Outlook: Wall St tumbles and ASX set to follow

US and European markets have seen a major selloff overnight and the Australian sharemarket is set to follow into the red this morning. 

 

On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled, losing 317 points. Uncertainty flowed from a variety of sources; a default by Argentina on a set of bonds has led to renewed questions about stability in the eurozone and a set of lacklustre earnings reports in the US has fuelled the profit taking on the last day of the month.

 

Global figures

Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.8 per cent to close at 16,576 , the S&P 500 lost 1.95 per cent to close at 1,932 and the NASDAQ lost 2 per cent to close at 4,368.

 

European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 0.6 per cent, Paris lost 1.5 per cent and Frankfurt is down 1.9 per cent.

 

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.1 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.9 per cent.

 

The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 10 points up to finish at 5,633. On the futures market the SPI is 53 points down. 

 

Turning to currencies and the Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.9296 cents, 55.07 Pence Sterling, 95.58 Yen and 69.45 Euro cents.

 

Economic news 

Due out today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics is the producer price index for June quarter. From AIG we’ll see the performance of manufacturing index (PMI) for July and the Reserve Bank of Australia will offer its index of commodity prices for July. 

 

Company news

 

Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) has appointed Dave Curran as Chief Information Officer. The bank says Mr Curran has been working as a consultant on the bank’s technology modernization program and that in the role he will report to the Chief Operating Officer, John Arthur. Before joining Westpac Mr Curran spent 10 years in senior technology roles at the Commonwealth Bank. Shares in Westpac closed 0.73 per cent up yesterday at $34.61 

 

American Patriot Oil & Gas Limited (ASX:AOW) has acquired an additional 4,400 acres in the DJ Basin in Colorado. The oil and gas explorer has increased its holding to almost 30,000 gross acres and this is the company’s third acquisition in Colorado. The company says lease terms are for 5 years with no seismic or drilling commitments on the acreage acquired. Shares in American Patriot oil and Gas closed 2.63 per cent lower yesterday at $0.185

 

Commodities

Gold is down $13.60 to $US1,281 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver is down $0.18 to $20.41 for September.
Copper is down $0.01 at $3.23 a pound.
Oil is down $2.12 at US$98.15 a barrel for September light crude in New York.