Australian shares look set to fall today after the US credit rating was dropped from AAA to AA+ for the first time on the weekend.
US economic news
The US Federal Reserve meets tomorrow to consider new quantitative easing to boost the US economy.
Figures
On Friday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 61 points higher at 11,445, S&P500 is flat at 1,199 and the NASDAQ lost 24 points to close at 2,532.
European stocks were lower: London’s FTSE down 146 points, Paris down 42 and Frankfurt down 179.
To Asian markets and stocks were lower: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 939, Tokyo Nikkei was down 359 and China’s Shanghai Composite was down 58 points.
On Friday the Australian share market ended the week lower: The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 171 points to close at 4,105. While on the futures market the SPI was 5 points lower at 7.30am.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 7:30am was buying $1.0426 US cents, 63.36 Pence Sterling, 81.39 Yen and 72.56 Euro cents.
Economic news
ANZ's monthly job ad figures for July will be released today.
Company news
On Friday shares in JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX:JBH) lost 3.63 per cent to close at $14.35. The discount music and electronics retailer will report today, with expected hopes of cracking the $3 billion mark in sales. Chief Terry Smart told the Fin Review it has been a challenging year, and tough times will make a difference. For the six months to December last year, JB Hi-Fi Limited posted a profit of $87.8 million.
On Friday shares in Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO) lost 5.98 per cent to close at $72. Chief Tom Albanese warned the government on the weekend that it’s no time to be experimenting with the fragile economy. On yesterday’s Inside Business on the ABC, he said the carbon tax should be tested over time. He also said Rio will be cracking down on costs in the next six months. Rio Tinto Limited (ASX:RIO) reported a profit of $7.5 billion in the six months to June this year.
Ex-dividends
Today we’ve got Coal and Allied Industries with a fully franked dividend of $1.20, Eldorado Gold with an unfranked dividend of 4.95 cents, and Premium Investors with a fully franked dividend of 4 cents.
Commodities
Gold is flat at $US1,651 an ounce for the December contract on Comex, silver is down 25 cents to $38.21 for September and copper is down 12 cents at $4.12 a pound. Oil is up 25 cents at $86.88 a barrel for August light crude in New York.
