Wall Street has delivered mixed results as Donald Trump’s ability to implement its pro-growth proposal was put under the spot light. While European markets closed mixed, as the ECB left rates unchanged. Because of that lack of direction, the Australian share market is tipped to fall slightly at the open.
Touching on US markets, more good news came for the tech heavy Nasdaq, which not only posted another record close, but etched its first 10 day winning streak since February 2015. Adding to the index’s gain, was the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF which closed 1 per cent higher.
On the Dow Jones, Nike, was the biggest winner after its shares were upgraded by Morgan Stanley. Meantime, Home Depot shares sank 4 per cent after Sears announced it will sell Alexa-enabled appliances on Amazon. That news saw Sears’ shares close over 10 per cent higher.
On the commodity front, US Crude has slipped below $47.00 ahead of the OPEC meeting, while the gold price has gained.
US economic news An economic indicator that tracks manufactures new orders, stock prices and average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance, improved in June.
The US Conference Board’s US leading index rose 0.6 per cent in June beating the 0.4 per cent rise expected. It’s welcome news, as the indicator is eyed as a gauge on how healthy the US economy is. It follows a 0.3 per cent increase in May.
Local economic news Although there are no data releases, two speeches will be made by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) officials this Friday.
RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle will deliver a speech, ‘Global Influences on Domestic Monetary Policy’, at the CEDA/University of Adelaide luncheon, in South Australia.
And RBA Assistant Governor of the Financial System, Michele Bullock, will speak at the Melbourne Institute/The Australian Economic & Social Policy Conference, in Victoria.
Markets Wall Street closed mixed: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1 per cent to close at 21,612, the S&P 500 fell 0.02 per cent to close at 2,473 and the NASDAQ gained 0.1 per cent to close at 6,390.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE rose 0.8 per cent, Paris lost 0.3 per cent and Frankfurt fell 0.04 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.4 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market close higher yesterday: At the closing bell, The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 29 points up or 0.5 per cent higher for the day at 5,761.
On the futures market the SPI is 11 points down.
Company newsBoyuan Holdings Limited
(ASX:BHL) has announced the sale of its major residential and commercial development project in China, for about AUD$16.1 million (85 million RMB). The property developer says it’s selling its Jiaxing project so it can focus on the Australian market, while it will also no longer undertake developments in China. If the transaction is approved by shareholders, it will be completed by October/November 2017. The sale will also see the repayment of about $24.6 million paid to BHL by Hong Kong Jiayuan Investments Limited. Shares in Boyuan Holdings Limited
(ASX:BHL) closed 1.82 per cent higher yesterday at $0.28.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:30AM was buying 79.58 US cents, 61.38 Pence Sterling, 89.03 Yen and 68.42 Euro cents.
CommoditiesGold has gained $1.70 to $US1,251 an ounce.
Silver has added 1 cent to $US16.30 an ounce.
And Oil has dropped 39 cents to $US46.93 a barrel.
