MARKET SNAPSHOT –
- SPI200 overnight futures down 26 pts to 6225
- SP500 down 18.62 pts to 2818.82
- NASDAQ down 114.77 pts to 7737.42
- FTSE100 up 38.14 pts to 7701.31
- DAX30 up 51.17 pts to 12860.40
- GOLD futures (August) down $3.50 to $1222.20 an ounce
- COPPER futures (Comex Sep) down $0.022 to $2.796 a pound
- OIL futures (Nymex) down $0.59 to $69.02 a barrel
- CRB Index down 0.84 pts to 194.16
- AUDUSD trading at 0.7400
- EURUSD trading at 1.1657
- GBPUSD trading at 1.3105
- USDJPY trading at 111.0500
The US closed out the week on a sour note as traders continued to mull over earnings as under-performers were punished. The DOW was down 76.01 points or 0.30% while the broader market SP500 was down 0.66% and the Nasdaq led the way falling 1.46%. Attention now is turned back to the US/China trade issues as traders await further developments. Over the weekend Trump said that he would allow the Federal Government to shut down if the democrats refuse to back major changes to immigration laws which includes ‘building a wall’. This may dampen sentiment when the US kicks off a new week. In Europe shares continued higher as fears over US tariffs eased and some solid earnings reports were released.
Cryptocurrencies hold onto recent gains as Bitcoin trades at $8185.1 up 0.15% while Ethereum is at $464.61 down 0.01% and Ripple is at $0.45219 down 0.11%.
The USD Index edged lower on Friday as US data showed the economy had its strongest quarter in nearly four years. Concern still remains over growth in the second half of the year on trade concerns although strong economic data is supportive of further interest rate rises. The EUR and the AUD both pushed higher while the GBP was unchanged.
Gold continued to edge lower as the USD story continues to dominate price action. Copper also continued lower as the metal remains a barometer on trade tensions with China. Oil was lower as demand for the asset also sees headwinds from trade tensions. Concern also remains on whether the glut of oil supplies, that sent prices plummeting, has been fully cleared.
Locally, shares closed higher during the day session Friday as Energy, Utilities and IT sectors dragged the Index to a strong end of week close. Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 768 to 449 and 379 ended unchanged. BHP had a good session as the sale of US shale assets for $10.5 Billion to BP drove price to its highest gains in more than two months whereas AMP had a session that they would rather forget as price finished down over 5%. The big four banks were all higher to close out the week.
The ASX200 is expected to open down 20 points to give up the days gains as the SPI200 found selling resistance in the US session Friday.
ECONOMIC DATA OUT TODAY (AEST) –
JPY Retail Sales 9:50am
EUR German Prelim CPI All Day
EUR Spanish Flash CPI 5pm
GBP Mortgage Approvals 6:30pm
USD Pending Home Sales 12am
SPI200 INTRADAY LEVELS TO WATCH –
