The Australian share market will continue on its south-bound path in early trade, after US stocks fell on fears the Federal Reserve may pull back on stimulus imminently.
Those nerves were sparked after data showed the American economy was expanding along with fewer jobless claims.
US economic news
The US economy grew by a speedy 3.6 per cent in the third quarter, much higher than the original estimate of 2.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits fell sharply in the last week of November to 298,000. That was far below the average of recent months and it represented the third straight week of declines.
Currencies
The Australian dollar made gains despite that data showing the fastest US economic growth in almost two years. At 8:20AM the Aussie was buying $US90.67 cents, 55.52 Pence Sterling, 92.23 Yen and 66.34 Euro cents.
Figures
Wall Street took a hit: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 68 points to close at 15,822, the S&P 500 dropped 8 points to close at 1,785 and the NASDAQ slipped by 5 points to close at 4,033.
European markets were also in the red. Meantime - the Bank of England and European Central Bank have left their benchmark interest rates unchanged amid signs of an accelerating recovery in the UK. London’s FTSE lost 12 points, Paris dropped 49 points and Frankfurt slipped by 56 points.
Asian markets were also down. Japanese shares were sold for a second straight session on the back of a strengthening yen after it touched six-month lows against the dollar earlier this week. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell by 230 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 16 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 5 points.
The Australian share market closed lower yesterday on falls in health stocks, the big banks and Qantas, which issued a hefty profit warning. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 76 points down to finish at 5,198. On the futures market the SPI is 17 points down.
Economic news
The RBA will release its official Reserve assets data and AiG will put out the November Performance of Construction Index.
Company news
Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Limited
(ASX:NEC) will debut on the Australian Securities Exchange today at noon AEDT. The company, which owns the Nine Network, Ticketek and ninemsn, will list at $2.05 per share.
CSL Limited
(ASX:CSL) has inked a deal with a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary to develop a treatment for an aggressive form of leukemia. The licensing deal was announced at the company's annual research and development briefing yesterday. Shares in CSL dropped 0.78 per cent yesterday to close at $67.79.
Ex-dividend Village Roadshow Limited
(ASX:VRL) will pay 13 cents per share fully franked.
Commodities
Gold is down $15.30 to $US1,232 an ounce for the February contract on Comex. Silver is down $0.26 to $19.57 for March. Copper is down $0.02 at $3.23 a pound. Oil is up $0.18 at US$97.38 a barrel for January light crude in New York.
