Local shares look set for a weaker start to the day following a mixed finish on Wall Street. Shares in the US had a rather underwhelming session and there seems to be a lack of a catalyst igniting hopes of further gains in the markets. That being said the broader US market is 8 per cent off record levels. Facebook, Amazon and Netflix all closed slightly higher to lift the Nasdaq. But, declines in Carnival and American Airlines kept a lid on the S&P 500′s gains.
Several states in the U.S. are experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. Arizona reported a record-high number of new confirmed cases, while Texas saw an 11 per cent daily spike in hospitalizations for patients with Covid-19 on Wednesday. California, meanwhile, reported its largest-ever daily increase of coronavirus cases. Donald Trump said the US will not lock down again despite rising cases.
Meantime in China, the country’s capital city has reportedly closed schools and cancelled flights to contain the latest wave of coronavirus cases. However, a disease expert in China announced the latest outbreak of coronavirus cases in Beijing had been brought under control.
The price of iron ore could be set to slide today after Vale received approval to restart some of its operations in Brazil.
US economic newsInitial U.S. weekly jobless claims rose more than expected last week, coming in at 1.508 million. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a print of 1.3 million.
The Philadelphia Fed Reserve manufacturing index saw a big rebound from last month rising from -43.1 to 27.5 in June.
Local economic news Today the ABS releases preliminary trade data for may with sales tipped to have rebounded.
MarketsWall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2 per cent to 26,080 the S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent to 3115 and the NASDAQ closed 0.3 per cent higher at 9943.
European markets closed lower, London’s FTSE fell 0.5 per cent, Paris lost 0.8 per cent and Frankfurt closed 0.8 per cent lower.
Asian markets closed mixed, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.5 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.1 per cent lower, and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.1 per cent.
Locally, the SPI futures are pointing to a 0.1 per cent fall.
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.9 per cent lower at 5936.
Company newsAMP has appointed Boe Pahari as Chief Executive Officer of AMP Capital, He wil take the reigns from July 1st. Mr Pahari succeeds Adam Tindall who will retire from AMP after almost five years leading AMP Capital. Shares in AMP
(ASX:AMP) closed 0.3 per cent higher at $1.74 yesterday.
CurrenciesOne Australian Dollar at 8:00 AM was buying 68.49 US cents, 55.16 Pence Sterling, 73.27 Yen and 61.14 Euro cents.
Commodities Iron Ore lost 2.4 per cent to US$102.40.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.7 per cent gain.
Gold has lost $4.50 to US$1731.10 an ounce.
Silver was down 27 cents to US$17.51 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.88 to US$38.84 a barrel.
