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Market Opener – 06 Jun 2018
Local Markets Commentary
The Australian market trade commences mid-week trade on overnight price gains for some major commodities, and ahead of influential domestic data today and key data out of the US tonight.
WTI crude swung higher and rallied. Brent settled barely changed.
US gold futures were pushed higher.
Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) seesawed higher again.
LME copper picked up the pace of its current ascent. Nickel also rallied.
The $A slipped below US76.20c, after trading at US76.30c early yesterday evening, but has been rising this morning.
Locally today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publishes March quarter GDP 11.30am AEST.
In addition, ALQ and JHX trade ex-dividend.
Overseas Market Commentary
Major European and US equities markets chopped and swung through overnight trade, as did currency ratios and oil prices.
The euro appeared in part boosted by a claim from Italy’s new PM that new government members had never collectively considered separating from the euro zone. In the meantime, the Italian Senate approved the new Cabinet and proposed government program.
Among data releases, euro zone April retail sales rose just 0.1% for the month, against 0.4% for March, and following forecasts of a 0.5% improvement.
Final overall regional May PMIs included confirmation of a 0.9 fall for the services sector to 53.8.
In Germany, the services PMI also fell 0.9, to 52.1.
In the US, the ISM’s services sector activity index retained strength, the May reading reported 1.8 points higher, at 58.6.
An April job openings report calculated 6.689M available positions, against 6.55M in March.
Meanwhile, in international goods and services trade news, Mexico revealed new proposed tariffs on agricultural (20% for pork) and steel products from the US.
A US administrative official offered that new trade deals could be negotiated separately with Canada and Mexico, rather than under any revised NAFTA agreement.
Tonight in the US, April trade statistics, March quarter labour costs and productivity figures, plus weekly mortgage applications are due.
In overnight corporate news, the UK government said it would not intervene in 21st Century Fox and Comcast bids for Sky.
Earlier, the UK government had revealed it had sold a 7.7% holding in Royal Bank of Scotland for £2.5B, representing a £2.1B loss. RBS shares continued to decline, ~5%.
Tesla continued to fall ahead of tonight’s shareholder vote on whether to retain chairman Elon Musk and three other directors.
Twitter appreciated ~5% following the post-Monday US trade announcement that the company would be the Monsanto (Bayer acquisition) replacement on the S&P 500 from Friday’s trade. Netflix replaces Monsanto on the S&P 100.
The Australian market trade commences mid-week trade on overnight price gains for some major commodities, and ahead of influential domestic data today and key data out of the US tonight.
WTI crude swung higher and rallied. Brent settled barely changed.
US gold futures were pushed higher.
Iron ore (China port, 62% Fe) seesawed higher again.
LME copper picked up the pace of its current ascent. Nickel also rallied.
The $A slipped below US76.20c, after trading at US76.30c early yesterday evening, but has been rising this morning.
Locally today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publishes March quarter GDP 11.30am AEST.
In addition, ALQ and JHX trade ex-dividend.
Overseas Market Commentary
Major European and US equities markets chopped and swung through overnight trade, as did currency ratios and oil prices.
The euro appeared in part boosted by a claim from Italy’s new PM that new government members had never collectively considered separating from the euro zone. In the meantime, the Italian Senate approved the new Cabinet and proposed government program.
Among data releases, euro zone April retail sales rose just 0.1% for the month, against 0.4% for March, and following forecasts of a 0.5% improvement.
Final overall regional May PMIs included confirmation of a 0.9 fall for the services sector to 53.8.
In Germany, the services PMI also fell 0.9, to 52.1.
In the US, the ISM’s services sector activity index retained strength, the May reading reported 1.8 points higher, at 58.6.
An April job openings report calculated 6.689M available positions, against 6.55M in March.
Meanwhile, in international goods and services trade news, Mexico revealed new proposed tariffs on agricultural (20% for pork) and steel products from the US.
A US administrative official offered that new trade deals could be negotiated separately with Canada and Mexico, rather than under any revised NAFTA agreement.
Tonight in the US, April trade statistics, March quarter labour costs and productivity figures, plus weekly mortgage applications are due.
In overnight corporate news, the UK government said it would not intervene in 21st Century Fox and Comcast bids for Sky.
Earlier, the UK government had revealed it had sold a 7.7% holding in Royal Bank of Scotland for £2.5B, representing a £2.1B loss. RBS shares continued to decline, ~5%.
Tesla continued to fall ahead of tonight’s shareholder vote on whether to retain chairman Elon Musk and three other directors.
Twitter appreciated ~5% following the post-Monday US trade announcement that the company would be the Monsanto (Bayer acquisition) replacement on the S&P 500 from Friday’s trade. Netflix replaces Monsanto on the S&P 100.