Wall St hits records but closes down: Aus shares to stall at open

Market Reports

by Jessica Amir

The Dow and Nasdaq, two of the major US indices hit fresh record highs before closing a touch below the breakeven mark. It comes as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup both reported better than expected financial results

On the flip side, falls in telecommunications stocks put a cap on gains.Despite that, equities have lifted quite a lot this year, with S&P 500 rising 14 per cent

On the commodities front, US crude oil prices have fallen over 1 per cent, while the iron ore price has charged about 2.7 per cent higher.

With all of that under our belts, we can expect a hesitant start.

US economic news

US producer prices rose 0.4 per cent in September after rising 0.2 per cent in August, according to the Labor Department:

US producer selling prices also rose 2.6 per cent over the 12 months to September. It comes as the gasoline prices recorded its biggest rise in over two years amid production disruptions at refineries after Hurricane Harvey

Local economic news 

The RBA will release its six-monthly Financial Stability Review, which is an assessment of the health of our financial system. And the ABS will unveil its housing occupancy and housing cost data as part of its 2015/16 series.

Markets 

Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1 per cent to close at 22,841, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent to close at 2,551 and the NASDAQ slipped 0.2 per cent to close at 6,592.

European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE added 0.3 per cent, Paris lost 0.03 per cent and Frankfurt gained 0.1 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1 per cent.

And back home, the Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 22 points up or 0.4 per cent higher to finish at 5,794.

On the futures market the SPI is 2 points up.

Company news 

Global brand licencing company, Yowie Group (ASX:YOW) says at its upcoming AGM, ‘Spill Meeting’ (16 November 2017) it will be asking shareholders to pass a more than double pay rise of its Non-Executive Directors, (from $200,000 to $450,000). Yowie is also requesting a special meeting be held in 90 days. Its shares closed flat at 22 cents.

And a tech company that identifies signals and control radio systems, Department 13 International (ASX:D13) says two of its MESMER unit sales, valued up to US$400,000 each per unit will be used in two Latin American Prisons. It sold the two units to Phoenix Group, which are a global security company operating in maritime and airport security as well as intelligence and investigation services. Shares in Department 13 International closed 1 per cent lower yesterday at 9.9 cents.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:45AM was buying 78.20 US cents, 58.99 Pence Sterling, 87.80 Yen and 66.11 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold has gained $6.60 to $US1,296 an ounce.
Silver has added $0.12 to $US17.25 an ounce.
Oil has dropped $0.61 to $US50.99 a barrel.
 

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