Australian shares are expected to open slightly lower this morning despite minor gains on Wall Street. US Stocks rose to notch a fresh record close on Monday, but the gains were kept in check as investors remained cautious at the start off the corporate earnings season. Citigroup kicked off the first major week by reporting numbers that beat analyst expectations.Gains from the initial public offering of Tradeweb, an electronic bond trading platform, pushed the bank’s results past Wall Street estimates. However, the outlook for this earnings season is bleak. Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings to have fallen by 3 per cent in the second quarter, according to FactSet data.
Local economic newsToday all eyes will be on the latest RBA board meeting minutes.
MarketsWall Street closed higher yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent to 27,359, the S&P 500 added 0.02 per cent to close at 3014 and the NASDAQ rose 0.2 per cent to 8258.
European markets closed higher: London’s FTSE added 0.3 per cent, Paris rose 0.1 per cent and Frankfurt was up 0.5 per cent.
Asian markets closed mostly higher,Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.3 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.4 per cent and Tokyo’s Nikkei was closed.
Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are down 5 points. Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 44 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 6653.
Company newsMining company, Oil Search
(ASX:OSH) has recently completed an organisational redesign, to support its next phase of growth as the Company advances towards Front-End Engineering and Design entry for major expansion projects in PNG and Alaska. The structural changes include the formation of two Business Units, in PNG and Alaska, to give greater accountability and control to those regions. Two new Executive Vice Presidents, Dale Rollins and Bart Lismont, have been appointed to augment the leadership team, while John Kurz will join the PNG Business Unit in a new role of Chief Operating Officer, PNG Business Unit. Oil Search says by the end of 2019, expects to be in the Front-End Engineering and Design phase of LNG expansion in PNG and the initial Pikka Unit development in Alaska. The company has undertaken this organisational redesign to ensure that the it has sufficient resources, skills and capacity to deliver these major projects. Shares in Oil Search
(ASX:OSH) closed 0.8 per cent lower at $7.34.
Ex-Dividends Plato Income Maximiser Ltd
(ASX:PL8) is paying 0.5 cents fully franked.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 7:45AM was buying 70.38 US cents, 56.28Pence Sterling, 75.93 Yen and 62.53 Euro cents.
CommoditiesIron Ore futures suggest a 3.9 per cent gain.
Gold has risen$3.50 to US$1416 an ounce.
Silver was up$0.16 to US$15.40 an ounce.
Oil dropped $0.87 to US$59.43 a barrel.
