The Australian share market looks to lift this morning on the back of positive offshore leads. Wall Street gained for the third straight session after better than expected earnings and jobs data. European stocks rose following successful bond auctions in France and Spain.
US economic news
Jobless claims in America have hit their lowest level in almost four years. The Labor Department has shown 352,000 people filed for initial unemployment benefits last week, 50,000 less people than the week before and the lowest level since April 2008.
The Commerce Department reported housing starts dropped 4.1 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 657,000 units in December.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics ‘ Consumer Price Index came in steady at the end of last year, edging up 0.1 per cent in December after adding 0.2 per cent the month before.
Figures
Wall Street finished stronger on Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 45 points to close at 12,624, the S&P500 gained 6 points to close at 1,315 and the Nasdaq gained 19 points to close at 2,788.
European markets also advanced: London’s FTSE was up 39 points, Paris was up 64 points and Frankfurt was up 62 points.
Asian markets finished higher on Thursday: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 256 points, Tokyo Nikkei was up 89 and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 30 points.
The Australian share market retreated from earlier gains to end Thursday in the red: The S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 3 points to finish at 4,215. On the futures market the SPI is 29 points higher.
Currencies
The Australian Dollar at 8:40AM was buying $US1.0428 cents, 67.33 Pence Sterling, 80.44 Yen and 80.43 Euro cents.
Economic news due out today
Australian Bureau of Statistics: International trade price indexes for December 2011
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA): Business sales indicator for November 2011
Company news
Shares in News Corporation (ASX:NWS) closed 1.34 per cent higher yesterday at $18.95. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has settled 36 high-profile phone hacking claims arising from last year’s legal action against the media company’s UK newspaper division. Lawyers for the victims said News Group Newspapers agreed to compensation on the basis that senior employees and directors of the company knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence. News Corp’s lawyer has described the compensation as “generous” and said the company is “ready, willing and able to settle” the claims. In the 2011 financial year News Corp’s annual net profit rose 8 per cent to $2.7 billion.
Shares in Wesfarmers Limited (ASX:WES) closed 0.36 per cent lower yesterday at $30.37. The so called ‘milk wars’ show no sign of fading away with Wesfarmers Limited (ASX:WES) owned Coles and rival supermarket giant Woolworths Limited (ASX:WOW) vowing to continue selling their 2 litre branded milk for $2. One year after Coles launched the trial promotion, both supermarkets have told The Australian they’ll be sticking to the price discount of up to 33 per cent despite controversy it disadvantages dairy farmers. The confirmation comes one day after Coles inked an exclusive supply deal with Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Company (ASX:WCB) which will see the dairy producer supply products to Coles under a new brand called Great Ocean Road. In the 2011 financial year Wesfarmers’ annual net profit rose 23 per cent to $1.9 billion.
Ex-dividends
Two companies are going ex-dividend: Abacus Property Group (ASX:ABP) with an 8.25 cent unfranked dividend and Mirrabooka Investments Limited (ASX:MIR) with a 3.5 cent with a fully franked dividend.
Commodities
Gold is down $5.40 to $US1,654 an ounce for the February contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.03 to $30.51 for March.
Copper is up $0.05 at $3.80 a pound.
Oil is down $0.20 at $100.39 a barrel for February light crude in New York.
