Local Markets Commentary
The Australian market commences today’s trade following overnight international equities gains and mixed commodities trade, ahead of updated forecasts from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). 

Earlier today, UK PM Theresa May won a confidence vote against her, after vowing prior to the poll to step down before the next national election.

In overnight commodities trade, oil was pushed lower.

US (February) gold futures turned to settle slightly lower. 

Iron ore (China port 62% Fe) swung to a sessional gain.

LME copper headed lower ahead of influential data due out of China tomorrow.

The $A was again constrained after trading at ~US72.10c early yesterday evening. 

Locally today, the RBA publishes its quarterly bulletin, including growth and inflation forecasts, 11.30am AEDT.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) is also expected to release its quarterly industrial trends report today.

Consumer inflation expectations, as surveyed by the Melbourne Institute, are due midday.

Meanwhile, ECX and MTS will trade ex-dividend. Please see p3 for a detailed list.

Overseas Market Commentary
Major European and US equities markets opened higher overnight, reportedly mostly supported by US-China trade talk optimism plus some encouraging data.

Some chop ensued, however, in the wait for definitive outcomes from other material happenings, including in the UK, US and European Union.

A scheduled confidence vote against UK PM Theresa May was defeated (200 – 117) as US trade closed. 

US administrative claims from the previous session, that China was prepared to purchase US soybeans again, were reportedly confirmed by independent commodities traders who ventured a $US180M spend.

Also overnight, a bilateral trade agreement between the European Union and Japan was confirmed.

In the meantime, the heads of the European Commission (EC) and Italy had been scheduled to meet to further discuss Italy’s proposed budget, deemed non-compliant with EC deficit-GDP ratio regulations. No official statements were released prior to close of overnight trading sessions, however.

Meanwhile, the US president’s former personal lawyer was given a three-year prison term following fraud convictions, and an admission of illegal payoffs on behalf of the president before he was elected. 

The charges were not related to an admission of false testimony in Congress regarding a proposed US building project in Moscow, again before the US president was elected, but during campaigning.

In overnight data releases, US November year-on-year CPI growth came in at 2.2%, following 2.5% in October.

For the month, the index was calculated flat, against October’s 0.3% rise. The new result was mostly attributed to lower petrol prices.

Nonetheless, the figures supported indications the US Federal Reserve would slow the pace of rate rises during 2019.

Mortgage applications rose 1.6% last week, in part due to lower (4.96%) 30-year rates. Volumes were reported 16% lower year-on-year, however.

Earlier, the euro zone’s October industrial production grew 1.2% year-on-year, against forecasts of a 0.7% increase and following a 0.8% September rise.

For the month, output rose 0.2% following a 0.6% September drop.

Tonight in the US, November import and export prices, plus weekly new unemployment claims are due. Treasury’s November budget figures release was also pushed back overnight to tonight. 

Elsewhere, the European Central Bank (ECB) holds a policy meeting and hosts a post-meeting press conference. 

Companies scheduled to report earnings or provide updates include: Adobe, Costco Wholesale, Ocado, Oracle, Sports Direct and TUI.

Associated British Foods will trade ex-dividend on the FTSE 100.

In overnight corporate news, China’s Tencent Music successfully debuted on the NYSE.