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Market Opener – 18 May 2018

 
Local Markets Commentary
The Australian market commences Friday trade with additional key data out of Japan and following broadly weak overnight US equities sentiment. 

Japan was scheduled to report April CPI 9.30am AEST.

In mixed overnight commodities trade, oil and US gold futures settled essentially flat.

Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) turned lower.

LME copper and nickel continued to gain, but aluminium fell further.

The $A was pushed lower, to ~US75.10c after trading at ~US75.35c early yesterday evening.

Overseas Market Commentary
US equities markets opened lower overnight and vacillated again, amid international trade and diplomatic disquiet and a reversal of retail sector sentiment.

Early equities trade across major European markets appeared hesitant, but indices soon trended higher as Brent crude rose beyond $US80/bbl.

US weekly new unemployment claims unexpectedly rose by 11,000 following forecasts of a 4000 increase.

The Philadelphia Fed business activity index jumped 11.2 points to 34.4, defying expectations of an ~two-point decline. The employment sub-component reached a seven-month peak of 30.2, up 3.1 points for the month.

The Conference Board’s leading index rose 0.4% following a similar gain in March.

Euro zone March construction output declined 0.3% after a 0.7% fall for February. 

Tonight in the US, three Federal Reserve official are due to speak publicly, Loretta Mester for the second time and Robert Kaplan for the third. 

Elsewhere, Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane is scheduled to speak at a UK luncheon.

AstraZeneca and Campbell Soup are among companies scheduled to report earnings later today or tonight

In overnight corporate news, UK online grocery retailer Ocado was propelled to a record £10 high after striking a deal with US company Kroger, which will use Ocado’s robot-heavy warehousing and delivery systems at the same time boosting its Ocado holding from 1% to 6%. Ocado ultimately settled 44.4% higher for the session.

Specialist UK retailer Mothercare described its position as ‘perilous’ as it announced the planned closure of 50 stores, impacting up to 800 employees.

US retailer JC Penney tumbled on falling sales and reduced earnings guidance after reporting a smaller-than-anticipated quarterly loss.

US retail giant Walmart was pushed lower on disappointing US same-store sales. In addition, reduced margins, in part due to increase fuel costs, highlighted a growing industry chorus.

Cisco Systems, which had reported post-US Wednesday trade, fell more than 3.5% on what appeared to be viewed as a ho-hum outlook.
 
18/05/2018 8:00:00 AM

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