The Australian share market is poised to rebound and advance at the open, after Wall Street closed in positive territory on Friday, after concerns about Donald Trump’s presidency subsided for the time being.
The Dow Jones rose about 140 points with Boeing and Caterpillar leading the charge, while the S&P rose 0.7 per cent with industrials leading all 11 sectors higher.
The Nasdaq also danced higher, gaining 29 points.
There was no major US economic news to report from Friday; however President Donald Trump did make his first overseas trip since taking office. The US president travelled to Saudi Arabia, which is planning to buy billions of dollars worth of US arms.
Meantime, Gold is on track for its biggest rise in five weeks, while Oil has settled at a 4-week high, with investors expecting an output cut extension.
Local economic newsOn Tuesday, the RBA Deputy Governor, Guy Debelle, will make a speech in Switzerland, called ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Basis”. Although it’s a light title, the speech probably won’t drive markets.
On Wednesday, we will learn about the Construction Work Done in the March quarter. The data includes estimates of residential, commercial and engineering work completed in the quarter. The figures feed directly into the calculation for economic growth in the quarter. Last quarter, Construction Work Done fell by 0.2 per cent in real (inflation-adjusted) terms after falling by 4.4 per cent in the September quarter.
Come Thursday, the ABS will report on the detailed job market data for April. All eyes will be on the geographic and demographic break-up of the data. Particularly as participation rates among young people have proved historically low in recent years, while seniors have actively been looking for work.
Also on Thursday, two speeches will be made by RBA officials. Reserve Bank Assistant Governor, of the Financial System will make a speech at Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea in Sydney.
Later on, RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle, will give an address at the launch of the FX Global Code on London.
Finally on Friday, the ABS will announce the Australian key industry data for 2015/2016.
Markets Wall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7 per cent to close at 20,805, the S&P 500 added 0.7 per cent to close at 2,382 and the NASDAQ advanced 0.5 per cent to close at 6,084.
European markets closed higher as well: London’s FTSE gained 0.5 per cent, Paris added 0.7 per cent and Frankfurt firmed 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets also closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.02 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed lower on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 11 points down or by 0.2 per cent to finish at 5,727.
For the week the index lost 110 points.
On the futures market the SPI is 26 points up.
Company newsThe PAS Group Limited
(ASX:PGR) says higher than expected, industry-wide heavy winds and promotions have hampered its retail brands’ sales in Black Pepper and Review (particularly in Myer stores). As a result, the fashion apparel businesses sales in Black Pepper and Review were below expectations.The Black Pepper and DesignWorks brands were also impacted by order reductions and delivery time changes. The PAS Group now expects its EBITDA for FY2017 to be between $18.5 million and $20 million. Shares in the PAS Group Limited
(ASX:PGR) last traded 0.86 per cent lower on Friday to 58 cents.
Ex-dividendsOne company is going ex-dividend today:
Incitec Pivot
(ASX:IPL) is paying 4.5 cents unfranked.
Currencies The Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 74.49 US cents, 57.23 Pence Sterling, 82.79 Yen and 66.49 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained almost $9 to $US1,256 an ounce.
Silver has advanced 17 cents to $US16.84 an ounce.
And Oil has jumped $1.28 to $US50.90 a barrel.
