Good Morning,
Happy Friday…
Yes, another short-fuelled week and the weekend is here, once again…
Stocks fell from Tokyo to New York (Dow Jones -200 points), as central banks showed little will to step up support for flagging economies amid disappointing corporate results. The dollar tumbled the most in six weeks.
So the bank of japan sat on its hands, by not providing any further stimulus and equities certainly didn’t like that……
Nikkei down 5%, JPY up 3% vs. the USD.
We do expect the RBA to cut interest rates here in Oz next week…….
Common stevens… we need you…
Apple led an afternoon selloff in technology shares, overshadowing corporate deals and strong results from Facebook.
Billionaire Carl Icahn, who first disclosed his stake in Apple almost three years ago, has sold out of his position, the activist said Thursday. Icahn sold most of his remaining stake in February, Icahn told CNBC. Apple shares declined more than 3 per cent in late trade in New York.
“I’ve certainly been surprised by the ability of the market to hang in there with as many mediocre earnings as we’ve seen so far and I think it was too many,” said Michael Antonelli, an institutional equity sales trader and managing director at Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee. “As a bull, you don’t want to see a late-day selloff after some good morning action. It’s a market that’s just a little worn out.”
US Gross domestic product increased at a 0.5 per cent annual rate, the weakest since the first quarter of 2014, the Labor Department said on Thursday in its advance estimate.
But hey, a weak USD is positive for commodities, right?
· In London, BHP +2.1%, Rio +4.3%
· Spot gold +1.7% to $US1266.96 ounce
· Brent crude +1.8% to $US48.04 barrel
So expect banks to fall today and commodity producers to rise….
What's on today?
Local data: PPI 1st Qtr at 11.30am, Private sector credit March at 11.30am, NZ March building permits, NZ ANZ Business Confidence April
Overseas data: Russia rate decision; South Korea May business confidence; South Korea March industrial output; Euro unemployment rate March, Euro inflation April, Euro GDP 1st Qtr; US employment cost index (1Q), US personal income/spending (March), US ISM Milwaukee manufacturing (April), US Chicago purchasing managers (April), US Michigan consumer sentiment (April final).
Overseas earnings: American Tower, Legg Mason, Phillips 66, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Imperial Oil, TransCanada, Bombardier Inc., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, China Construction Bank Corp, ICICI Bank, BASF, Swiss Re, Danske Bank, Royal KPN, Eni, Telefonica, AstraZeneca, Shire Plc, Luxottica Group, Iberdrola, Royal Bank of Scotland
The SPI is down 9 points this morning.
