The Australian share market looks set to open lower for the third day after Wall Street continues its decline, while the oil price is also trading lower.
Out of the major indices the Dow took the biggest hit down 420 points despite rising more than 150 earlier in the day. On the S&P500 and tech heavy Nasdaq followed with industrials seeing a lot of selling.
Shares of Ford Motor and General Motors traded near session lows this week, down more than 3 per cent. Steel and AK Steel traded sharply higher. Meanwhile stocks fell after President Donald Trump said the US will implement tariffs on steel aluminum imports.
Wall Street also took note of fresh testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who said there is no evidence that the economy is overheating. The Dow, S&P500 and Nasdaq all hit session highs after his comment, before retreating.
US economic news Consumer prices rose 0.4 per cent in January, with the underlying inflationary gauge posting its biggest gain in 12 months. The rise also beat expectations and follows a modest gain of 0.1 per cent. It’s important to note, the index is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure and it really reflects that price pressures will ramp up this year.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are pointing to a 48 points fall. Yesterday the Australian share market closed 43 points lower with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing at 5973 points.
To the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.7 per cent to close at 24609 the S&P 500 lost 1.3 per cent to close at 2678 and the NASDAQ lost 1.3 per cent to close at 7181
European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE fell 0.8 per cent, Paris closed 1.1 per cent lower and Frankfurt lost almost 2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped 1.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.4 per cent.
Company News Auckland Airport
(ASX:AIA) has seen a record number of passengers for the second consecutive month.
Over a million international passengers passed through the airport in January – more than the previous record set in December - giving the airport a strong start to the second half of the 2018 financial year. Queenstown Airport achieved double digit passenger growth – up 11 per cent in January. Domestic passenger figures were up thanks to a new 10 thousand plus seat capacity and strengthening passenger numbers on the Auckland-Queenstown route. Auckland International Airport
(ASX:AIA) shares closed 0.8 per cent lower at $5.94.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8.40AM was buying $US77.61 cents, 56.35 Pence Sterling, 82.46 Yen and 63.30 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold has lost $0.50 to $US1317 an ounce.
Silver has gained $0.09 to $US16.50 an ounce.
Oil has lost $0.31 to $US61.33 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mostly higher: Bitcoin has gained 3.2 per cent to US$11,010, Tether is down about 0.03 per cent to US$0.99 and Ethereum is up about 0.7 per cent to US$878.
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