Retreat on Wall Street: ASX to open lower

Market Reports

by Rachael Jones

There’s been a retreat on Wall Street and this could lead to some early losses on the Australian stock market this morning. The Dow saw its eighth straight loss. Not helping the Dow was technology company Intel losing its Chief Executive Brian Krzanich yesterday. He resigned after it was discovered a consensual relationship with an employee violated company policy. Online retailers were given a bit to chew in the US as the Supreme Court on Thursday gave states the ability to require online and out-of-state retailers to collect and send them state sales taxes.

Commodities were mixed with base metals closing higher in London. Oil fell as Brian Krzanich struggled to reach an agreement on increasing oil production. Iran opposes it but Saudi Arabia is seeking approval. Industrial metals are pointing to price falls, due to the continued trade tensions between the US and China. Oil is up gold is down.

Figures from around the globe:

Wall Street closed lower yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session 0.8 per cent lower to close at 24,462, the S&P 500 fell 0.6 per cent to close at 2,750 and the NASDAQ dropped 0.9 per cent to close at 7713.

European markets closed lower yesterday: London’s FTSE lost 0.9 per cent, Paris fell 1.1 per cent and Frankfurt declined 1.4 per cent.

Asian markets closed mixed yesterday, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.4% and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 1.4 per cent.

On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 31 pts loss. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index gaining 60 points to close at 6232.

Company news

Telstra (ASX:TLS) released their briefing transcript after the market closed yesterday. CEO Andy Penn said they chose Telstra 2022 because this is the year the nbn will be rolled out, 5G will be at scale and the Internet of Things will be pervasive in our homes, in our businesses and in our communities.They will increase our productivity target by a further $1 billion to $2.5 billion. And intend to monetise up to $2 billion in assets over the next 24 months to strengthen the balance sheet. Meanwhile, Telstra's job purge has been criticised by unions but an analyst says the telco's shock move to slash 8,000 jobs is needed to bring labour costs down. Shares in Telstra (ASX:TLS) closed 1.81 per cent lower to $2.72 yesterday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US73.78 cents, 55.72 Pence Sterling, 81.08 Yen and 63.60 Euro cents.

Commodities

Gold has lost $5.50 to $US1269 an ounce.
Silver was flat at $US16.39 an ounce.
Oil was up 9c to $US65.80 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies

The three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading lower:
Bitcoin has dropped 0.4 per cent to US$6,737,
Ethereum has dropped 1.5 per cent to US$527 
EOS has fallen 0.8 per cent to US$10.39.
 

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