Following another sour session on Wall Street the ASX looks set to see another day of back peddling. It comes as the three major indices, all fell with the Dow taking the biggest hit, down 380 points with Caterpillar seeing the most losses. The bulk of losses came in the final hour of trade with traders and investors also digesting weaker than expected economic data.
The month of February was not so favourable for US stocks, as the Dow and the S&P500 snapped their 10-month winning streak, the longest they’ve seen since 1959. And 2017’s best performing major index, the tech heavy Nasdaq, made its monthly loss in February, its first red close in eight months.
On the commodities front, oil took at hit, and is down about 2.4 per cent back around the $61 mark.
US economic newsEconomic growth slowed slightly more than expected in the fourth quarter of 2017. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew a 2.5 per cent annual pace, less than the 2.6 per cent previously reported, that’s according to the Commerce Department. It’s also important to note GPD slowed from the from the third quarter’s 3.2 per cent pace. It comes as the strongest consumer spending pace in three years ran inventories down, as businesses struggled to produce enough goods and services.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a fall of 45 points. Yesterday the Australian share market closed lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 41 points lower at 6,016.
Local economic newsWe are expecting a manufacturing reading with the purchasing manufacturing index for February and business investment data for the December quarter. Both sets of data should come out from the ABS at 11.30am.
MarketsWall Street closed lower The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.5 per cent to close at 25,029, the S&P 500 shed 1.1 per cent to close at 2,714 and the NASDAQ lost 0.8 per cent to close at 7,273.
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 0.7 per cent, Paris lost 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt lost 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed lower: Tokyo’s Nikkei shed 1.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost about 1 per cent.
Company news Synlait Milk
(ASX:SM1) has hired a former managing director of Barclays Bank, India to its leadership team. It hired Deborah Marris who was MD of global compliance. She will become general counsel and head of commercial with effect on 5 March 2018. She will handle legal affairs, risk, corporate governance and contractual relationships, just to name a few things under her belt when she starts. Synlait Milk shares closed 7.7 per cent higher at $7.28
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8.44am was buying 77.66 US cents, 56.43 Pence Sterling, 82.86 Yen and 63.68 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has gained $1.00 to $US1,320 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.02 to $US16.41 an ounce.
Oil has lost $1.47 to $US61.54 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin trades at US$10,703, Tether trades at US$0.99 and Ethereum is hovering at US$873.
Ex-dividends
