Following negative, leads from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open lower. Stocks fell on Friday weighed down by rising US Treasury yields following the release of a generally solid September jobs report. The three major benchmarks all closed lower with the tech heavy Nasdaq posting its biggest weekly drop since March. Amazon, Apple and Netflix all traded lower.
Crude futures steadied on Friday after climbing to four-year highs earlier this week. The gains come ahead of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
US economic news The US economy added 134,000 jobs in September, below the expected gain of 185 000. However, US unemployment fell to 3.7 per cent its lowest level since 1969. Meantime, annual average hourly earnings fell by 0.1 per cent. The jobs data sent the benchmark 10-year U.S. yield to a fresh seven-year high, fueling concerns over rising interest rates.
Local economic newsToday ANZ releases September data on job advertisements. On Tuesday, the National Australia Bank releases the September business survey. On Wednesday we can expect the monthly consumer confidence figures, and, finally on Friday, the Reserve Bank releases its bi-annual Financial Stability Review as well as data on credit and debit card lending.
MarketsWall Street closed lower on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7 per cent to close at 26,447, the S&P 500 closed 0.6 per cent lower to 2886 and the NASDAQ fell 1.2 per cent to 7788.
European markets were also lower on Friday: London’s FTSE lost 1.4 per cent, Paris fell almost 1per cent and Frankfurt retreated 1.1 per cent.
Asian markets ended the session weaker, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 0.8% lower,Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite was closed.
On the futures markets, the ASX futures are pointing to a 28 pts fall. On Friday,the Australian share market closed higher with the S&P/ASX 200 Index closing 9 points higher to 6185.
Company news Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) has provided details on the Coles Supermarket demerger. If successful, the demerger would see Coles become a stand alone publicly listed company, while Wesfarmers would retain a minority interest of 15 per cent in Coles r. Wesfarmers shareholders will retain their Wesfarmers shares and eligible shareholders will be entitled to receive one Coles share for every share of Wesfarmers they hold. Shareholders will vote on the proposed scheme on November 15. Shares in Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES)closed 0.3 per cent higher to $49.57 on Friday.
Ex-DividendsFuture Generation Global Investment Co
(ASX:FGG) is paying 1 cent fully franked.
ICSGlobal
(ASX:ICS) is paying 4 cents unfranked.
Naos Emerging Opportunities Company
(ASX:NCC) is paying 3.5 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:40AM was buying US70.58 cents, 53.80 Pence Sterling, 80.30 Yen and 61.25 Euro cents.
Commodities Gold hasgained $4 to $US1206 an ounce.
Silver was up 6 cents to $US14.65 an ounce.
Oil added1 crnts to $US74.34 a barrel.
CryptocurrenciesThe three most traded cryptocurrencies are trading mixed: Bitcoin has added 0.1 per cent to US$6599, Ethereum has lost 0.3 per cent to US$224.16 and XRPhas lost 0.9 per cent to US47.31 cents.
