The Australian share market is set to open higher, after Wall Street closed in the green on Friday, following the release of stronger than expected employment data.
Employment increased across health care, social assistance, finance and mining. However, wages rose by just 0.2 per cent.
The S&P 500 rose 15 points, with information technology leading the charge.
On Friday, the Dow Jones gained 94 points, with McDonalds, Nike and Microsoft adding the most gains. At one point, the index traded more than 100 points higher.
The Nasdaq composite also closed higher on Friday, pushed by a bounce in tech stocks.
Meantime, gold has slipped, posting its fifth straight weekly loss.
US economic newsNon-farm payrolls increased in June by 222,000, smashing expectations of 179,000. The reading follows a dissapointing increase of just 152,000 in May.
Local economic news - week aheadOn Tuesday, the ABS will announce the housing and lending finance data for May, with a 2.5 per cent rise in home loans tipped.
Also on Tuesday, NAB will release its Business Confidence Survey results for June.
On Wednesday, Westpac Bank & Melbourne Institute will release its Consumer Confidence statistics for July.
On Thursday, the ABS will release lending finance data for May, which will include personal, lease and commercial finance.
Also on Thursday, the Reserve Bank will release the latest data on credit and debit card lending for May.
And finally, on Friday the ABS will release its tourist arrivals data for May.
MarketsWall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 0.4 per cent to close at 21,414, the S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent to close at 2,425 and the NASDAQ rose 1 per cent to close at 6,153.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE rose 0.2 per cent, Paris lost 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt gained 0.1 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.5 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.2 per cent.
The Australian share market closed lower on Friday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 55 points down to finish at 5,704. On the futures market, the SPI is up 10 points.
Company newsBellamy’s Australia Limited
(ASX:BAL) has been granted a trading halt, after the suspension of Camperdown Powder Pty Ltd’s CNCA license (Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China) by the People’s Republic of China. The company says the suspension will not affect sales of its infant formula products, which are manufactured by Bega under its respective CNCA license. The food manufacturer says it will remain in trading halt until Tuesday 11 July, or earlier as it waits for updates on the suspension. Bellamy’s Australia Limited
(ASX:BAL) last traded on Thursday at $6.74.
CurrenciesThe Australian Dollar at 7.20AM was buying 76 US cents, 59 Pence Stirling, 86.63 Yen and 66.69 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost $13.60 to $US1,210 an ounce.
Silver has lost 56 cents to $US15.43 an ounce.
Oil has slipped $1.29 to $US44.23 a barrel.
