Australian shares are set to open higher this morning after some speculation of the US-China trade war easing after a meeting between the two nations is planned for this week. The world's two largest economies are set to impose tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods on August 23, in addition to levies that took effect on July 6. The Turkish Lira continued to tumble. Tesla stock rose after tweet which said Tesla could go private but dropped on Friday.
On the commodities front, oil has gained and gold has added 20 cents.
Local economic newsCommonwealth Bank Business Sales Index has shown the strongest annual spending growth in four years. Economy-wide spending, rose by 1.0 per cent in trend terms in July.
For later today, we can expect to see figures for June for our overseas arrivals and departures.
On Tuesday the Producer Price Indexes will be released for June.
And on Thursday there will be a detailed report released on Australia’s Labour Force for July 2018.
MarketsTo the figures from around the globe: Wall Street closed higher on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4 per cent to close at 25,669, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to close at 2,850 and the NASDAQ closed 0.1 per cent higher to 7816.
European markets closed mixed on Friday: London’s FTSE gained 0.03 per cent, Paris dropped 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt dipped 0.2 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.4% higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4% and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 1.3%.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 28pts gain. On Friday, the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 11 points higher to 6339.
Company newsSpark Infrastructure
(ASX:SKI) has appointed of David Thompson as its General Manager Strategy and Business Development. He will start the role at the beginning of September following the resignation of Ben Bolot.
David has extensive knowledge of the infrastructure, utilities, oil and gas, electricity, water and renewables sectors. He was most recently as Head of Analysis & Investments at CP2 and as an Executive Director at Value Adviser Associates. Shares in Spark Infrastructure
(ASX:SKI) closed 0.42 per cent higher to $2.38 on Friday.
Reporting SeasonFew companies are reporting today
- Greencross
(ASX:GXL)- Primary Health Care
(ASX:PRY)- Ansell
(ASX:ANN)- Fortescue Metals Group
(ASX:FMG)- McGrath
(ASX:MEA)- nib holdings
(ASX:NHF)- Woolworths Group
(ASX:WOW)- Oohmedia
(ASX:OML)Ex-dividendsDomino Pizza Enterpr
(ASX:DMP) is paying 49.7c 75 franked
Flagship Investments
(ASX:FSI) is paying 4c fully franked
IOOF Holdings
(ASX:IFL) is paying 27c fully franked
Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) is paying 120c or $1.20 fully franked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US73.14 cents, 57.38 Pence Sterling, 80.84 Yen and 63.94 Euro cents.
CommoditiesIron ore futures are pointing to a 0.9% gain.
Gold has added $0.20 to $US1184 an ounce.
Silver was down 8c to $US14.63 an ounce.
Oil gained 33c to $US65.21 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading higher: Bitcoin has added 2 per cent to US$6,541, Ethereum has risen 2.9 per cent to US$303 and EOS has gained 5.3 per cent to US$5.34.
