The futures are tipping a soft start to the day, despite Wall St closing Tuesday’s session in the black on news the US will hold interest rates low and stick to its quantitative easing plan. While a stronger than expected report on US retail sales gave investors a promising sign that the economy is slowly improving ahead of the Christmas period.
US economic news: The US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates steady, as expected, near zero per cent. The Fed also said it is progressing with plans to inject $US600 billion into the economy. Also out, the Commerce Department revealed retail sales lifted more than expected, up 0.8 per cent in November. The producer price index also came in higher than expected, adding 0.8 per cent in November, though business inventories improved less than expected, firming 0.7 per cent in October.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed 48 points stronger to 11,477. S&P500 added 1 point to close at 1,242 and the NASDAQ firmed 3 points to 2,628.
European stocks were mixed: London’s FTSE is up 30 points, Paris is up 10 and Frankfurt is down 2.
To Asian markets, stocks were higher: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 114 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei up 23 points and China’s Shanghai Composite up 4 points.
The Australian share market finished higher on Tuesday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 10 points up at 4,767 and on the futures market the SPI is up 3 points. Turning to currencies and the Aussie Dollar at 8:35AM was buying 99.95 US cents, 63.34 Pence Sterling, 83.65 Yen and 74.7 Euro cents.
In economic news: Due out today the Australian Bureau of Statistics sales of new motor vehicles for November, Westpac/Melbourne Institute’s survey of consumer sentiment for December and also, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations survey of skilled job vacancies.
Company news: Shares in Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) were $16.80 on Tuesday before entering a trading halt. Origin appears to have emerged victorious in its bid to secure some of the $5.3 billion of the New South Wales government’s electricity assets up for grabs, the opposition says for half their price. The electricity retailer yesterday entered into a trading halt, it said, pending an announcement regarding a potential acquisition. Fairfax says the privatisation deal was completed last night that will see Origin spend $3.3 billion to acquire Country Energy and Integral Energy, and the output from power generator Eraring. Origin Energy recorded a $680 million net profit in fiscal 2010.
Shares in BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lifted 0.46 per cent to close at $45.65 on Tuesday. BHP has added the second woman to its board, appointing Baroness Shriti Vadera as a non-executive director. Baroness Vadera is a former investment banker and British Labour minister, with strong ties to former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, as recently revealed by Wikileaks. The latest appointment brings the number of BHP directors to 12. BHP Billiton booked a $15.26 billion net profit in the 2010 financial year.
Ex-dividends: The only company going ex-dividend today is The MAC Services with a 5 cent fully franked dividend. Coming up on Friday, NetComm and Singapore Telecommunications. To commodities: Gold is up $6.30 to $US1,404 an ounce for the February contract on Comex, silver is up $0.16 to $29.79 for March and copper is steady at $4.21 a pound. Oil is down $0.33 at $88.28 for January light crude in New York.
