The ASX is set to open slightly lower this morning despite Wall Street finishing higher. The S&P 500 Index finished higher even after Netflix dragged on the communication-services sector late in the day. Sentiment was high in the US as President Donald Trump said talks in the US trade war with China are making good progress. He said yesterday that he thinks its going along very well and that they are showing tremendous respect. Trump has threatened to more than double the rate of duties on $200 billion in Chinese imports. Talks resumed this week ahead of the March 1 deadline for additional tariffs. It's a big day of earnings here today. A large number of companies will be releasing their results throughout the day.
Economic NewsConsumer inflation expectations February
Reporting Companies- Suncorp Group
(ASX:SUN)- Super Retail Group
(ASX:SUL)- Cleanaway Waste Management
(ASX:CWY)- Telstra Corp
(ASX:TLS)- Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL)- ASX
(ASX:ASX)- Goodman Group
(ASX:GMG)- IPH
(ASX:IPH)- Magellan Financial Group
(ASX:MFG)- Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM)- South32
(ASX:S32)- Tassal Group
(ASX:TGR)- Treasury Wine Estate
(ASX:TWE)Markets Wall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5per cent to close at 25,543, the S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent to close at 2,753 and the NASDAQ was up 0.1 per cent to close at 7420.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE added 0.8 per cent, Paris gained 0.4 per cent and Frankfurt was up 0.4 per cent.
Asian markets closed higher, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 1.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 1.2 per cent higher and China’s Shanghai Composite added 1.8 per cent.
Taking all of this into equation, the ASX futures are down 10 points. Yesterday the Australian share market closed 0.3 per cent lower or 16 points to 6064.
Company newsAMP
(ASX:AMP) has slashed its final dividend to 4 cents a share in recognition of 2H 18 performance, capital impacts and market uncertainties.Statutory net profit for the year was $28 million compared to $848 million for 2017.
Its 2018 underlying profit of $680 million was down 35 per cent or $360 million from $1,040 million in 2017 driven by positive momentum in AMP Capital and AMP Bank. AMP Chief Executive Francesco De Ferrari says 2018 has been a challenging year for AMP. Disclosures from the Hayne Royal Commission had a huge impact on the company. Shares in AMP
(ASX:AMP) closed 0.4 per cent higher to $2.44 yesterday.
Ex-DividendDicker Data
(ASX:DDR) is paying 7 cents fully franked
Flagship Investments
(ASX:FSI) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Independence Group
(ASX:IGO) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Janus Henderson
(ASX:JHG) is paying 49.59 cents fully franked
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:40 AM was buying 70.89 US cents, 55.19 Pence Sterling, 78.70 Yen and 62.94 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron Ore has fallen 0.5 per cent to at US$87.22. It futures suggest a 0.7 per cent fall.
Gold has dropped $5.10 to US$1309 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.15 to US$15.54 an ounce.
Oil has risen $0.98 to US$54.45 a barrel.
