Following modest leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set for a flat open this morning, with futures up 2 points. After slipping nearly 3 per cent on Tuesday, Apple’s woes continued on Wednesday, after news the tech giant had been hit with a number of lawsuits. The litigation is related to admissions by the company last week that it slowed down ageing iPhones.
Data out from China showing an increased appetite for Copper imports year-on-year of 19 per cent sent the commodity soaring on Wednesday. The metal hit a three-and-a-half year high, at US$3.302 a pound.
US economic newsDespite positive markers across the US economy on the employment and housing front of late, consumer confidence slipped in December to 122.1, down from 128.6 in November. Analysts watch the figure closely, as consumer spending represents roughly 70 per cent of all US economic activity. Sales of existing homes also cooled off slightly in the lead up to Christmas, with signed contracts up just 0.2 per cent from October.
MarketsWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.11 per cent to close at 24,774, the S&P 500 gained 0.08 per cent to close at 2,683 and the NASDAQ rose 0.04 per cent to close at 6,939.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE rose 0.03 per cent, Paris lost 0.08 per cent and Frankfurt dropped 0.02 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.08 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lifted 0.07 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.92 per cent.
And back home, the Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 0.2 points up to finish at 6,070.
On the futures market the SPI is 2 points up
Company newsOrotonGroup Limited
(ASX:ORL) has been thrown a lifeline by existing shareholder Will Vicars, after the business was placed in voluntary administration in late November. Mr Vicars will replace the iconic Australian fashion house’s founders, the Lane family, as the controlling shareholder. Shares in OrotonGroup Limited
(ASX:ORL) are currently in a trading halt. They last traded at $0.435 on the 27 November.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8.30AM was buying $US77.75 cents, 58.03 Pence Sterling, 88.09 Yen and 65.38 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $4.50 to $US1,292 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.15 to $US16.75 an ounce.
Oil has lost $0.36 to $US59.61 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesBitcoin has fallen 4.48 per cent in the last 24 hours to $15,578
Ethereum has dropped 1.54 per cent to $757
And Litecoin has shed about 5.61 per cent to $271
