver is down US$0.03 to $19.88 and copper is down 3 cents $3.46 a pound.
The price of oil is down $0.51 to US$74.09 a barrel for October light crude in New York.
